ll her windows wide open, but no breeze came in, only th

er old loose muslin sacque. The muslin was white, with a close-set lavender sprig, and she wore a cameo brooch a

but Amanda did not notice her until she reached th

rathful voice; "if I'd had any idea

. "Is that you, Mis' Babcock?" she

t's left of me. O

ifficulty at the door, and a palm-leaf fan. Her face, in the depths of her scooping green barége bonnet, was dank wi

she stood looking sympathetically at her.

ink 'twas ho

me to get you a

don't agree with me very well. Oh, dear! You

adful sorry. Don't you wa

e jest a swaller, if you've

itannia teapot and a tumbler. She poured out some

cold water in hot weather," said Amanda. "W

mbler back to the kitchen, then she seated herself again, and res

old muslin sacque," said she

ve kept this sacque on pu

ther guess I shouldn't have come out of the house, if I'd any idea how hot 'twas in the sun. Seems to me it's hot as an oven

lks do that way

everybody does that's good housekeep

thing, but she

any fire from mornin' till night;

don't h

s garden sauce. I tell 'em sometimes I guess if they had to get the things ready an' cook 'em themselves, they'd go without. Seems sometimes as if the whole creation was like a kitchen without any pump in i

ings," said Amanda. "She brought me over some the o

t got none in my garden, an' I never shall have. It ain't my lot to have things co

o, the house will be

ot nobody to make one for you. Once in a while it seems as if men folks come in kinder handy, an' they'd ought to, when women work an' slave

replied Amanda. "You're real

. I'll see if I can get Adoniram to make you a screen-door next winter. Seems to me it does get hotter an' hotter

kin's got a hole in it," said s

a stockin' heel on purpose to

ied Amanda,

uble and twisted old mai

e and her neck we

oud, sarcastic cackle. "

fer of the screen-door. She had had so few gifts in her whole life that she had a me

easantly, "I don't want to hurt your feelin's, Mandy;

said Amanda, with a quick fla

ng. Anybody knows that old maids is jest as good as them that gets married. I ain't told you what I co

ot drawn tightly over her left h

, be you? You know I

plied Amanda, in

about. Look here, Mandy, how long i

three m

is' Green thought real favorable of it. Do you kno

d up. "No. W

manda Pratt, you can go down to Boston an' back, an

back at her in

down an' see Mis' Field an' Lois," s

on't live in Boston," she s

on to go round Boston an' see the sights, an' then, toward night, we can go out to Mis' Field's. Land, here's Mis'

shamefacedly. "I s'pose you think it's a dread

cking-chair in which she had be

had time to think it over, it's come so sudden." Amanda'

hought I couldn't go nohow, an' I dunno as I can now. Still, it does seem dreadful cheap to go down to Boston an' bac

er you can," remarked Mrs. Babcock. "I believe i

face had the wishful, far-away look that her grand

you'd ought to go on

n' go!" cried Mrs. Babco

men looked a

Mrs. Green, as if to some carping judge; "an' it a

I'm gone," said Mrs. Babcock defiantly; "I guess they can get along. Adoniram ca

rembling. "I'm dreadful a

," said Mrs. Babcock. "Here you ain't got nobody but jest you

, but it seems like a great undertakin'," sigh

rd that, Mandy. There your tenement didn't stay vacant two weeks after the Fields went; the Simmonses cam

ee you than anybody in Green River. That's one thing I think about goin'. I know she'll be tickled almost to death

m her last, Mandy?" in

a mon

is is a good

he seemed pretty well for her. I s'pose

pward contemptuously; "a great deal more fuss. There wa'n't nothin' ailed the girl if folks had let her alone, talkin' an' scarin' her mother to dea

dreadfully," Mrs. Green s

lves, scarin' Mis' Field the way they did about her. Seemed as if they was determined to have Lois go into consumption whether or no, an

heir clothes. Mis' Field had me pack 'em up in their two trunks, an' sen

rs. Green. "Now s'pose we go, what had we bet

cock promptly. "We can each carry a

this sacque to slip on, if it's as hot weather as 'tis n

etty long in the shoulders seams. I dunno how much they d

n that early train, an' stay all day in Boston, we shall have to buy us something to eat; we should

you can bake some cookies, an' then we'll set down in Boston Common an' eat it. That's the way lots of folks do. That ain't nothin

ter. An' Abby she was all for it, when I spoke about it to her. She thinks she can have the Fay gir

th a sigh-she was quite

cock sharply. "There ain't time for much thinki

of it over-night, anyhow. I can't start right up an' say I'll go, without a min

ide to-morrow morning. I'd ruther like to think

t you've decided. I guess I shall go whether or no. I've got three men folks to leave, an' it's a good d

