FullReads

“Well, you set an’ rest,” said Mrs. Crane kindly, and with the merest shadow of disapproval. “You set an’ rest, an’ by an’ by, if you’d feel better, you could go back an’ just make a little stop an’ inquire about the arrangements. I wouldn’t harbor no feelin’s, if they be inconsiderate folks. Sister Barsett has often deplored their actions in my hearing an’ wished she had sisters like other folks. With all her faults she was a useful person an’ a good neighbor,” mourned Mercy Crane sincerely. “She was one that always had somethin’ interestin’ to tell, an’ if it wa’n’t for her dyin’ spells an’ all that sort o’ nonsense, she’d make a figger in the world, she would so. She walked with an air always, Mis’ Barsett did; you’d ask who she was if you hadn’t known, as she passed you by. How quick we forget the outs about anybody that’s gone! But I always feel grateful to anybody that’s friendly, situated as I be. I shall miss her runnin’ over. I can seem to see her now, coming over the rise in the road. But don’t you get in a way of takin’ things too hard, Sarah Ellen! You’ve worked yourself all to pieces since I saw you last; you’re gettin’ to be as lean as a meetin’-house fly. Now, you’re comin’ in to have a cup o’ tea with me, an’ then you’ll feel better. I’ve got some new molasses gingerbread that I baked this mornin’.”

“I do feel beat out, Mis’ Crane,” acknowledged the poor little soul, glad of a chance to speak, but touched by this unexpected mark of consideration. “If I could ha’ done as I wanted to I should be feelin’ well enough, but to be set aside an’ ordered about, where I’d taken the lead in sickness so much, an’ knew how to deal with Sister Barsett so well! She might be livin’ now, perhaps”–

“Come; we’d better go in, ’tis gettin’ damp,” and the mistress of the house rose so hurriedly as to seem bustling. “Don’t dwell on Sister Barsett an’ her foolish folks no more; I wouldn’t, if I was you.”

They went into the front room, which was dim with the twilight of the half-closed blinds and two great syringa bushes that grew against them. Sarah Ellen put down her bundle and bestowed herself in the large, cane-seated rocking-chair. Mrs. Crane directed her to stay there awhile and rest, and then come out into the kitchen when she got ready.

A cheerful clatter of dishes was heard at once upon Mrs. Crane’s disappearance. “I hope she’s goin’ to make one o’ her nice short-cakes, but I don’t know’s she’ll think it quite worth while,” thought the guest humbly. She desired to go out into the kitchen, but it was proper behavior to wait until she should be called. Mercy Crane was not a person with whom one could venture to take liberties. Presently Sarah Ellen began to feel better. She did not often find such a quiet place, or the quarter of an hour of idleness in which to enjoy it, and was glad to make the most of this opportunity. Just now she felt tired and lonely. She was a busy, unselfish, eager-minded creature by nature, but now, while grief was sometimes uppermost in her mind and sometimes a sense of wrong, every moment found her more peaceful, and the great excitement little by little faded away.

“What a person poor Sister Barsett was to dread growing old so she couldn’t get about. I’m sure I shall miss her as much as anybody,” said Mrs. Crane, suddenly opening the kitchen door, and letting in an unmistakable and delicious odor of short-cake that revived still more the drooping spirits of her guest. “An’ a good deal of knowledge has died with her,” she added, coming into the room and seeming to make it lighter.