Emily’s Husband
by
Emily Fair got out of Hiram Jameson’s waggon at the gate. She took her satchel and parasol and, in her clear, musical tones, thanked him for bringing her home. Emily had a very distinctive voice. It was very sweet always and very cold generally; sometimes it softened to tenderness with those she loved, but in it there was always an undertone of inflexibility and reserve. Nobody had ever heard Emily Fair’s voice tremble.
“You are more than welcome, Mrs. Fair,” said Hiram Jameson, with a glance of bold admiration. Emily met it with an unflinching indifference. She disliked Hiram Jameson. She had been furious under all her external composure because he had been at the station when she left the train.
Jameson perceived her scorn, but chose to disregard it.
“Proud as Lucifer,” he thought as he drove away. “Well, she’s none the worse of that. I don’t like your weak women–they’re always sly. If Stephen Fair don’t get better she’ll be free and then–“
He did not round out the thought, but he gloated over the memory of Emily, standing by the gate in the harsh, crude light of the autumn sunset, with her tawny, brown hair curling about her pale, oval face and the scornful glint in her large, dark-grey eyes.
Emily stood at the gate for some time after Jameson’s waggon had disappeared. When the brief burst of sunset splendour had faded out she turned and went into the garden where late asters and chrysanthemums still bloomed. She gathered some of the more perfect ones here and there. She loved flowers, but to-night the asters seemed to hurt her, for she presently dropped those she had gathered and deliberately set her foot on them.
A sudden gust of wind came over the brown, sodden fields and the ragged maples around the garden writhed and wailed. The air was raw and chill. The rain that had threatened all day was very near. Emily shivered and went into the house.
Amelia Phillips was bending over the fire. She came forward and took Emily’s parcels and wraps with a certain gentleness that sat oddly on her grim personality.
“Are you tired? I’m glad you’re back. Did you walk from the station?”
“No. Hiram Jameson was there and offered to drive me home. I’d rather have walked. It’s going to be a storm, I think. Where is John?”
“He went to the village after supper,” answered Amelia, lighting a lamp. “We needed some things from the store.”
The light flared up as she spoke and brought out her strong, almost harsh features and deep-set black eyes. Amelia Phillips looked like an overdone sketch in charcoal.
“Has anything happened in Woodford while I’ve been away?” asked Emily indifferently. Plainly she did not expect an affirmative answer. Woodford life was not eventful.
Amelia glanced at her sharply. So she had not heard! Amelia had expected that Hiram Jameson would have told her. She wished that he had, for she never felt sure of Emily. The older sister knew that beneath that surface reserve was a passionate nature, brooking no restraint when once it overleaped the bounds of her Puritan self-control. Amelia Phillips, with all her naturally keen insight and her acquired knowledge of Emily’s character, had never been able to fathom the latter’s attitude of mind towards her husband. From the time that Emily had come back to her girlhood’s home, five years before, Stephen Fair’s name had never crossed her lips.
“I suppose you haven’t heard that Stephen is very ill,” said Amelia slowly.
Not a feature of Emily’s face changed. Only in her voice when she spoke was a curious jarring, as if a false note had been struck in a silver melody.
“What is the matter with him?”
“Typhoid,” answered Amelia briefly. She felt relieved that Emily had taken it so calmly. Amelia hated Stephen Fair with all the intensity of her nature because she believed that he had treated Emily ill, but she had always been distrustful that Emily in her heart of hearts loved her husband still. That, in Amelia Phillips’ opinion, would have betrayed a weakness not to be tolerated.