She bustled back to the stove and poked up the fire . `` I 'll have a bit of corned beef and cabbage for dinner , '' she said , `` and I 'll make David that pudding he 's so fond of . After all , it 's kind of nice to have someone to plan and think for . It always did seem like a waste of energy to fuss over cooking things when there was nobody but myself to eat them . '' Josephine sang over her work all day , and David went about his with the face of a man who is going to the gallows without benefit of clergy . When he came in to supper at sunset his expression was so woe-begone that Josephine had to dodge into the pantry to keep from laughing outright . She relieved her feelings by pounding the dresser with the potato masher , and then went primly out and took her place at the table . The meal was not a success from a social point of view . Josephine was nervous and David glum . Mary Bell gobbled down her food with her usual haste , and then went away to carry Zillah hers . Then David said reluctantly : `` If you want to go home now , Josephine , I 'll hitch up Red Rob and drive you over . '' Josephine began to plait the tablecloth . She wished again that she had not been so emphatic on the occasion of his last proposal . Without replying to David 's suggestion she said crossly -LRB- Josephine always spoke crossly when she was especially in earnest -RRB- : `` I want to tell you what I think about Zillah . She 's getting better , but she 's had a terrible shaking up , and it 's my opinion that she wo n't be good for much all winter . She wo n't be able to do any hard work , that 's certain . If you want my advice , I tell you fair and square that I think she 'd better go off for a visit as soon as she 's fit . She thinks so herself . Clementine wants her to go and stay a spell with her in town . ` Twould be just the thing for her . ''
`` She can go if she wants to , of course , '' said XXXXX dully .
Bell Clementine David Josephine Rob Zillah day masher pudding tablecloth