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Frankly, I felt a bit reluctant to leave There was soood about life as it happened in this modest little house Certainly, the opportunity to see Moody every day was soetting to know Abraharandson, the increasing fear in the colored cootry he had endured—Abraham was a man at peace with himself

Just the night before, on a war worst, we sat on a bench underneath the overhang of the porch

We orking our way through a basket of hot corn ht out of the oven I snored me and turned back inside

“So small that can blossom up into trouble”

“You mean, because we haven’t heard from Roosevelt?” I asked “I don’t understand that at all I aled for him”

“This got nothing to do with the president,” he said, gazing off into the darkness “I’ht here in my house”

I sed the rest of the antly, on the back ofabout I had been hoping he wouldn’t notice

“Nothing has happened, Abraha to happen”

He didn’t look at me

“I love that girl just about ashereven my dear departed wife As for you—well, I done took you into h regard You a fine man, Ben, but this just can’t be It can’t be Moody… and you? That is impossible”

“I understand that, Abrahaht to worry Maybe you hadn’t noticed, but Moody hasn’t spoken a kind word to me since the day we met”

He put his hand on my shoulder

“And maybe you hadn’t noticed,” he said, “but that’s exactly how you can tell when a woman is in love with you”

Chapter 73

FROM THE DAY after uard at Abraha, Abraha watch from the front-porch rocker Since I was the cause of all this, I took the dead ht till dawn