Jane Field

usly. Mrs. Field's cleanliness was proverbial in this cleanly New England neighborhood. It almost amounted to asceticism; her rooms, when her work was finished

of stern activity that must have its outcome in some direction, and it took the one that it could find. Jane had used to take in sewing before her hands were diseased. In her youth she had learned the trade of a tailoress; when ready-made clothing, even for children, came into use, she made dresses. Her dresses had been long-w

held some old photographs. The box was made of a kind of stucco-work-shells held in place by a bed of putty. Amanda Pratt had made it

she replaced all but that one, got painfully up from the low foot-stool where she had been si

a bright square, wavered on the floor; the clock out in the kitchen ticked. Amanda looked up whe

held out the photograph. "I want to

e light. She compressed her lips and wrinkled he

o reply; she stoo

sked, looking from the pictur

t's Es

the

it's E

lare! When w

s ago, when she

asked me, I'd have said it was took for you

t anything

look dre

ole figure. It seemed as if shrinking from something, twisting itself

," said she. "I gue

r. "Of course you know if you feel well, but you do look dreadful

held out her hand for the photograph. "I must be goin'," she continued; "I ain't got my dust

; but then you an' your sister did look jest alike. I

n' I think we looked full as much alike after our hair begun to turn. Mine was a little lighter t

ll, I must say, I shouldn't dream but

ok her way ou

mornin'?" Amanda

he same,

ard this mornin', an' I thoug

don't walk an

in the shell box; then she got a little broom and brushed the shell

re was not much leisure for Mrs. Field all day. She seldom sat down for long at a

The town clock struck one. Mrs. Field went outdoors and stood by the front gate, looking down the road. She saw a girl coming in the distance with a flutt

saw Mrs. Field at the gate

mornin

beauti

gazed past her down the road

hope Lois is pretty well this morni

a harsh outburst that fa

go to school. She couldn't hardly crawl out of the yard. She ain't

thought she woul

h a thing as that without saying some

road. Beside the gate stood two tall bushes, all white with flowers

ool-house isn't much beyond my house; I'll just run over there and see if th

will

t you worry, Mrs. Field; I

stood a few minutes longer, then she went up the steps into the house. She opened Amanda Pratt's door instea

yet," said she, sta

she was wiping. "Mis' F

t I

he got h

she a

time for school to begin. Look here, Mis' Field, I gues

a sort of remorselessness towar

eld! you don

irl's gone t

ld turne

here till she comes?"

ndy Pratt, an' you mark my words! I ain't goin' to stan' this kind of work much longer! I ain'

sitting-room with a stiff ru

n't take on so-don'

little household duties had become to her almost as involuntary as the tick of her own pulses. No matter what hours of agony they told off, the pulses ticked; and in every stress of life she would set the tea-kettle back if it were necessary. Amanda stood in the do

great wail. "Oh, Lois! Loi

n't you, Lois? I found her layin' down side of the road kind of tuckered out, that's all, and I thoug

the horse's head. He did not offer to start; but she stood there, and said, "Whoa, whoa," over and ove

lifted Lois out, and carried her in

d she, in a weakl

nd laid her down on the sofa. She raised hers

do lay down," s

er and tried to force her gently

aid she. "I don't

ow she leaned over Lois and put it to her nose. "Jest smel

ion," said Mr. Starr. "I guess I shall have to

of the scho

cation," said Lois,

tone of decision in his drawling voice. He was a large man, with a pleasant face fu

"I'm much obliged to yo

re we

, but Mrs. Field never looked at him. S

for, mother?" said Lois, impati

before the sofa. "Oh, my child!"

der waist, and clung to her convulsively.

to get well?" she asked, as

he, "you ain't actin' like yourself. You're goin' to make Lois sick, if she ain't now, if you go on this way. You get up an' make her a cup of

d. Oh, my child! my child! I have prayed an' done all I could, an'

there, although she held her in her arms. She was in

I'm ashamed of you!" said she, severely. "I should

in't bette

ed herself, and went

s, terrified fashion. "Oh," said she, "y

rvous because you didn't come home. That's what made her act so.

