When all the visitors leave, Isabel cleans up after them. She and Ruth eat the leftovers from the men’s plates, but Ruth barely touches her share. After dinner, they go downstairs to the cellar, where they sleep on a corn husk mattress by the potato bin. Isabel asks why Ruth was crying earlier. Ruth starts to cry, but she just repeats Madam’s orders: “No foolin’” and “Shhh.” Isabel thinks Madam must have hit Ruth for playing or talking out of turn. It infuriates Isabel that she can do nothing to protect her sister.
When Ruth falls asleep, Isabel gets out of bed and...
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