S’norta, sitting quietly in a chair across the room, was seldom known to be emotional. Indeed, there were times when Luke wondered whether she had not died in her chair. One had that feeling about S’norta, so motionless was she, so uncompromising of glance. She was very prosperous-looking, as became the heiress to the Cheesman meat business—a fat little girl of twelve, dressed with a profusion of ruffles, glass pearls, gilt buckles, and thick tawny curls that might have come straight from the sausage hook in her papa’s shop.
S’norta had been consecrated early in life to the unusual. Even her name was not ordinary. Her romantic mother, immersed in the prenatal period in the hair-lifting adventures of one Señorita Carmena, could think of no lovelier appellation when her darling came than the first portion of that sloe-eyed and restless lady’s title, which she conceived to be baptismal; and in due course she had conferred it, together with her own pronunciation, on her child. A bold man stopping in at Uncle Clem’s market, as Luke knew, had once tried to pronounce and expound the cognomen in a very different fashion; but he had been hustled unceremoniously from the place, and S’norta remained in undisturbed possession of her honors.
Now Luke was recalled from his contemplation by his uncle’s voice again. A lull had fallen and out of it broke the question Luke always dreaded.
“Nat, now!” said Uncle Clem, leaning forward, his thick fingers clutching his fat knees. “You ain’t had any news of him since quite a while ago, have you?” The wit that was so preponderable a feature of Uncle Clem’s nature bubbled to the surface. “Dunno but he’s landed in jail a spell back and can’t git out again!” The lively little eyes twinkled appreciatively.
Nobody answered. It set Maw’s mouth in a thin, hard line. You wouldn’t get a rise out of old Maw with such tactics—Maw, who believed in Nat, soul and body. Into Luke’s mind flashed suddenly a formless half prayer: “Don’t let ’em nag her now—make ’em talk other things!”
The Lord, in the guise of Aunt Mollie, answered him. For once, Nat and Nat’s character and failings did not hold her. She drew a deep breath and voiced something that claimed her interest: