As Durgan drew nearer he heard Bertha again, this time with a sob of distress in her voice. "I don't care what he says or does; I will brave anything rather."
"Birdie, darling, you are very, very foolish!" Miss Smith's voice was raised above her natural tone, but was much calmer.
Durgan's step was on the wooden verandah.
Doors and windows were all open to the summer heat. The sisters were standing in the low sitting-room. The negro, hat in hand, stood in a properly respectful attitude near the door. As before, his manner suggested that he was a servant and had no aspiration beyond his sphere.
"I saw that fellow come up the road," said Durgan. "I do not know, of course, what his errand is here; but I thought I ought to tell you that Adam told me that he had got no regular job, and that he had found him idling around a month ago with no apparent reason."
"Yes, sir; I was trying to discover from Adam's wife who it was that lived up here; but she told me so many fixings out of her head about these ladies that I come to the conclusion they wasn't the ladies I was looking for. Miss Smith knows me, sir; and I've been very ill lately--the doctor tells me I'm not long to live."
"Oh, you folks always think you're dying if you've got a cold. You're begging, I see."
"Yes, sir; I was asking this lady to help me. I'm dying of consumption, sir."
The man's manner was quiet enough. Durgan saw that both the sisters were intensely excited. The elder had her emotion perfectly under control; the younger looked almost fierce in the strain of some distress. What surprised him was that his protection was equally unwelcome to both. He could see, spite of their thanks, that, in trouble as they were, their first desire now was that he should be gone.
"I do not trust this man," Durgan said. "I would rather stay within call till you dismiss him."
"I'm all right, sir," said the darkie, again respectfully.
"He won't do us any harm," cried Bertha eagerly.
"I know who he is," said Miss Smith; "I know him to be unfortunate, Mr. Durgan."
Yet Durgan saw dismay written on Bertha's face as surely as if they had been attacked by open violence.
"Birdie, go out with Mr. Durgan and wait. You cannot be afraid to leave me while he is near."