He smiled--a brief flash of light in his eyes, an upward curl to his well-cut lips. She was so covered with a happy confusion that she did not hear Mrs. Carson's harsh nasal voice commanding her to bring more butter from the cellar until the farmer's wife uttered her order a second time.
In spite of the prodigious amount of food eaten, the meal was quickly over. It was not half-past eight when Clem Carson scraped back his chair, wiping his mouth on his shirtsleeve.
"Now, Sally, I'll leave you to clear the table and wash up," Mrs. Carson said briskly. "I've got to measure and sugar my blackberries for tomorrow's jam-making. A farmer's wife can't take Sunday off this time o' year, and have fruit spoil on her hands."
While Sally was stacking the soiled supper plates on the dining table, the telephone rang three short and one long ring, and Pearl, who had been almost forcibly holding David Nash in conversation, sprang to answer it. The instrument was fastened to the dining room wall. Pearl stood lolling against it, a delighted smile on her face, her fingers picking at the torn wallpaper.
"Un-hunh!... Sure!... Oh, that'll be swell, Ross! I was just wishing for some excitement!... How many's coming? Five?... Oh, you hush! Sure, we'll dance! We got a grand radio, you know--get Chicago and.... All right, hurry up! And, oh, say, Ross, you might pick up another girl. Sadie Pratt, or somebody. I got a sweetie of my own. Un-hunh! David Nash, a junior from A. & M., is staying with us this summer. Didn't you know?... Am I? I'll tell the world! You just wait till you see him, and then _you'll_ want to jump in the river!... Aw, quit your kidding!... Well, hurry! 'Bye!"
Before the one-sided conversation was concluded, David Nash had quietly left the room by way of the kitchen door. When Sally staggered in with her armload of soiled dishes she found David at the big iron sink, pouring hot water from a heavy black teakettle into a granite dishpan.
"Thought I'd help," he said in a low voice, to keep Pearl from overhearing. "You must be tired and bewildered, and washing up for nine people is no joke. Give me the glasses first," he added casually as he reached for the wire soap shaker that hung on a nail above the sink.