Hamilton has never been known to deliver any kind of news gently—with feeling. And that’s the way Anne must learn this. Oh, Johnson, it’s going to be a dreadful blow to her. James is doing all the caring, considerate things for her and her family, but I—I feel I’ll—was
“You’ll let it come down on her easy.”
“I’ll try. Oh, I’ll try.”
When Johnson left Jock’s 123 room, bearing the heavy porcelain washbowl, wet cloths, and used towels, he went straight to the kitchen, where he hoped to find Miss Anne’s woman, Eve. No one had given him permission to tell Eve what lay ahead for her mistress, but Johnson had long known how close the two were, and if Mausa Couper had thought about it, he’d agree for sure that once Anne heard what she had to face, no one could comfort her as Eve could.
He’d failed to ask Mausa Couper exactly when he expected Miss Anne to come to his room, so to make certain that Eve knew well ahead of time, he quickly left the bathing paraphernalia on a shelf in the roofed walkway outside the main house and headed for the kitchen, hoping to find her.
“Where you think I be?” Eve asked in her pert way when Johnson motioned for her to join him in the yard just outside the kitchen door. “You think I be takin’ my ease on the veranda wif de white folks? Ain’t you looked around at the crowd of guests in dis house, Johnny? Poor ole Lydia ‘bout cooked herself to death
tryin’ to keep up. I jus’ got to lend her a han’. What you want wif me? Ain’t nothin’ wrong wif Mausa Couper today, is they?”
“He be good as ‘spected wif what he got to do next.”
“What he got to do nex’?”
“Sit down here on the steps, Eve,” Johnson instructed her as though she were a small girl.
“I ain’t tired. Why I have to sit down?”
“Because I aim to, an’ it gonna take me a while to git it all tol’.was
As though noticing for the first time, Eve said, “You —you mus’ be most as ole as Mausa Couper, I guess.”
“You guess right,” Johnson said with a weary smile. “But my bein’ so old ain’t why it take me some time to tell you what I got to tell you. It be the badness of what I got to say. Knowin’ how you takes to Miss Anne, an’ how she takes to you, I’se got to tell you ahead of her findin’ out from Mausa Couper that she got to break up her lil family an’ stop livin’ at Lawrence.”
Eve jumped as though he’d struck her, but she
said not one word and made it no easier 125 by sitting there on the kitchen step wiping tears from her eyes as Johnson talked. Finally Johnson put a question to her: “Ain’t you eben gonna ax why Miz Anne got to break up her family an’ leave her home she loves so much?”
Johnson, knowing Eve, wasn’t surprised that she began to fuss and fume at him in her effort to get hold of herself, plainly torn by what he had said. “Why I ax what I already knows? You think June an’ me’s so dumb we don’t know Miss Anne’s Lawrence house is fallin’ down ‘roun’ her ears? It be a wonder to me dat her an’ Fanny an’ Pete an’ Selina ain’t sick from sleepin’ under dat leaky ole roof. An’ come summer when the hard rains start, they be so much dampness on the walls de mildew turn the whole house green!” She gave both eyes a good hard rub with her apron and turned to look straight at Johnson. “What I don’ know is why, the way she cling to dat lil house since Mausa John be gone, de mens don’ fix it up for her. Why her papa an’ her almighty brother Mausa James Hamilton
let it fall down on her? Why dey let it git so bad? You kin tell me that much, Johnny.”
Johnson tried to straighten his stooped shoulders. “No, Eve, I can’t tell you. I knows, but a person’s got loyalty in his heart for mens like Mausa Couper an’ Mausa James. Leastways, dis man’s got loyalty in he heart.”
“What do you owe to Mausa James Hamilton? You more’n pays fo’ yo’ keep lookin’ after he papa like
“You’ll let it come down on her easy.”
“I’ll try. Oh, I’ll try.”
When Johnson left Jock’s 123 room, bearing the heavy porcelain washbowl, wet cloths, and used towels, he went straight to the kitchen, where he hoped to find Miss Anne’s woman, Eve. No one had given him permission to tell Eve what lay ahead for her mistress, but Johnson had long known how close the two were, and if Mausa Couper had thought about it, he’d agree for sure that once Anne heard what she had to face, no one could comfort her as Eve could.
He’d failed to ask Mausa Couper exactly when he expected Miss Anne to come to his room, so to make certain that Eve knew well ahead of time, he quickly left the bathing paraphernalia on a shelf in the roofed walkway outside the main house and headed for the kitchen, hoping to find her.
“Where you think I be?” Eve asked in her pert way when Johnson motioned for her to join him in the yard just outside the kitchen door. “You think I be takin’ my ease on the veranda wif de white folks? Ain’t you looked around at the crowd of guests in dis house, Johnny? Poor ole Lydia ‘bout cooked herself to death
tryin’ to keep up. I jus’ got to lend her a han’. What you want wif me? Ain’t nothin’ wrong wif Mausa Couper today, is they?”
“He be good as ‘spected wif what he got to do next.”
“What he got to do nex’?”
“Sit down here on the steps, Eve,” Johnson instructed her as though she were a small girl.
“I ain’t tired. Why I have to sit down?”
“Because I aim to, an’ it gonna take me a while to git it all tol’.was
As though noticing for the first time, Eve said, “You —you mus’ be most as ole as Mausa Couper, I guess.”
“You guess right,” Johnson said with a weary smile. “But my bein’ so old ain’t why it take me some time to tell you what I got to tell you. It be the badness of what I got to say. Knowin’ how you takes to Miss Anne, an’ how she takes to you, I’se got to tell you ahead of her findin’ out from Mausa Couper that she got to break up her lil family an’ stop livin’ at Lawrence.”
Eve jumped as though he’d struck her, but she
said not one word and made it no easier 125 by sitting there on the kitchen step wiping tears from her eyes as Johnson talked. Finally Johnson put a question to her: “Ain’t you eben gonna ax why Miz Anne got to break up her family an’ leave her home she loves so much?”
Johnson, knowing Eve, wasn’t surprised that she began to fuss and fume at him in her effort to get hold of herself, plainly torn by what he had said. “Why I ax what I already knows? You think June an’ me’s so dumb we don’t know Miss Anne’s Lawrence house is fallin’ down ‘roun’ her ears? It be a wonder to me dat her an’ Fanny an’ Pete an’ Selina ain’t sick from sleepin’ under dat leaky ole roof. An’ come summer when the hard rains start, they be so much dampness on the walls de mildew turn the whole house green!” She gave both eyes a good hard rub with her apron and turned to look straight at Johnson. “What I don’ know is why, the way she cling to dat lil house since Mausa John be gone, de mens don’ fix it up for her. Why her papa an’ her almighty brother Mausa James Hamilton
let it fall down on her? Why dey let it git so bad? You kin tell me that much, Johnny.”
Johnson tried to straighten his stooped shoulders. “No, Eve, I can’t tell you. I knows, but a person’s got loyalty in his heart for mens like Mausa Couper an’ Mausa James. Leastways, dis man’s got loyalty in he heart.”
“What do you owe to Mausa James Hamilton? You more’n pays fo’ yo’ keep lookin’ after he papa like
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