the evening, ten to one
I KEPT my word to Jacobus . I haunted his home . He was perpetually finding me there of an afternoon when he popped in for a moment from the `` store . '' The sound of my voice talking to his Alice greeted him on his doorstep ; and when he returned for good in the evening , ten to one he would hear it still going on in the verandah . I just nodded to him ; he would sit down heavily and gently , and watch with a sort of approving anxiety my efforts to make his daughter smile . I called her often `` Alice , '' right before him ; sometimes I would address her as Miss `` Do n't Care , '' and I exhausted myself in nonsensical chatter without succeeding once in taking her out of her peevish and tragic self . There were moments when I felt I must break out and start swearing at her till all was blue .