Why--I thought ’twas warm enough. ELLA Because you was standin’ in front of it gettin’ all the heat. [_Henry fills the stove from wood basket._ _Jane Crosby enters on stairs and crosses into the room. Jane is twenty-four, a plainly dressed girl of quiet manner. She has been “driven into herself” as one of our characters would describe it, by her lack of sympathy and affection and as a natural result she is not especially articulate; she speaks, as a rule, in short sentences, and has cultivated an outward coldness that in the course of time has become almost aggressive._ JANE I’ll go now, Doctor; you’d better go back to her. Hannah’s frightened. DOCTOR Get it as quick as you can, Jane; I don’t know as it’s any use, but we’ve got to keep on tryin’. JANE Yes. [_She exits; Doctor warms his hands._ DOCTOR Jane’s been up with her three nights. I don’t know when I’ve seen a more dependable girl. ELLA She ought to be. HENRY If there’s any gratitude in the world. DOCTOR Oh, I guess there is; maybe there’d be more if there was more reason for it. It’s awful cold up there, but I guess I’ll be gettin’ back. [_He crosses toward door._ HENRY Doctor! [_He looks at his watch._ DOCTOR (_stops in doorway_) Well? HENRY It’s quite a bit past four, I don’t suppose--I don’t suppose you can tell---- DOCTOR No, I can’t tell. [_He turns and exits up the stairs._ ELLA There’s no fool like an old fool. SADIE Did you hear him? “Didn’t know when he’d seen a more dependable girl than her!” EMMA Makes a lot of difference who’s goin’ to depend on her. I ain’t, for one. NETTIE If I set out to tell how she’s treated me lots of times, when I’ve come over here to see grandma, nobody would believe a word of it. SADIE Mother took her in out of charity. ELLA And kept her out of spite. HENRY I don’t know as you ought to say that, Ella. ELLA It’s my place she took, in my own mother’s house. I’d been here now, but for her. I ain’t goin’ to forget that. No! Me, all these years payin’ board and slavin’ my life out, makin’ hats, like a nigger. NETTIE (_smartly_) Oh! So _that’s_ what they’re like. I’ve often wondered! ELLA (_rises_) You’ll keep that common little thing of your wife’s from insultin’ me, Henry Jordan, or I won’t stay here another minute. EMMA (_angry_) Common! NETTIE Mother! HENRY (_sternly_) Hush up! All of yer! SADIE It’s Jane we ought to be talkin’ about. EMMA Just as soon as you’re the head of the family, Henry, you’ve got to tell her she ain’t wanted here! HENRY Well--I don’t know as I’d want to do anything that wasn’t right. She’s been here quite a spell. SADIE Eight years! ELLA And just a step-cousin, once removed. HENRY I guess mother’s made her earn her keep. I don’t know as ever there was much love lost between ’em. EMMA As soon as your mother’s dead, you’ll send her packing.