Sarah’s favorite sweet was nut and raisin cake with hard white icing. Sitting in their empty school with Roman beside her, she thought she could pick out the scent of hot raisins from the other baking and roasting smells that came across the yard from the kitchens. The children had been dismissed only minutes ago—they had not been kept long today—and Roman was playing his flute for their mutual relaxation and pleasure.

It was afternoon of the day before Thanksgiving. The aromas of roasting fowl and baking cakes and pies had sweetened the air for the past three days. After noonday dinner she had left Aunts Pea and Nell upstairs in the sewing room with Selma and Pauline, the four women working together on the four sides of a quilting frame. The many-colored quilt was three-quarters done. They had worked at it all yesterday and were determined to finish it before nightfall. It was to be a surprise gift for Myrtis to thank her for the extra work she was doing in preparation for the holiday.

The women worked quietly, for they saw that Penelope was preoccupied with the news she had received from Savannah. Yesterday a letter had come from Clarice saying Uncle Joshua was ill and had taken to his bed, and that they had even had the doctor. Clarice did not, maddeningly, say what the doctor had told them, nor even give a name to what ailed the old man. When Penelope said she must go to him at once, they prevailed upon her to put off the journey until the day following Thanksgiving, pointing out that Clarice had not asked her to come, and that the very fact that no name was put to the illness was an indication that she did not consider it serious. When they pressed her not to go at all but wait to hear better news from Clarice, or worse if the Lord so willed, she declared that she would most certainly not, reminding them sharply that Uncle Joshua had looked after her all her life and that she would be derelict in her duty if she did not now look after him.

Just as Roman finished a piece both he and Sarah liked, Sharon came running from the house to announce importantly to Sarah that Mr. Rooster Davis waited upon her and the master in the office, where he had desired to be shown. With a glance at Roman she rose, and telling Sharon to find the master, she went quickly toward the house.

A few minutes later Leon, having been summoned from a crib in one of the barns where he and Ezra and Floyd were examining a strain of corn new to them, entered the office to find Sarah and Rooster sitting silently together. Rooster looked up but made no greeting. “It’s best I tell you together,” he said.