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Page 40
"My clothes are not in the closet in my room and it is full of
things which do not belong to me," said Louisa Stark.
"Bring me that flour," said Sophia sharply to the young girl, who
obeyed, casting timid, startled glances at Miss Stark as she passed
her. Sophia Gill began rubbing her hands clear of the dough. "I
am sure I know nothing about it," she said with a certain tempered
asperity. "Do you know anything about it, Flora?"
"Oh, no, I don't know anything about it, Aunt Sophia," answered the
young girl, fluttering.
Then Sophia turned to Miss Stark. "I'll go upstairs with you, Miss
Stark," said she, "and see what the trouble is. There must be some
mistake." She spoke stiffly with constrained civility.
"Very well," said Miss Stark with dignity. Then she and Miss
Sophia went upstairs. Flora stood staring after them.
Sophia and Louisa Stark went up to the southwest chamber. The
closet door was shut. Sophia threw it open, then she looked at
Miss Stark. On the pegs hung the schoolteacher's own garments in
ordinary array.
"I can't see that there is anything wrong," remarked Sophia grimly.
Miss Stark strove to speak but she could not. She sank down on the
nearest chair. She did not even attempt to defend herself. She
saw her own clothes in the closet. She knew there had been no time
for any human being to remove those which she thought she had seen
and put hers in their places. She knew it was impossible. Again
the awful horror of herself overwhelmed her.
"You must have been mistaken," she heard Sophia say.
She muttered something, she scarcely knew what. Sophia then went
out of the room. Presently she undressed and went to bed. In the
morning she did not go down to breakfast, and when Sophia came to
inquire, requested that the stage be ordered for the noon train.
She said that she was sorry, but was ill, and feared lest she might
be worse, and she felt that she must return home at once. She
looked ill, and could not take even the toast and tea which Sophia
had prepared for her. Sophia felt a certain pity for her, but it
was largely mixed with indignation. She felt that she knew the
true reason for the school-teacher's illness and sudden departure,
and it incensed her.
"If folks are going to act like fools we shall never be able to
keep this house," she said to Amanda after Miss Stark had gone; and
Amanda knew what she meant.
Directly the widow, Mrs. Elvira Simmons, knew that the school-
teacher had gone and the southwest room was vacant, she begged to
have it in exchange for her own. Sophia hesitated a moment; she
eyed the widow sharply. There was something about the large,
roseate face worn in firm lines of humour and decision which
reassured her.
"I have no objection, Mrs. Simmons," said she, "if--"
"If what?" asked the widow.
"If you have common sense enough not to keep fussing because the
room happens to be the one my aunt died in," said Sophia bluntly.
"Fiddlesticks!" said the widow, Mrs. Elvira Simmons.
That very afternoon she moved into the southwest chamber. The
young girl Flora assisted her, though much against her will.
"Now I want you to carry Mrs. Simmons' dresses into the closet in
that room and hang them up nicely, and see that she has everything
she wants," said Sophia Gill. "And you can change the bed and put
on fresh sheets. What are you looking at me that way for?"
"Oh, Aunt Sophia, can't I do something else?"
"What do you want to do something else for?"
"I am afraid."
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