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Page 25
"Luella Miller used to sit in a way nobody else could if they sat
up and studied a week of Sundays," said Lydia Anderson, "and it was
a sight to see her walk. If one of them willows over there on the
edge of the brook could start up and get its roots free of the
ground, and move off, it would go just the way Luella Miller used
to. She had a green shot silk she used to wear, too, and a hat
with green ribbon streamers, and a lace veil blowing across her
face and out sideways, and a green ribbon flyin' from her waist.
That was what she came out bride in when she married Erastus
Miller. Her name before she was married was Hill. There was
always a sight of "l's" in her name, married or single. Erastus
Miller was good lookin', too, better lookin' than Luella.
Sometimes I used to think that Luella wa'n't so handsome after all.
Erastus just about worshiped her. I used to know him pretty well.
He lived next door to me, and we went to school together. Folks
used to say he was waitin' on me, but he wa'n't. I never thought
he was except once or twice when he said things that some girls
might have suspected meant somethin'. That was before Luella came
here to teach the district school. It was funny how she came to
get it, for folks said she hadn't any education, and that one of
the big girls, Lottie Henderson, used to do all the teachin' for
her, while she sat back and did embroidery work on a cambric
pocket-handkerchief. Lottie Henderson was a real smart girl, a
splendid scholar, and she just set her eyes by Luella, as all the
girls did. Lottie would have made a real smart woman, but she died
when Luella had been here about a year--just faded away and died:
nobody knew what ailed her. She dragged herself to that
schoolhouse and helped Luella teach till the very last minute. The
committee all knew how Luella didn't do much of the work herself,
but they winked at it. It wa'n't long after Lottie died that
Erastus married her. I always thought he hurried it up because she
wa'n't fit to teach. One of the big boys used to help her after
Lottie died, but he hadn't much government, and the school didn't
do very well, and Luella might have had to give it up, for the
committee couldn't have shut their eyes to things much longer. The
boy that helped her was a real honest, innocent sort of fellow, and
he was a good scholar, too. Folks said he overstudied, and that
was the reason he was took crazy the year after Luella married, but
I don't know. And I don't know what made Erastus Miller go into
consumption of the blood the year after he was married: consumption
wa'n't in his family. He just grew weaker and weaker, and went
almost bent double when he tried to wait on Luella, and he spoke
feeble, like an old man. He worked terrible hard till the last
trying to save up a little to leave Luella. I've seen him out in
the worst storms on a wood-sled--he used to cut and sell wood--and
he was hunched up on top lookin' more dead than alive. Once I
couldn't stand it: I went over and helped him pitch some wood on
the cart--I was always strong in my arms. I wouldn't stop for all
he told me to, and I guess he was glad enough for the help. That
was only a week before he died. He fell on the kitchen floor while
he was gettin' breakfast. He always got the breakfast and let
Luella lay abed. He did all the sweepin' and the washin' and the
ironin' and most of the cookin'. He couldn't bear to have Luella
lift her finger, and she let him do for her. She lived like a
queen for all the work she did. She didn't even do her sewin'.
She said it made her shoulder ache to sew, and poor Erastus's
sister Lily used to do all her sewin'. She wa'n't able to, either;
she was never strong in her back, but she did it beautifully. She
had to, to suit Luella, she was so dreadful particular. I never
saw anythin' like the fagottin' and hemstitchin' that Lily Miller
did for Luella. She made all Luella's weddin' outfit, and that
green silk dress, after Maria Babbit cut it. Maria she cut it for
nothin', and she did a lot more cuttin' and fittin' for nothin' for
Luella, too. Lily Miller went to live with Luella after Erastus
died. She gave up her home, though she was real attached to it and
wa'n't a mite afraid to stay alone. She rented it and she went to
live with Luella right away after the funeral."
Then this old woman, Lydia Anderson, who remembered Luella Miller,
would go on to relate the story of Lily Miller. It seemed that on
the removal of Lily Miller to the house of her dead brother, to
live with his widow, the village people first began to talk. This
Lily Miller had been hardly past her first youth, and a most robust
and blooming woman, rosy-cheeked, with curls of strong, black hair
overshadowing round, candid temples and bright dark eyes. It was
not six months after she had taken up her residence with her
sister-in-law that her rosy colour faded and her pretty curves
became wan hollows. White shadows began to show in the black rings
of her hair, and the light died out of her eyes, her features
sharpened, and there were pathetic lines at her mouth, which yet
wore always an expression of utter sweetness and even happiness.
She was devoted to her sister; there was no doubt that she loved
her with her whole heart, and was perfectly content in her service.
It was her sole anxiety lest she should die and leave her alone.
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