On
the sidewalk she met Phoebe.
"How d'ye do, Miss Panney?" said that single-minded colored woman. "I
hain't seen you for a long time."
Miss Panney returned the salutation, and stood for a moment in thought.
"Phoebe," said she, "when did you last see Mike?"
"Well, now, really, Miss Panney, I can't say, but it's been a mighty long
time. He don't come into town to see me, and I's too busy to go way out
thar. I does the minister's wash now, besides boardin' him an' keepin'
his clothes mended. An' then it's four or five miles out to that farm. I
can't 'ford to hire no carriage, an' Mike ain't no right to expect me to
walk that fur."
"Phoebe," said Miss Panney, "you are a lazy woman and an undutiful wife.
It is not four miles to Cobhurst, and you walk two or three times that
distance every day, gadding about town. You ought to go out there and
attend to Mike's clothes, and see that he is comfortable, instead of
giving up the little time you do work to that minister, and everybody
knows that the reason you have taken him to board is that you want to set
yourself up above the rest of the congregation.
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