It might be the last time.

Little by little, as he went on, with harmless, sometimes very clumsy, jokes and jests, she became oblivious of her wretched prospects, and her soul rested in the present.

She began to smile shyly at first, then she even laughed.

As Zashue ate he praised her cooking; and that gratified her, although it filled her with remorse and anguish.

The children came also and squatted around the hearth, Okoya alone keeping at a distance and eyeing his mother suspiciously.