I jest want to think of it over-night,"

abcock spread her green umbrella, and descen

n ever, I do beli

lowing in her wake. Her back was meekly bent; her face, shaded by a black sun-hat, was

motion," retorted Mrs. Babcock. Her green umbrell

ur fan," said

ome to see to things. S'pose anything happened to me, there ain't anybody. If I go, I've got to leave this house jest so. I've got to be sure the bureau drawers are all packed up, an' things swept an' dusted, so folks won't make remarks. There's other things, too. Everything's got to be thought of. There's the cat. I s'pose I could get Abby Green to come over

expression in her face. She went into the kitchen, kindled the fire, and ma

her. "I dunno how she'd manage," she said, as she watched he

cat's saucer and her own te

I'm goin' to do it. It's got to be done, anyhow, whet

t care nothin' about this muslin sacque," said she, "but I ain't goin' to have Mis' Babcock measurin'

'clock; the windows and blinds were all flung wide open, the braided rugs lay out in the yard. He put his gentle grizzled face in at one of the windows

see if you'd made up yo

, Mr. Babcock. Yes, you can t

nda's voice. She had a wild air as she stood

de up your mind to. She's gone to ba

, too," said Amanda. S

reen's, an' she says she's goi

'm goin'," said Amand

"I tell Ann Lizy she can stay a month if she wants to. Me an' the

dn't care if I had a man to leave

l her bureau drawers and closets in exquisite order. She did not neglect even the cellar

she, "what are you cookin' by la

tle short gingerb

l this time of day for. What you

lin sacque. I've got it

like to know what you've been

" replied Amanda. She tried to speak with cool composure, but her

en, for the land sake

us know. Things do

you ain't had no forewarnin' that you ain't goin' to live nor anythin

her part of the house. The Simmonses all went yesterday to make a visit at her mother's, and in ca

'clock train in the mornin'. I've made fifteen pies an' five loaves of bread, besides bakin' beans, to say nothin' of a great panful of doughnuts an' some cake. I ain't been up garret nor down cellar clea

lor sofa awhile, but she slept very little. At two o'clock she kindled a fire, made some tea, and cooked an egg for her breakfast. Then she arrayed herself in her best dress. She was all ready, her bag and bask

d Bible on the centre of the table. "There!" said she. "It ain't regular, I s'pose, an' I ain't had any lawyer, but I guess they'd carry out my wishes if anything happened to me. I ain't got nobody but Cousin Rhoda Hill, an' Cousin Maria Bennet; an' Rhoda don't n

rengthened. She listened intently for wheels, and looked anxiously at

and his wife sat beside him. Mrs. Green peered out from the back seat. "Mandy! Mandy!" Mrs. Babcock called

ered, "jest as soon as I

too much time,"

ff she leaned out and gazed back at the house. Her tortoise-shell cat was coming around the corner. "I do hope the cat will get along all right," she said agitatedly. "I've

, "I'd like to know how in creation you've left a saucerf

g back anxiously at the cat-"one for each day. I got extra milk last night

Babcock, who was laughing shrilly. Mrs. Gre

ou don't s'pose that cat is goin' to stint herself to a sau

got to go back, that's all," said she.

ried Mrs. Babcock. "She w

. Green, pulling gently at her compa

with a sarcastic titter. "It's goin' to be a dreadful hot day. Set down, Mandy. There ain't no use talkin'

intuition. She would never have dared use such a tone toward her without subsequent concessions. Amanda had always

n there, to give the cat her milk," whispered

as if they had never seen the landscape before. The meadows were all filmy with cobwebs; there were patches of corn in the midst of them, and the long blades drooped li

abcock, "there's cobwebs on the grass

n the platform, with their baggage around them. They did not talk much; even Mrs. Babcock looked serious and contemplativ

coming train; her worn face under her black bonnet, between its smooth curves of gray hair, had all the sensitive earnest

way women are enjoined to in the Scriptures; mebbe it's right for me to ta