Free Place Called Estherville by Erskine Caldwell Page B

attitude. Every few minutes she stopped and listened for the sound of Madgie coming through the dining room, but she did not return and soon a quarter-hour had passed. While she was putting the dishes in the cupboard, she began to worry again, this time thinking that Madgie had deliberately lied and had no intention of coming back. She did not know what to do. Clyde Picquet, the rent collector, had agreed to wait until that evening when, she told him, she expected to have money to give him; besides that, she had to buy food as well as medicine for Aunt Hazel. She hurriedly swept the floor, hung the tea towels up to dry, and then went as far as the dining-room door. Presently she heard Madgie coming down the hall, and she hurried back into the kitchen and stood beside the table. It had been a relief to hear footsteps, and she was sorry she had suspected Madgie of planning to leave the house without paying her. She tried to be calm as she heard the footsteps come closer.
    Madgie walked in carrying an armful of clothes. She dumped the clothing in a pile on the kitchen table, and then stood back beaming with satisfaction. There were several out-of-season woolen dresses that had been hanging on a nail in the hall closet for a number of years, a knotted ball of unmatched stockings with runs in them, and a pair of scuffed and soiled pink bedroom slippers. Madgie searched under the pile until she drew out a dusty, crushed felt halt with feather trimming. The doubt that had come to Kathyanne’s mind when she first saw Madgie dump the clothing on the table and smile engagingly was now strong and forboding. She moved away from the table.
    “There!” Madgie said, tossing the feathered hat to the top of the heap with a confident gesture. “I’d almost forgotten all about these nice things. It’s been so long since I’ve looked at them. I’m being very generous, Kathyanne. I hope you fully appreciate it. These are very expensive dresses, and that hat was by no means cheap when I bought it in Atlanta. I hate to part with all these nice things, but I know you’ll appreciate them. You’ll probably have to alter the dresses a little.” She glanced self-consciously at Kathyanne’s slender figure. “Well?” she said a moment later with an impatient toss of her head. “Don’t just stand there! Aren’t you going to so much as thank me for all this, Kathyanne? Don’t you realize how generous I’m being? Say something, Kathyanne!”
    She tried not to let her feelings show how disappointed and unhappy she was, because she still hoped to get at least part of her wages in money. She waited, biting her lip tensely, until she was sure she had control of herself. She knew that if she was not careful she would say something that would antagonize Madgie. All at once she could feel the sting of tears that refused to be held back any longer.
    “What’s the matter with you, Kathyanne?” she heard Madgie say in a nervous high-pitched voice. “You’re acting very strange. You haven’t said a word, Kathyanne.”
    She knew before she spoke that she was on the verge of making Madgie angry, but she could not help herself. “I can’t take those things for my pay, Miss Madgie,” she said, no longer making a pretense of her feelings. “I need the money. Your old clothes won’t do.”
    “Well!” Madgie remarked sarcastically. “I suppose you think you’re too good to wear my clothes.”
    “No, it’s not that.”
    “Then what is the matter with you?”
    This time Kathyanne forced herself not to say anything.
    “You’re being very ungrateful—and very foolish, too,” Madgie told her crossly. “I never saw such a person before. When you came here to work for me, I thought at last I’d found good colored help. I can see now how wrong I was. You’re just like all the rest of them. You have no sense of appreciation whatsoever. There’s nothing in all the world more provoking than an ungrateful servant.”
    “I would appreciate it,