A Spinner in the Sun

ecle

it, expecting to find her breakfast, as usual. Much to her surprise, Miss Mehitable stood there, a

ad then been abruptly dismissed. Under the handle of her scrubbing pail, the

is slid onto women, and then, as if that wasn't enough, they're given skirts to hold up, too. Seems to me that if the Almighty had meant for women to be carrying skirts all th

ite gingham was of a similar length, and her sleeves, guiltless of ruffles, came only to her dim

use. We've cleaned our own and we ain't tired yet, so we

se he had no garden of his own. "I can't let you," she said, hesitating ove

nd marching triumphantly in. "You ain't strong enough to do cleaning. You

house had not yet taken on a habitable look, and as she stood in the l

tretched a line across the yard, and brought in the step-ladder. Miss Evelina sat quietly, and app

?" inquired Miss H

" returned Miss

t, with all this racket goin' on. I'll be out of here in a minute and then you can set here, nice and

r the water to heat," observed Miss Hitty, "but there's plenty to do before we get to scrubbing. Remember what I

f Araminta's strong young arms, they eventually went up as desired. From the windows descende

ings on the line," said Miss Mehitable, briskly. "They

make her some new ones, Minty," she said. "She can get some muslin at Mis' Allen

ss Sarah Grey had plenty of rugs. She's got a lot of rag carpeting put away in the attic if the moths ain't ate it, and, now that I think of it, I believe she packed it into the cedar chest. Anyway I advised her to. 'It'll come handy,' I told her, 'for Evelina, if you don't live to use it yourself.' So if the moths ain't got the good of it, there's carpet t

empty tray proved. She sat listlessly in her c

should think you'd hear the water fallin' on the stove," she concluded,

put things on the line

rted to cleanin', I'l

ried about the yard, dragging mattresses into the sunlight, hanging musty bedding on the line, and c

nd to," mused Miss Hitty, who was fully conversant with the Piper'

, and the sound of the scrubbing brush was melodious in her ears. She brushed down the walls with a flannel cloth tied ov

e. "It'll have to be painted," thought Miss Hitty, scrubbing happily, "but when it is painted, it'll be clean underneath, and that's more than it has been. Evelina 'll sleep clean to-night

d she carried it upstairs and put it in place. "I'm goin' home now after my dinner and Evelina's," said Miss Hitty, "and when

never questioned her aunt's dictates, and this

rtentous silence. Hurrying upstairs, she discovered that Araminta had fallen from the ladder and was in a

ll off the ladder! Help me pick her up, Evelina, and we'll lay her on the b

ried everything she could think of, and fairly d

ith some asperity. "Did she s

veil. "I was downstairs and heard her scream, then she fell a

It's easy to do it without movin' her after the under sheet is on and I'll help you with that. Don't pour any more co

ind was far from at rest. At the gate she stopped, suddenly confronted

Hitty. "What'll I do! Minty'

as fast as her feet would carry her, toward Doctor Dexter

shion, for Doctor Ralph Dexter answere

n aback. "I don't believe you're anything but a play

ead and laughed-a clear, ringing boy

rked as much like a yellow dog as I have. Anyhow, I'

already greatly relieved. "She fell o

e office and returned almost immediately. As luck would have it,

alph. "You can tell me about

ble of the comfort of the cushions nor the comparative luxury of the conveyance. She was also mindful o

s they cropped up in the course of her speech. "It's God's own mercy," said Miss Hitty, as they stopped at the gate, "that we'd cleaned tha

ty, who, in earlier days, had been wont to drive Ralph out of her incipient or

lina's dainty but yellowed nightgowns. Doctor Ralph worked with incredible quickness and M

ed, briefly, "and one or two bad br

ng antiseptic odours, and she seemed to be suspended in a vapoury cloud. On the edge of the cloud hovered Miss Evelina,

e last time I saw you, you were hanging out a basket of clothes. The grass was very green and the sky was a bright blue, and the petals of

ingly at Aunt Hitty, who had always valiantly de

ith me, Ralph Dexter,"

g to do to you. Eveli

till I

chair to the bedside. "I fell off the step-

fell, but you're all right now. You're going to stay here until

alph was in the hands of the attorney for the

wrong wi

en an

et broke?" demanded Mis

le to get broke by f

porised Dr. Ralph, "if it i

uld have had

turned Ralph, secretly am

re were other reasons why she c

n Minty

til she's well. She's g

ering keenly at him over her spectacles, "would s

. "She would," he said, in his best professional manner. "A shed would have had to be built over her." He fancied that Miss Hitty's co

d Miss Mehitable, "

very day for a long time-perhaps twice a day," he added, remem

sound. Pain, fear, disbelief, and

indly. "You know doctoring s

re's regular prices, I suppose," she said. "Broken toe,

eized with a viole

kles?" demanded

id Ralph, when he recovered his composure. "

e to by law. As long as you've got to come every day for a spell, and mebbe twice, I'll give you

nk," said Miss Mehitable, "that if you were as good a doctor as you pretend to be, you'd cure your own

secret emotion. "I couldn't think of taking as much as five dollars, Miss Hitty,

father," thought Miss H

e he ain't as

hen," she said alou

. Shake hands on it." He went out, his shoulders shaking with suppress

t, "and not too grasping. He might