“W’at you goin’ do if Gussie come back?” Bennee inquired, when Carmelite had finished giving a graphic account of the mysterious proceeding; every minor detail stressed with elocutionary fervor for their sympathetic understanding. Gussie knew better than to come back, she informed them. ’Specially after the way all their three pair of hands had worked on him.... Gussie wasn’t goin’ consider comin’ back, now that the rain done stopped, and he was out-doors where he could realize that he wasn’t cripple complete, to hinder him from keepin’ on goin’. “But leave ole Gussie in Gawd han’s,” Carmelite concluded with willing resignation. “An’ all y’all members come wid me to de kitchen an’ drink some coffee; so we kin hurry ’way from hyuh an’ go yonder to Tempe wake.” Eager to dispense with any mention of Gussie for the time being, and wanting her friends to enjoy what remained of the hospitality planned for them, Carmelite hurried them to the kitchen and began serving coffee; laughing good-naturedly as she made amusing apologies for the “skimpy li’l refreshnin’ foods;” thanking them for “helpin’ her out so nice”; and drinking with everyone to the “big success” of the raffle. When Gussie recovered from his dull bewilderment and found himself out on the street, alone in the mud and darkness; he tried to collect his wits and see if he could explain what everything was about. He remembered his long walk in the storm down to the old man Hooblitz’s place at the edge of the woods; recalling more vividly than anything else, the unfriendly greeting of the old man, his cross ugly humor, and the mean way that old Hooblitz hurried him out into the driving rain. He also had a faint remembrance of a welcome drink with Chicken-Volsin, somewhere along the road. But it was somewhat hazy. Not near as clear as the recollection of himself hurrying on through the rain to see about winning the quilt at Carmelite’s raffle, so he could take it home to Aunt Fisky and make the old lady feel pleased. Then he remembered Carmelite’s kitchen, and the nice warm fire in the stove; and how good he felt when his clothes began to get dry; and the good cup of hot coffee Carmelite gave him just before he fell asleep. But after that, he could recall nothing more until the time he woke up and found Carmelite shaking him and calling him names, and talking so loud that Pinkey and Soongy came out and pitched into him, before he could get his right presence of mind and keep them from over-coming him, the same as if he was chillun.