A Country Doctor and Selected Stories and SketchesJewett, Sarah Orne
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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
Priscilla had come to the guest's room on some undeclared errand, for
it had already been put in order, and she viewed with pleasure the
simple arrangements for dressing which were in one place and another
about the room. Priscilla had scorned the idea of putting this visitor
into the best bedroom, and had had secret expectations that Miss
Prince's niece would feel more at home with her than with her
mistress. But Miss Anna was as much of a lady as Miss Prince, which
was both pleasing and disappointing, as Priscilla hoped to solace some
disrespectful feelings of her own heart by taking down Miss Nancy's
pride. However, her loyalty to the house was greater than her own very
small grudges, and as she pretended to have some difficulty with the
fastening of the blind, she said in a whisper, "Y'r aunt'll like to
have you make yourself look pretty," which was such a reminder of
Marilla's affectionate worldliness that Nan had to laugh aloud. "I'm
afraid I haven't anything grand enough," she told the departing
housekeeper, whose pleasure it was not hard to discern.
It was with a very gratified mind that Miss Prince walked down the
street with her niece and bowed to one and another of her
acquaintances. She was entirely careless of what any one should say,
but she was brimful of excitement, and answered several of Nan's
questions entirely wrong. The old town was very pleasant that Sunday
morning. The lilacs were in full bloom, and other early summer flowers
in the narrow strips of front-yards or the high-fenced gardens were
in blossom too, and the air was full of sweetness and delight. The
ancient seaport had gathered for itself quaint names and treasures; it
was pleased with its old fashions and noble memories; its ancient
bells had not lost their sweet voices, and a flavor of the past
pervaded everything. The comfortable houses, the elderly citizens, the
very names on the shop signs, and the worn cobblestones of the streets
and flagstones of the pavements, delighted the young stranger, who
felt so unreasonably at home in Dunport. The many faces that had been
colored and fashioned by the sea were strangely different from those
which had known an inland life only, and she seemed to have come a
great deal nearer to foreign life and to the last century. Her heart
softened as she wondered if her father knew that she was following his
boyish footsteps, for the first time in her life, on that Sunday
morning. She would have liked to wander away by herself and find her
way about the town, but such a proposal was not to be thought of, and
all at once Miss Nancy turned up a narrow side street toward a
high-walled brick church, and presently they walked side by side up
the broad aisle so far that it seemed to Nan as if her aunt were
aiming for the chancel itself, and had some public ceremony in view,
of a penitential nature. They were by no means early, and the girl was
disagreeably aware of a little rustle of eagerness and curiosity as
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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