“Come on out hyuh an’ set to de stove; so I kin hurry up an’ wipe dese tracks off dis flo’ befo’ innybody git hyuh,” Carmelite said in a quiet voice, starting for the kitchen with Gussie following her. “An’ ’tain no pity for _you_ make me change my min’; no,” she went on. “If ’twasn’ say I know Aun’ Fisky so long; an’ know w’at she got to put up wid; I _sho_ would make you take de road tonight; brazen as you is, comin’ hyuh like dis.” Gussie pulled a chair close to the stove and sat down; glad to get where it was warm, and thankful to be under shelter at last. Carmelite took a floor-cloth from behind the door and went to the front room to wipe up the mud tracks from Gussie’s shoes. After a while she came back; and seeing Gussie looking at the coffee pot on the stove, she said: “I’m goin’ give you a cup o’ coffee; an’ you stay hyuh an’ drink it. An’ don’t you come to de front w’en people git hyuh, an’ de raffle be goin’ on in yonder. You hyeah?” Gussie told her that he would stay in the kitchen. All he wanted was to get dry. And maybe after he drank his coffee, he would go to sleep for a little while, before he passed by Tempe’s wake, on his way home. “Well, you stay hyuh in de kitchen,” Carmelite reminded him. “An’ if inny one yo’ numbers draw de quilt, I’ll fetch it out hyuh to you.” She poured a cup of coffee and placed it on the apron of the stove for him. Hearing voices at the front, she went to look after her guests; leaving Gussie to take his enjoyment as he felt inclined. When Carmelite came into the room, Scilla was standing in the middle of the floor unpinning herself from the folds of an old gray blanket. Mozella was sitting in the rocking-chair, wiping her bare feet with a towel, and making ready to put on her shoes and stockings, which she had carried in her hand. Pinkey was leaning against the door, hesitating to come in, for fear of leaving mud tracks on the floor. “Gawd knows, Carmelite,” she remarked half-regretfully, “you sho picked out a nasty night to make people come ’way from home, an’ bring a whole lot o’ mud an’ confusion in yo’ house,—jus’ for one quilt.” Carmelite gave an unconcerned laugh and told her not to worry about the mud. She had plenty of rags and soap to clean it up tomorrow. She wasn’t too old and feeble to get down on her two knees to scrub. ’Specially after people had come so well-meanin’ to help her make a few dimes, to pay for all the sewin’ she put on that nice Jacob-ladder quilt she was goin’ leave ’um to view later on. No indeed.... A little bit of mud tracks wouldn’t upset her, if the crowd was goin’ to be plennyful. Keziah came in, followed by Frozine who was carrying a lantern; her skirt tucked up above her knees; her white stockings and battered pair of loose-fitting men’s shoes giving her a most ludicrous appearance.