She flattered Selma and Pauline, who were idle now that Lilac was required to work in the harvest, asking a thousand questions about their winter school, and even appearing to listen to the answers. She was a welcome addition to Nell and Penelope’s querulous duet, entertaining them with amusing lies about her life in the West. When Sarah and Rachel engaged in wedding talk, as they did now almost constantly—there were only two topics at Beulah Land: crops and the wedding—Lauretta sat by silently, a wistful smile on her lips, as if remembering her own youth without venturing to speak of it. She was even considerate of the servants, and mutely deferential in Lovey’s presence, which did little, however, to advance her in Lovey’s esteem.

For the first time Lovey and Clarice almost quarreled. “She sure has changed,” Clarice said. “I have known her just about all of her life, and she has changed, I tell you. She is nothing like the girl that used to stamp her foot at me and say I’d ironed the ruffles wrong.”

“She may be older, but she’s the same,” Lovey declared. “Snake may shed one skin but got another ready underneath. Still the same snake.”

Neither spoke to the other for the remainder of that day.

Rachel was courteous without being warm or even relaxed with her in the way she usually was with people. Sarah marked that as something to think about when she had a minute, but she was always too busy to explore her observation further. It was easy enough for Leon to avoid Lauretta except at meals, and during the harvesting he often took his meals alone, earlier or later than the others, sometimes at the sawmill from the general mess, more frequently with Floyd at the table in the big kitchen. If the kitchen was too hot for comfort, as happened when Myrtis and her helpers were boiling fruit and vegetables for preserving, they took plates and forks in hand and stepped outside to eat and talk in the shade of the fig tree.

Only Floyd knew that Leon rode or walked over to the Anderson Place every few days to see Clovis. Leon had not spoken about it, and Floyd had not spied: but the two men knew each other in ways that went beyond confidences or directly observed behavior. Floyd worried about those visits, wondering what would happen if Leon and Roscoe met over there one day, wondering too why Leon went and what he and Clovis had to say to each other when they met.