Alvira sighed, and let her eyes wander compassionately2 from the kneading board and its batch3 of dough4 to the old, cushioned arm chair by the kitchen stove where Aunt Sabrina customarily sat. This last bereavement5 had rendered the hired-girl almost sentimental6 in her attitude toward the stricken old maid—so much so that when young Samantha Lawton dropped in, toward evening, and offered to sit down in this chair, Alvira had sharply warned her to take another.
The girl had brought a note over from Annie to Seth, and was not a little vexed7 that Alvira should have taken it from her, and gone upstairs to deliver it herself, instead of allowing the messenger to complete her errand. She declined, therefore, to display any interest in the subject of the aged8 aunt, and warmed her hands over the glowing stove-griddles in silence. The elder Lawton girl, Melissa, resting for a moment from her churning, turned the talk into a more personal channel.
“Fur my part, I think it’s a pesky shame, where there’s three big strappin’ men ’raoun’ th’ haouse, to make a girl wag this old chum-dash till her arms are ready to drop off. ’N’ I’ll tell ’em sao, tew.”
“I sh’d thought Dany’d done it fur yeh” said her younger sister, with a grin. “He allus seemed to me to be soft enough to do all yer work fur yeh, ef you’d let him.”
“Not he! Both he ’n’ Leander ain’t so much’s lifted a finger ’raoun’ th’ haouse to-day. They’re off daown to th’ corners, hangin’ raoun’ th’ store, ’n’ swoppin’ yarns10 ’baout th’ accident. They wouldn’t keer ’f I churned away here till I spit blood. In th’ mornin’ he’ll be awful sorry, of course, ’n’ swear he furgot all ’baout Wednesday’s bein’ churnin’ day. Thet’s th’ man of it!”
“’N’ I s’pose Milton never does nothin’ ’baout th’ haouse naowadays,” remarked Samantha, interrogatively.
“No, siree!” snapped Alvira. “You bet he daon’t! He’s tew high ’n’ mighty11 fur thet! Prob’ly he’s furgot so much as th’ name of a churn, even. He might git his broadcloth suit spotted12, tew. I wouldn’t dream o’ askin’ him. I’d ruther ask Seth any day then I hed Milton. He don’t put on half so many airs, even if he does git thirty dollars a week in Tecumseh, ’n’ live ’mong ladies ’n’ gentlemen ev’ry day ’f his life.”
Melissa rested from her labors14 again, to say sneeringly15: “Pritty ladies ’n’ gentlemen he use’t to travel with, there in Tecumsy, accordin’ to all accaounts!” Alvira paused in turn, with her arms to the elbow in the floury mixing, and an angry glitter in her little black eyes. “Ef I was some folks, ’n’ hed some folk’s relations in Tecumsy, ’pears to me I’d keep my maouth pritty blamed shut ’baout what goes on there!”
The retort was ample. There was no answering sound, save the muffled16 splash and thud of Melissa’s vigorously-resumed churning.
The lull17 in conversation was beginning to grow oppressive when the young visitor asked: “Haow does th’ fine lady take it?”
“She seems more opset than anyone’d given her credit fur,” Alvira answered, sententiously.
Melissa interposed to expand this comment, and rest her arms: “Yes, she seems opset enough. P’raps she is. But then agin, p’raps ef you was young ’n’ good lookin’, with blew eyes ’n’ a lot o’ yalleh hair thet was all yer own, ’n’ you hed a hus-ban’ twice as old as you was, ’n’ he sh’d fall daown ’n’ break his neck, ’n’ leave you a rich young widder, p’raps you’d cry yer eyes aout—when people was lookin’—speshly if thet husban’ o’ yours left a likely young brother who was soft on yeh. When you git as old ’s I be, S’manthy, you’ll learn ther’s a good deal in appear’nces.”
“When she gits as old as you air,” broke in Alvira, sharply, “I hope she’ll learn better ’n’ to blab everythin’ thet comes into her head! You’ll let that cream break, ef yeh don’t look aout!”
“I don’t b’lieve its within an ’aour o’ comin’” said Melissa, wearily resuming her task.
“No, but—reelly,” began Samantha, “is Seth——?”
“Never you mind whether Seth is or whether he isn’t,” answered Alvira. “A young tadpole18 of a girl like you’s got no business pryin’ ’raoun’ older folks’ affairs. You better go home! M’tildy may need yeh. Yer sister’s got her work to dew, ’n’ so ’ve I.”
