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Mrs. Freeman could never be brought to admit herself wrong to any point. She would stand there and if she could be brought to say anything, it was something like, “Well, I wouldn’t of said it was and I wouldn’t of said it wasn’t” or letting her gaze range over the top kitchen shelf where there was an assortment of dusty bottles, she might remark, “I see you ain’t ate many of them figs you put up last summer.”
Mrs. Freeman is described as having only three expressions: neutral, forward, and reverse. She rarely uses the reverse expression because she never admits her mistakes. Her usual response to being wrong is to say nothing. When she is pushed to respond, it’s usually something noncommittal and evasive, “[w]ell, I wouldn’t of said it was and I wouldn’t of said it wasn’t.” Or she seeks to change the topic and avoid confrontation entirely.
She had telephoned the man whose name they had given as reference and he had told her that Mr. Freeman was a good farmer but that his wife was the nosiest woman ever to walk the earth. “She’s got to be into everything,” the man said. “If she don’t get there before the dust settles, you can bet she’s dead, that’s all. She’ll want to know all your business. I can stand him real good,” he had said, “but me nor my wife neither could have stood that woman one more minute on this place.”
Mrs. Hopewell believes she has the power to use other people’s faults to her advantage. Before she hires the Freemans, she reaches out to their reference. He likes Mr. Freeman and thinks he is a good farmer. However, he does not have kind words for Mrs. Freeman. She is very nosy and a terrible gossip. She wants to know everything about other people’s affairs. Mrs. Freeman is, in short, difficult to deal with. Mrs. Hopewell does hire the Freemans, despite the bad reference, because no one else had applied. Mrs. Hopewell manages Mrs. Freeman by keeping her busy and ignoring her faults.