Lois. "I never saw mot

u, I'd lay down a few minutes, jest on her ac

k I'd better; but there ai

head down on

e a little while. I'm goin' out to tell your mother

ea. She measured it out carefully, and never

hope you wa'n't hurt by what I

said Mrs. Field. Her face had a

ou don't

ain." She poured the boiling water int

the stove hearth. "What was you g

up some for her. She didn't eat

e and put it on to heat. I dun'no' of anything that gi

lped Mrs. Field. Presently the two wom

pered Amanda, who we

out her slender length, her white delicate pro

up; she's got to have some nourishment, anyhow," sa

exhausted that she made no resistance to anything. She let them raise her, prop her up wi

d eaten nothing herself, and now she poured some of the broth into a cup, and drank it down wit

down in the kitchen with her knitting.

manda was famous through the neighborhood for this beer, which she concocted from roots and herbs after an ancient recipe. It

beer," whispered Amanda. "I came round the

asleep. I ain't

"Don't you think you'd ought to h

e shrilly from the other room: "No, I ain't going to have a doctor

other called back. "She was always jest so ab

beer if she's aw

"I don't want a doctor," said she

n't want one," returned Amanda, soothingly. "I

k and closed her eyes. "I'm going to get up in

l her mother helped her t

needle-work in her lap. When any one came in, she took it up and sewed. Several of the neighbors had heard she was ill, and came to inquire. She told them, with a defiant air,

at she was going to church, but she did not speak of it again. Mrs

r than I am! I should think you

pass down the street with her stiff glide. Mrs. Field's back and shoulders were rigidly steady when she walked; she might have carried a jar of water on her head without spilling it, like an Indian woman. Lois, small and slight

istress about her which seemed to enervate the atmosphere, and hinder the girl in the fight she was making against her own we

went rather than annoy Lois. She was present at both the morning a

stomed sights gave her a sense of awful strangeness and separation. And this impression did not leave her when she was out on the street mingling with the homeward people; every greeting of an old neighbor strengthened it. She regarded the peaceful village houses with their yards full of new green grass and flowering bushes, and they seem

er gave her customary replies. She said openly that her d

's assumption that her daughter was not ill had half incensed her sympathizing neighbors; even Amanda had marvelled indignantly at it. But now the sudden change in her friend caused her to marvel still more. She felt a vague fear every time she thought of her. After Lois ha

f Lois?" said Mrs. Field, sudden

know, hardly

e's dyin' for the want of a little money, so she can stop work an' go away to some healthier p

pallid and quite unmoved in the low lig

e was so strong, that she failed to notice the course of another's. "She is," she repeated, argumentatively, a

ise of the frogs grew louder, a whippoorwill called; it s

f you will take Lois in here to meals, an' lo

ld?" There was a slow and conta

you're willin' to take Lois. I don't see how I can leave her any other

ou goin', M

anything about it. I don'

't say a

goin' down

u b

well's dead. I had a le

sped, "He

es

he matter,

t paralysis. I

se-you know anything abou

ft it all t

Mis' F

every cent o

it dreadful

adful right along,

the world; it ain't that; but it would do so much good to the livin'. Why, look here,

in' dow

hin' anyway, after all you've done, letti

he had known about this grievance

n there," repe

d," sai

said Mrs. Field; "but I

manda, "if you're willi

o," replied

the best I can,

working a new tidy or rug pattern. Any variation of her peaceful monotony of ex

lf to leave Lois. It seemed to her that she m

settled it in her own mind that her neighbor would certainly have the property. She wondered if she and Lois would go to Elliot to live, and who would live

ntirely alone for over twenty years; this admitting another to her own territory seemed as grave a matter to her as the admission of foreigners did to Japan. Indeed, all her k

s. Field was gaunt and erect in her straight black clothes. She had her black veil tied over her bonnet to protect it from dust, and the black frame around her strong-featured face gave her a rigid

to say good-by,

ted the other; she took it out. "Good-by, Mis' Field," she said. "I'l

She's afraid Mr. Starr will put Ida in if she don't; but there ain't no need of her worryin

," said Amanda, with a

the door. The departing woman said good-by, and went down the steps over the terraces. She never looked b

went back into t

you she was going?"

t ni

ell me till t

r mouth drooped. She faced about to the window with a haughty motion, and watched her m