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Jose loved giving orders to the servants, and they loved obeying her. She always made them feel they were taking part in some drama.
Jose, her sister Meg, and servant Hans have just finished moving the piano in the drawing room. She lets them know the rest of her plan, moving a sofa against a wall and removing the rest of the furniture, except the chairs, out of the room. This quote showcases two of Jose’s defining traits: she is controlling and dramatic. In many ways, Jose is a small copy of her mother. She is comfortable in her role as mistress to the servants. It is difficult to know if the idea that the servants love to obey her is genuine or a bit of the narrator’s irony.
But at the word "Good-bye," and although the piano sounded more desperate than ever, her face broke into a brilliant, dreadfully unsympathetic smile.
“Aren’t I in good voice, mummy?” she beamed.
Jose has just finished singing a melancholy song. Her smile is inappropriate for the song’s subject. Her inability to be sympathetic with the voice of the song foreshadows her lack of sympathy for Mr. Scott and his family after the accident. She looks to her mother for approval, childishly calling her “mummy.” Jose shows less maturity than her sister Laura.
"Oh, Laura!" Jose began to be seriously annoyed. "If you're going to stop a band playing every time some one has an accident, you'll lead a very strenuous life. I’m every bit as sorry about it as you. I feel just as sympathetic." Her eyes hardened. She looked at her sister just as she used to when they were little and fighting together. "You won't bring a drunken workman back to life by being sentimental,” she said softly.
Jose has this tirade after Laura suggests canceling the party. At first, she was amazed at the idea. It never occurred to her that they would. But here she is becoming “seriously annoyed.” She downplays the accident, as if a man being killed in an accident at their doorstep were a common occurrence. She is clearly not “just as sympathetic” as Laura, although she likes to think she is. Readers also see that Laura and Jose have fought since they were young, indicating that they have long had conflicting personalities. By accusing Mr. Scott of being “a drunken workman,” she shows her contempt for the working class. She is willing to suspect the worst of Scott, implying that his death is the result of a moral failing.
