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An' I come up behind her an' plumped out at her to know what she was a-doin'. An' she says: "I'm makin' a call," just like that; "I'm makin' a call," s'she, smilin', an' not another word to be got out of her. 'An', says Mis' Sykes, 'let me tell you, I scud down that hill, one goose pimple. "'Let her alone, says I, philosophic. 'Leave her be.
"'An', s'I, 'even if I should give her somethin' else to put on in the mornin', an' sly this into the coffin on Jennie, I donno's I'd want to. The shroud, s'I, ''s been wore. "Mis' Holcomb sort o' kippered some like a shiver. "'I donno what it is about its bein' wore first, s'she, 'but I guess it ain't so much what it is as what it ain't. Or sim'lar. "An' I knew what she meant.
He called her 'Miss, too, an' I judged that 'Miss' was one o' them poultice words to her. "'I donno, s'she, 'but don't it look cheerful? The yard's all lit up nice, like fer comp'ny, she says, rill pleased. "It sort o' uncovered my nerves to hear her so unconcerned. I never hed understood her none of us hed.
"'I mean, I thought mebbe you'd like to help us some, I says. "'I would! s'she, at that, rill ready an' quick. An' it come to me 't she knew now what help meant. She'd learnt it the night before from Jennie's mother like she'd learnt to answer a bell when Somebody pressed it. Only, o' course she never guessed Who it was ringin' it like you don't at first.
"She was fair beside herself, bein' as the loss hed piled up on a long sickness o' Sum's, an' a big doctor's bill consequent, an' she nervous anyhow, an' a good deal o' the ribbin tyin' the stems was silk, both sides. "'I'll hev out the marshal, s'she, wild. 'I'll send for Timothy. They can't hev got far with 'em.
"'Up-un my word, s'she, like a cut, 'if this ain't a pretty note. What under the sun are you doin' sittin' there, Elspie, with my flowers? "Elspie looked up an' see her, an' see us streamin' toward her over the hill. "'They ain't your flowers, are they? s'she, quiet. 'They're the dead's. I was a-goin' to take 'em back in a minute or two, anyway, an' I'll take 'em back now.
But the north corridor, s'she, scowlin' some, 'is rather a trial to us. "An' I was waitin' for that.
"'No such thing, s'she, milkin' away like mad for fear he'd use force; 'I ain't carried a drop o' milk here. I've drove it, she says. "Timothy groaned. "'Milkin' in the church, he says. "'No, sir, says Amanda, back at him; 'I'm outside on the sod, an' you know it. "An' then my hopes sort o' riz, because I thought I heard Eppleby Holcomb laugh soft sort of a half-an'-half chuckle.
But now, s'she, 'I get to thinkin' sometimes I wouldn't mind a horse-fiddle if some of 'em played it. "'They're lots o' company, the little things, says old Mis' Norris she'd kep' mislayin' her teeth an' the navy-blue lady had took 'em away from her that day for to teach her, so I couldn't hardly understand what she said. 'Mine was named Ellen an' Nancy, I made out.
"My land! she was back in a minute with a soft piece o' linen an' the black oil off the clock shelf that I hadn't told her where it was, an' she bound up my wrist like she'd created that burn an' understood it up an' down. "'Now you get into the bed, she says, 'without workin' the rag off. I'm all right, s'she. 'I can lock up. I like hevin' it to do, she told me.
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