He looked at her curiously, and started to speak, but Mrs. Wicket interrupted. “Aw, Julie,” she said, “you’re so funny! But what I want to know is, what you went back to speak to Brother Seabrook about.” “I went back to tell him he mustn’t call on me to pray,” Julie replied simply. “You _did_? Well, I never!” Mrs. Wicket cried. “For mercy sake, Julie! What’d he say?” “He didn’t say much. But he won’t ever call on me again.” “Can’t you pray, Miss Rose?” Elizabeth Bixby demanded. “No. That is, sometimes I can. I did once. But just to think of it now makes me feel scared.” “Well, I never did hear of a person telling a preacher a thing like that,” Elizabeth commented heavily. “That certainly is new to me. Hart’s Run’s a funny little place, all right!” “That ain’t Hart’s Run,” Mrs. Wicket cried ruffling up in defense of her native town, “that’s just Julie’s scariness. I don’t reckon there’s another person in town would have had to tell Brother Seabrook such a thing.” “Oh, do look at the sky,” Julie pleaded, still obsessed with the idea that if they could only realize the enormous serene beauty overhead, they would understand how little it mattered whether she was afraid to pray or not. “Oh, for goodness sake, leave the sky alone!” Mrs. Wicket cried. “We ain’t got anything to do with the sky. What I want to know is how in the world you expect to be happy in heaven if you can’t pray. Why, I just know heaven’s made up of prayer and praise.” Here Mr. Bixby cut in unexpectedly with the snatch of an old negro spiritual:-- He’ben! He’ben! E’vy’body talk about He’ben ain’t goin’ there! he sang. “Tim!” his wife flared up. “Now you’ll apologize right this minute to Mrs. Wicket for that piece of impertinence,” she commanded. The color drove into his face up to his eyes; he hesitated. But Mrs. Wicket, who had completely missed the significance of the words, said politely, “Aw, that’s all right. Mis’ Bixby. I don’t object to singin’ on Sunday s’long as it’s hymn tunes.” At this point Aunt Sadie Johnson came out on the little stoop in front of her door and created a diversion. “Julie,” she said, “did you know Mr. and Mrs. Bixby was looking at my upstairs rooms?” Julie did not know it, and was surprised. “Well, now, this is a real nice part of town for you all to locate in, it’s so central,” Mrs. Wicket said. “I’m only considering them,” Elizabeth answered condescendingly. “They ain’t really just what I want, but they seem to be about as good as anything I can find in this place, so I reckon they’ll just have to do.”