But they never stole from the
Harts, and they never openly begged from the Harts. The friends
of the Harts, however, must prove their friendship before they
could hope for better than an imperturbable neutrality. So they
would not pretend to be glad. Hagar was right--perhaps the girl
was no good. They would wait until they could pass judgment upon
this girl who had come to live in the wikiup of the Harts. Then
Lucy, she who longed always for children and had been denied by
fate, stirred slightly, her nostrils aquiver.
"Mebbyso bueno yo' girl,', she yielded, speaking softly.
"Mebbyso see yo' girl."
Phoebe's face cleared, and she called, in mellow crescendo: "Oh,
Va-ad-NIEE?" Immediately the singing stopped.
"Coming, Aunt Phoebe," answered the voice.
The squaws wrapped themselves afresh in their blankets, passed
brown palms smoothingly down their hair from the part in the
middle, settled their braids upon their bosoms with true feminine
instinct, and waited.
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