Letty had a very
sweet temper, and she had early learned that it takes all sorts o'
folks to make a world. It was a part of her leisurely and generous
scheme of life to live and let live.
"Ain't the road dustier 'n the path?" inquired Debby contradictorily.
"My stars! I guess 't is. Well, now, what do you s'pose brought me up
here this mornin'?"
Letty's eyes involuntarily sought the bag, whose concave sides flapped
hungrily together; but she told her lie with cheerfulness. "I don't
know."
"I guess ye don't. No, I ain't comin' in. I'm goin' over to Mis'
Tolman's, to spend the day. I'm in hopes she's got b'iled dish. You
look here!" She opened the bag, and searched portentously, the while
Letty, in some unworthy interest, regarded the smooth, thick hair under
her large poke-bonnet. Debby had an original fashion of coloring it;
and this no one had suspected until her little grandson innocently
revealed the secret. She rubbed it with a candle, in unconscious
imitation of an actor's make-up, and then powdered it with soot from
the kettle. "I believe to my soul she does!" said Letty to herself.
But Debby, breathing hard, had taken something from the bag, and was
holding it out on the end of a knotted finger.
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