This plain intimation produced no effect upon Samantha. She continued to warm her hands, which were already the hue19 of a red apple with the heat, and remarked: “No, she don’ want me. Annie said I might stay ’s long ’s I wanted to. She said she wanted to be left alone. She’s abaout the wuss broke up girl I ever sot eyes on. You ought to see the way she takes on, though. I bet the widder ain’t a succumstance to her. Ef you’d seen what I saw, ’n’ heern what I heerd this afternoon, I guess you’d think so tew.”
The girl spoke20 calmly, with a satisfied conviction that nobody would tell her to go home again in a hurry.
“What was it?” came simultaneously21 from the kneading-board and the churn.
“Oh, I dunnao,—I ain’t much of a han’ to blab everythin’. A young tadpole of a girl like me, yeh knaow, ain’t got no business——”
“Come naow! Don’t be a fool, S’manthy! Ef you’ve got anythin’ to say, spit it aout!”
Thus adjured22 by the commanding tones of Alvira, the girl trifled no more, but related what she had seen, while hidden behind the thorns. She had a talent for description, and made so much of Annie’s stony23 face and strange behavior, that she succeeded in producing an effect of mystification upon her listeners scarcely second to that under which she, as an involuntary spectator, had labored24. The success of her recital25 was not lost upon Samantha, as she went on:
“Et was after th’ undertaker’s waggin ’n’ th’ men—some gallus lookin’ young fellers, f’m Tecumsey I guess, was amongst ’em—et was after these’d all gone by, thet I heerd her talk. She kind o’ hid herself in th’ bushes while they was a goin’ by, ’n’ stared at ’em like mad, ez fur’s she c’d folly26 ’em. Then she bust27 aout—not a-cryin’ mind yeh, fur she never shed a tear—but wringin’ her han’s ’n’ groanin’ ’n’ actin’ ’s ef she was goin’ to faint. I c’d see her jest ez plain ’s I kin13 see you stan’in’ there naow, ’n’ heer her, tew. All to onc’t she up ’n’ said——”
The young girl stopped here in the narrative28 abruptly29, with a fine disregard for the consuming interest with which her companions were regarding her; she lifted her nose, and drew two or three leisured sniffs30. Then she bent31 down at the side of the stove and repeated them.
“Ther’s somethin’ burnin’ in thet oven,” she said at last, confidently.
“Et’s th’ barley32. I knowed S’briny’d traipse off ’n’ leave it. She allus does;” said Alvira, flinging open the oven door, and dragging out with her apron33 a smoking pan of scorched34 grain.
Through the dense35, pungent36 smudge which temporarily filled the room, Samantha was heard to remark with offensive emphasis: “We allus drink genu-wine coffee over to M’tildy’s. She’s mean enough ’baout some things, but she wouldn’t make us swell37 ourselves aout with no barley-wash.”
“’N’ sao do we here, tew—all but S’briny!” retorted Alvira, indignantly. “She got use’ to drinkin’ it in war-times, when yeh couldn’t git reel coffee fur love n’r money, jes’ ez all th’ other farm-folks did. On’y she’s more contrary ’n’ th’ rest, ’n’ she wouldn’t drink nothin’ else naow, not ef yeh poured it into her maouth with a funnel38. But go on ’th yer yarn9!”
Samantha had to cough a little, on account of the smoke, and then it took her some moments to collect the thread of her narrative. But at last even the spirit of Tantalus could invent no further delay, and she proceeded:
“Well, she didn’t say much, fer a fact, but they was business in ev’ry word she did say. Fust she hollered aout—right aout, I tell yeh: ‘Et’s a wicked lie! She’s a bad, wicked woman! ’ Then she stopped fer awhile ’n’ put her han’s up to her for’id—like this. Then she shuk herself, ’n’ commenced to climb back over th’ stile, but she seemed to think better of it, ’n’ started fer her own haouse, like’s ef she was a walkin’ in her sleep, ’n’ a groanin’ to herself: ‘Seth a murd’rer! Seth a murd’rer!’ Thet’s what I heerd!”
The girl put both feet up on the stove hearth39, and tilted40 her chair back in conscious triumph. “Got ’n’ apple handy?” she inquired of Alvira, carelessly, in the tone of one whose position in life was assured.
