Then Serena looked up and saw him. She arose in great confusion, clasped the infant to her ample bosom, and, without a word of greeting, stepped through her doorway. Then, as though struck by an afterthought, she turned, thrust her head back through the opening, and called loudly:
"Oh, Maria! hyuh Porgy come home."
Then she disappeared and the door slammed shut.
Mystified and filled with alarm, Porgy turned his vehicle toward the cook-shop and arrived at the door just as Maria stepped over the threshold.
She seated herself on the sill and brought her face level with his. Then she looked into his eyes.
What Porgy saw there caused him to call out sharply:
"Where's Bess? Tell me, quick, where's Bess?"
The big negress did not answer, and after a moment her ponderous face commenced to shake.
Porgy beat the side of his wagon with his fist.
"Where, where-" he began, in a voice that was suddenly shrill.
But Maria placed a steadying hand over his frantic one and held it still.
