Haley upon the excellence and abundance of her
cooking.
"She ain't got no chance," said her husband. "She's got too much to do
and it's awful hard to get help. Of course, there's Mandy."
"Of course, there's Mandy," echoed his wife. "I guess you'd just better
say, 'There's Mandy.' She's the whole thing is Mandy. What I'd do
without her goodness only knows."
But Mandy was no longer present to enjoy her mother's enconiums. Her
voice could be heard in the yard making fierce response to Perkins'
jesting remarks. As Cameron was passing out from the kitchen he heard
her bitter declaration: "I don't care, it was real mean of you, and I'll
pay you for it yet, Mr. Perkins--before a stranger, too." Mandy's voice
suggested tears.
"Oh, pshaw, Mandy!" remonstrated Perkins, "it was all a joke, and who
cares for him anyway, unless it's yourself?"
But Mandy, catching sight of Cameron, fled with fiery face behind the
kitchen, leaving Perkins gazing after her with an apologetic grin upon
his countenance.
"She's rather hot under the collar," he confided to Cameron, "but she
needn't get so, I didn't mean nothin'."
Cameron ignored him. He was conscious mainly of a resolute determination
that at all costs he must not yield to his almost uncontrollable desire
to wipe off the apologetic smile with a well directed blow.
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