A Spinner in the Sun

am

itable, "go and get your

," answered the

mstress was becoming sated with quilts. She had never been to school, but Miss Mehitable had taught her all she knew. Unkind critics might have intimated that Aramint

s except the Bible and the ancient ledger in which, with painstaking exactness, she kept he

e cotton squares and diamonds. This was to be a "patriotic" quilt, made after a famous old pattern which Miss Hitty had se

Tatting, crocheting, and knitting were on the wane. An "advanced" woman who had once spent a Summer in the village h

andmas," she said scornfully, "and I reckon it's good en

which broke upon her luckless head the day she had timorously

dated back to her frivolous and girlish days, was underneath. Nobody ever saw it, however, and the gaudy woollen roses blushed

Mr. Thorpe's, which commanded an unobstructed view of the crossroads. A cover of brown denim protected the carpet, and the chairs were shrouded in shapeless ha

of figured plush, however, so nobody missed the fire. White and gold china vases stood on the mantel, and a little china dog, who would never have dared to b

flowers and fruit, covered by a bell-shaped glass shade. Miss Hitty's album and her Bible were placed near it with mathematical precision. On the opposite wall was a hair wreath, made from the shorn lo

self, for hymns were the only songs she knew. She could play some of them, with one hand, on the melodeon in

th would have given deep concern. It was a demure, rosy mouth, warning and tantalising by turns. Mischievous little dimples lurked in the corners of it, and even Aunt Hitty was not proof against the magic of Araminta's smile. The girl's face had the creamy softne

neasiness. "It's goin' to be harder to keep Minty right than 't would be if she was plain," m

inta, in a piping, girlish soprano, "

ss Hitty, grimly. "Some folks 'll never see th

, grey, questioning eyes.

en bad," answered M

raminta, threading her needle. "Would they go t

before had Araminta spoken thus. "There's no e

being burned up just for ignorance. Do you think I'll be burned up, Aunt

now. That's the sure way to perdition. I've told you time and time again what's right for you to believe and what's right for yo

he girl, dutifully. "It m

something I wanted to speak to you about, and I don't know but what this is as good a chance as any. You kn

She had wondered much at her mysterious e

an aggravating pause, "the woman tha

she bad? What did she do and how did

yet. If there's anything on earth I despise, it's a gossip. People who haven't anything better to do than to go around prying into other folks's affairs are better off dea

burned?" asked

s miserable. It's a good thing to keep away from, and if I ever hear of your gossiping ab

ssiping, Aunt Hitty?" she aske

iss Hitty. "Tellin' things about '

knew what she was talking about. She remembered the last quilting Aunt Hitty had given, when the Ladies' Aid Society had been invited, en masse,

r son ran away from home, nor that she didn't dust her bed slats except at hou

lks finds out she's come back to live here, and that she has to wear a veil all the time, even when she doesn't wear her hat. What I'm telling you for is t

?" asked Araminta, breathle

wing to Miss Mehitable as he passed. Araminta had obser

xcept Evelina and Doctor Dexter, and it's not for me to ask either one of 'em, though I don't doubt some of the sewin' society 'l

e way Evelina carried on. Why, if you'll believe me, she'd actually go to his house when there wa'n't no n

he crowning ignominy of the race. The girl's cheek flamed into crimson, for her own mother had been ma

ration clearly made out on a blackboard for an eager class. "If she'd stayed at home as a girl sh

s-and she got burnt. She was there all the afternoon and they took her to the hospital in the city on the night train and she stayed there until she was well, but she never came back here until just now. Her mother went with he

. When the word come that Evelina was burnt, Sarah Grey just put on her hat and locked her doors and run up to Doctor Dexter's. Nobody ever heard from them ag

nd what I'm telling you all this for is so 's you won't ask any questions, nor act as if you thought it was queer for a woman to wear a white veil all the time. You'll have to act as if nothing was out of the way at all, a

Aunt H

ary for you to lie, but you can keep your mouth shut. And I hope you see now what it means to a woman to walk st

th pity for women who so forgot themselves-who had not Aunt Hitty's superior wisdom. At the end of the prayer which Miss

m the contamination of mar

wn her skirt. One foot was on the immaculate footstool and her ankle was exposed to vie

you to keep your ankl

ppose the minister

d! Speakin' of ange

ster

he refused to wear glasses. On the doorstep he paused and wiped his feet upon the corn-husk mat until even Miss Mehitable, beam

ppointed hooks in the hall. It was cold, and the cheery warmth of the room beckoned him in. He did not know that he tried Miss Hitty by trespassing, so to speak, upon her preserv

ed feverishly at her skirts. As Mr. Thorpe entered the room,

warning undertone, referring to Aramlnta's skirts. "Why, Mr. Thorpe!

lean against the tidy, he was permitted to sit. He held himself bolt upright and warmed his hands at the stove. "It is goo

ts nest. He did not lean upon the tidy, nor rest his elbows upon the crocheted mats which protected th

How the child grows!" he said, with a friendly smile upon his k

and bent more clos

you?" questioned the mi

said Miss Mehi

the old house on the hill that has been empty for so long-the one the village people say is haunted. It see

her sound except the clock, which, in the pause, struck four.

iographical details of ancestry and individual; education, financial standing, manner of living, illnesses in the family, including dates and durations of said illnesses, accidents, if any, medical attendance, marriages, births, deaths, opinions, reverses, present locations and various careers of descendants, list of misfortunes, festivitie

such a woman had come." His tone was inquiring. It seeme

s Hitty, abruptly

t, carefully closing the door. It was only in moments

he stairs. Tactlessly, the minister

ying, gossiping man. I never knew before it was part of a minister's business to meddle

holly by surprise, "I only hoped to gi

went out of the room and slammed the door furiously, leaving the