Page:Teeftallow-1926.djvu/159

As she sang in her slightly nasal country voice, the real sunshine flooded her bedroom and burned along her floor like the light Moses saw burning on the bush.

At half-past eight Nessie went down to the Grand, and within a few minutes Mrs. Roxie Biggers came in with a scrap of pink calico which she wanted to match with thread. The old woman pawed impatiently among the spools in the coloured tray while she talked of something else.

"This dress is for one of the Skillern childern, pore little things; the Willin' Workers give it an' I'm makin' it." She glanced around to see if any other customer were near and sank her voice.

"You know Mr. Biggers has almost completely overcome his cravin'; ain't that a miracle!"

"He has!" Nessie selected another spool and placed it against the cloth.

"Yes, an' he tol' me this mornin' he b'lieved his faith was a-goin' to pull him through."

"I hope so, Miss Roxie," nodded Nessie earnestly.

"Nessie, in yore prayers, would you min' puttin' in my husban's name an' askin' God to make this cure permanent? I know you are a good Christian girl."

Nessie's heart expanded and tears came to her eyes. "You know I will, Miss Roxie."

Mrs. Biggers made her selection of thread and hurried out of the store compressing her thin lips and narrowing her eyes with the intensity of her purpose. In this instance her purpose was to clothe the children of a destitute family on the edge of town. She was thinking over certain dresses belonging to the children of well-to-do families and she meant to go to the parents and work those dresses out of them for the Skillern children. The old woman was ruthless when it came to forcing other persons to perform charitable deeds. She invariably left every donor angry.

Nessie, with a certain tenderness in her heart, watched her go. Then she went back to the hats Mrs. Peckham had laid out for her. She began sewing some silver lace on a wire hat