A Country Doctor and Selected Stories and SketchesJewett, Sarah Orne
General
A Country Doctor and Selected Stories and Sketches
Jewett, Sarah Orne
Maine -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
She wondered, before she went to sleep that night, where her father's
room had been, and thought she would ask Miss Prince in the morning.
The windows were open, and the June air blew softly in, and sometimes
swayed the curtains of the bed. There was a scent of the sea and of
roses, and presently up the quiet street came the sound of footsteps
and young voices. Nan said to herself that some party had been late in
breaking up, and felt her heart thrill with sympathy. She had been
dwelling altogether in the past that evening, and she liked to hear
the revelers go by. But as they came under the windows she heard one
say, "I should be afraid of ghosts in that best room of Miss
Prince's," and then they suddenly became quiet, as if they had seen
that the windows were open, and Nan first felt like a stranger, but
next as if this were all part of the evening's strange experiences,
and as if these might be her father's young companions, and she must
call to them as they went by.
The next morning both the hostess and her guest waked early, and were
eager for the time when they should see each other again. The beauty
and quiet of the Sunday morning were very pleasant, and Nan stood for
some minutes at the dining-room windows, looking out on the small
paved courtyard, and the flowers and green leaves beyond the garden
gate. Miss Prince's was one of the fine old houses which kept its
garden behind it, well-defended from the street, for the family's own
pleasure.
"Those are the same old bushes and trees which we used to play among;
I have hardly changed it at all," said Miss Prince, as she came in. It
must be confessed that she had lost the feeling of patroness with
which she had approached her acquaintance with Nan. She was proud and
grateful now, and as she saw the girl in her pretty white dress, and
found her as simple and affectionate and eager to please as she had
thought her the night before, she owned to herself that she had not
looked for such happiness to fall into her life. And there was
something about the younger Anna Prince which others had quickly
recognized; a power of direction and of command. There are some
natures like the Prussian blue on a painter's palette, which rules all
the other colors it is mixed with; natures which quickly make
themselves felt in small or great companies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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