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“I was co room with the silver chest ina nap Well, she screa at me”

Gracie was composed, very calm, almost in a trance as she spoke to me

“I had the bone-handle carving knife inWhen she run at ht up on that knife, sir I swear I never meant to do it”

The policeh They caan to lead her away

“But I tell you, Mr Corbett…”

“What, Gracie?”

“I would do it again”

Chapter 7

AS I WALKED all the way home from the courthouse on that hot June day, I still had no idea what life-changing things were in store for me and my family Not a hint, not a clue

Our house was quiet and dark that afternoon when I arrived I walked through the front parlor No sign of Meg, Amelia, or Alice

In the kitchen a peach pie was cooling on a table Through theI saw our cook, Mazie, sitting on the back stoop, shelling butter beans into a white enamelware pan

“Has Meg gone out, Mazie?” I called

“Yes, suh, Mr Ben And she took the littl’uns with her Don’t knohere Miz Corbett, she was in some bad ets”

How she gets My Meg, land wife So red in the face You kno she gets The gentlest girl at Radcliffe, the prettiest girl ever to co red in the face

And she gets that way because ofBecause of my failure, because ofon our house with my endless “charity cases” for the poor and disenfranchised