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