Oh, he’s gone long ago! And as for the ice, why, Daniel says he can make me a box lined with sawdust – he made one for Doctor Godfrey. We can keep it under the back porch.” And away she went, the embodiment of the throughgoing, bustling little housewife. Somewhat past noon, Dimple came in with an air of importance, removed the books, and spread a white damask cloth upon the table. It was like spreading a red cloth before a sullen bull. Madame’s eyes glared at the cloth.
“W’ere did you get that?” she asked as if she would have annihilated Dimple on the spot.
“Miss Bosey, she tuck it out de big press; tuck some mo’ out; ‘low she kain’t eat on dat meal-sack w’at we alls calls de table-clot’e.” The damask cloth bore the initials of Madame’s mother, embroidered in a corner.
“She done kilt two dem young pullets in de basse-cour,” went on Dimple, like a croaking raven. “Mandy come lopin’ up f’om de quarters time Dan’el told ‘er. She yonder, rarin’ roun’ in de kitchen. Dey done sent fo’ some sto’ lard an’ bakin’ powders down to Lablatte’s. Fannie’s boy, he ben totin’ all mornin’. De cubbad done look lak a sto’.”
“Dimple!” called Bosey in the distance.
When she returned it was with a pompous air, her head uplifted, and stepping carefully like a fat chicken. She bore a tray weighted with a repast such as she had never before in her life served to Madame Solisainte.
Mandy had outdone herself. She had broiled the breast of a pullet to a turn. She had fried the potatoes after a New Orleans receipt, and had made a pudding of richest ingredients of her own invention which had given her a name in the parish. There were two milky-looking poached eggs, and the biscuits were as light as snowflakes and the color of gold. The forks and spoons were of massive silver, also bearing the initials of Madame’s mother. They had been reclaimed from the press with the table linen.
Under this new, strange influence Madame Solisainte seemed to have been deprived of the power of asserting her will. There was an occasional outburst like the flare of a smouldering fire, but she was outwardly timid and submissive. Only when she was alone with her young handmaid did she speak her mind.