To this strange recital, involving such terrible suggestions, there succeeded a full minute of silence in the kitchen, broken only by the ponderous41 clucking of the high wooden clock. Alvira and Melissa looked at each other dumbly—each for once willing to forego the first word.
“Well, what d’yeh say to thet?” finally asked Melissa.
After some reflection, Alvira answered, “I sh’d say S’manthy was a lyin’.”
“S’elp me die, crisscross, I ain’t!” protested the girl at the stove: “I’ve told it all, jest’s it happened, straight’s a string. Where’s yer apples?”
Alvira meditated42 again for a moment. Then she said to her subordinate: “Go down ’n’ git that sister o’ yourn a Spitzenberg—’n’ bring up some cider, yeh might’s well, too.”
When Melissa had gone, Alvira went over to the ‘younger girl, and gripped her sharply by the shoulder: “Look here, you, is what you’ve be’n tellin’ us here honest? Don’t lie to me!”
“Honest Injun? Alviry! ev’ry word!”
Alvira returned to her dough, and slapped it savagely43 into a huge, unnatural44 pancake. She maintained silence until Melissa had returned, and not only supplied her sister’s wants, but poured out a cupful of the new cider for herself, as a proof of her appreciation45 of the Lawton family’s supremacy46 over the existing crisis. Then Alvira spoke:
“I don’t ’tach th’ least ’mportance in th’ world to what S’manthy heerd. Annie’s a school-teacher, ’n’ she’s be’n workin’ pritty hard, ’n’ this thing’s kind o’ opset her—what with tendin’ to her gran’mother, ’n’ then this teachin’, which is narvous, wearin’ kine o’ work. Thet’s th’ trewth o’ th’ matter. I kin un-derstan’ it. She was jest aout of her senses. But other folks won’t understan’ it as I dew. Once a hint gits flyin’ amongst outsiders, who knaows where it’ll stop? Naow, girl ’n’ woman, I’ve be’n in this haouse twenty year ’n’ more. I’m more a Fairchild than I’m anythin’ else. I remember th’ man in there—layin’ dead in th’ parlor47—when he was a youngster, comin’ home f’m college; I remember Seth when he was a baby. I ain’t got no folks of my own thet I keer a thaousandth part ‘s much abaout, nur owe a thaousandth part ’s much tew, ez I dew this Fairchile fam’ly. Well! They’ve hed trouble enough, this las’ tew year, ‘thout havin’ any added onto it by th’ tattlin’, gossipin’ tongues of outsiders. I ain’t goin’ to hev it! D’yeh understan’! Ef I heer s’ much’s a whisper of this yere crazy school-teacher’s nonsense reported ‘raound, by th’ Lord above, I’ll skin yeh both alive!”
“Who’s b’en a gossipin’?” asked Samantha, reproachfully. “I shouldn’t never said a word, ef you hadn’t insisted, ’n’ called me a fool fur holdin’ my tongue.”
“I dunnao where you’ll gao to when you die, S’manthy,” said Alvira, reflectively. “But nao, girls, trewly naow, this mustn’t be mentioned. Yeh kin see with half ’n eye what a raow it’d stir up. Naow prommus me, both o’ yeh, thet not a word of it shell pass yer lips. Yeh can see fer yerself haow foolish it is! Ev’rybody knaows he driv off th’ raoad, ’n’ killed himself ’n’ th’ hosses by th’ fall. It’s ez plain ‘s th’ nose on yer face. Still it’s jest sech cases as this thet people git talkin’ abaout, once they’re sot goin’—so yeh will promise me, won’t yeh?”
They promised.
“Hon’r bright, ye’ll never say a word to nao livin’ soul?”
They asseverated48 solemnly, honor bright, and Samantha had a doughnut as well as another cup of cider.
The tiresome49 butter came at last, and the dough passed into a higher form of existence through the fiery50 ordeal51 of the oven; supper was laid and silently eaten; two neighbors, volunteers for the night-watch with the dead, came, and were ushered52 into the gloomy parlor; while apples, cheese, doughnuts and a pitcher53 of cider were placed on the table outside, for their refreshment54 in the small hours. Night fell upon the farm.
