Most of us still considered Bett-Bett one of the shadows but she
persisted that she was the mainstay of the staff. "Me all day dust 'im
paper, me round 'im up goat" she would say. "Me sit down all right".
She certainly excelled in "rounding-up goat," riding the old Billy like a
race-horse; and with Rosy filling the position of housemaid to
perfection, Jimmy's Nellie proving invaluable in her vigorous treatment
of the rejected and the wood-heap gossip filling in odd times, life so
far as it was dependent on black folk--was running on oiled wheels: the
house was clean and orderly, the garden flourished; and as the melons
grew apace, throwing out secondary leaves in defiance of Cheon's
prophecies, Billy Muck grew more and more enthusiastic, and, usurping the
position of Chairman of the Directors, he inspired the shareholders with
so much zeal that the prophecies were almost fulfilled through a surfeit
of watering. But Cheon's attitude towards the water-melons did not
change, although he had begun to look with favour upon mail-matter and
station books, finding in them a power that could keep the Maluka at the
homestead.
Pages:
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312