‘Invite Ellen in,’ she kept saying.

‘I’ll just sit out here,’ Ellen contended. ‘I got but a minute to stay. I dropped in a-comen from Kelly’s where I taken a little mess of eggs for Mammy.’

‘I’d a heap rather you’d come in the house,’ Mrs Seay fretted. ‘It seems more as if you’d come to see a body if you come in and set awhile.’

‘I’ll stay out here. I only dropped in.’

Ellen felt very cool and unafraid. The presence of others set her passion a long way off behind cool banks of intercourse, cool reserves of decision. Sallie Lou was sewing on a new dress for herself, a flowered muslin, and she brought her seams out into the yard and sewed while she talked with her guest. A little boy brought chairs from the house, a fair little boy of about seven years. He was called Hank. Ellen watched Sallie Lou’s hands as they pushed slowly across the flowered print stuff, the right hand beating a rhythm up and down with the needle, the left hand holding the cloth firm and making the rhythm of the cloth meet that of the other hand. The hands were short and puffed at the knuckles but the skin was moist and white, and there was a small gold ring on one finger, the same ring Ellen remembered. Sallie Lou talked quickly, changing from one thing to another as anyone led her, letting a matter go without caring, because she was happy. As well talk of one thing as another, whatever you like. Her eyes would take on quick lights that were like little stars in their corners. There were so many places to go in summer, she said, that she was glad to have another organdie dress, even if the season were late. Jonas was going to get a new buggy. He needed it. A boy could hardly get along without a buggy; there were so many places to go.

‘We aim to go to the Glen to the picnic Saturday. He said he’d aim to go.’

‘Yes, but he won’t take you,’ Hank said. He tickled her ear with grass.

‘He will. He’d better.’ Her eyes turned in upon some inner memory and her face became hard. The next moment she laughed and her mouth was square at the corners and her lips peeled back until there showed the soft inner lining of red moist skin. Then she talked again of the new dress and of how it was to be made.

‘You could have one too,’ Sallie Lou said. ‘They have a plenty more at the store, some in pink and some in green. A pink would become Ellen, now, wouldn’t it? The same flower, only pink. It’s a-sellen out cheap this week. I’ll give you a little sample and you can get one offen it, or some other colour, if you like.’

Ellen tucked the sample of Sallie Lou’s dress in her bosom. Then she said:

‘There used to be a boy named Tim around. Where’s he gone nohow? I haven’t laid eyes on him for a long spell.’