Melissa Lawton stole out-doors as soon as Alvira retired55 to her room, and made her way through the darkness to the barns. As Albert had done on the fatal previous evening, she opened the sliding door of the big stable, and called up the stairs to Milton. There was no response, and investigation56 showed that he was not in his room, although the lamp was burning dimly. The girl stopped long enough to look over the familiar coarse pictures on the walls and the shelf, and then crept down the steep stairs again.
As she groped her way through the blackness to the stable door she came suddenly in contact with a person entering, and felt herself rudely seized and pushed back at arms’ length.
“Who’s here? What d’yeh want?” demanded a harsh voice, which seemed despite its gruffness to betray great trepidation57.
“It’s me—M’lissy!”
“Come along aout here into the light, so I kin see yeh. What a’ yeh doin’ here, praowlin’ ’raoun’ ’n th’ dark, skeerin’ people fur?”
The Lawton girl’s native assurance all came back to her as she confronted Milton in the dim starlight outside—which was radiance by contrast with the stable’s total darkness—and she grinned satirically at him.
“You’ve got a nerve on you like a maouse, I swaow! You trembled all over when yeh tuk holt o’ me, in there. What was yeh skeert abaout? I wouldn’t hurt yeh!”
“I wa’n’t skeert,” the man replied, sullenly58. “What was yeh after in there?”
“I was lookin’ fur you.”
“What fur?” The tone was still uneasily suspicious.
“I got somethin’ to tell yeh.”
“Well?”
“D’yeh knaow, I more’n half b’lieve this thing wa’n’t an accident at all. What’d yeh say ’f it sh’d turn aout to be a murder?”
Even in this faint light Melissa could see that Milton was much taken aback by the suggestion. He thrust his hands into his pockets, pulled them out again, shuffled59 his feet, stammered60, and betrayed by other signs general among rustics61 his surprise.
“Pshaw—git aout!” he said at last; “what nonsense! Of caourse ’t was ’n accident. Didn’t th’ Cor’ner say sao? Daon’t ev’rybody knaow it?”
“Annie Fairchile don’t say sao. She don’t knaow it.”
The girl went on to relate the substance of Samantha’s revelations, adding unconsciously sundry62 embellishments which tended to throw a clearer light upon Seth as the chief figure in the mystery.
Milton listened with deep attentiveness63. His slow, inefficient64 brain worked hard to keep up with the recital, and assimilate its chief points. When the girl had finished he still thought steadily65 on this strange story, with its unforeseen, startling suggestions. Gradually two items took shape in his mind as most important: that Annie believed Seth to be the criminal, and hence would be estranged66 from him; and that if by any unexpected means people came to suspect foul67 play, here were the elements of a ready-made suspicion against Seth. The first of these was very welcome; it would be time enough to think of the other if a discovery were made.
“What dew I think?” he said at last, in response to the girl’s repeated inquiries68. “I think thet sister o’ yourn lied, ’n’ I think yeh better keep yer maouth, ’n’ her’n tew, pritty dum shet, ef yeh don’t want to git into trouble.”
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1
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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compassionately
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| adv.表示怜悯地，有同情心地 | |
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3
batch
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| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
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dough
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| n.生面团；钱，现款 | |
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bereavement
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| n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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7
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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8
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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yarns
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| n.纱( yarn的名词复数 )；纱线；奇闻漫谈；旅行轶事 | |
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11
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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14
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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sneeringly
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| 嘲笑地，轻蔑地 | |
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16
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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17
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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tadpole
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| n.[动]蝌蚪 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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adjured
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| v.（以起誓或诅咒等形式）命令要求( adjure的过去式和过去分词 )；祈求；恳求 | |
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stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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28
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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30
sniffs
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的第三人称单数 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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barley
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| n.大麦，大麦粒 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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35
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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36
pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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37
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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38
funnel
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| n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集 | |
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39
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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40
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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41
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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42
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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43
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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44
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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45
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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46
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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47
parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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48
asseverated
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| v.郑重声明，断言( asseverate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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50
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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51
ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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52
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pitcher
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| n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手 | |
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refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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55
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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56
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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57
trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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59
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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60
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
rustics
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| n.有农村或村民特色的( rustic的名词复数 )；粗野的；不雅的；用粗糙的木材或树枝制作的 | |
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62
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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63
attentiveness
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| [医]注意 | |
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inefficient
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| adj.效率低的，无效的 | |
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65
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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66
estranged
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| adj.疏远的，分离的 | |
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67
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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