Farm life -- Indiana -- Fiction; Indiana -- Fiction; Sex role -- Fiction
She found travelling even easier than any one had told her. Each
station was announced. When she alighted, there were conveyances to
take her and her luggage to a hotel, patronized almost exclusively by
teachers, near the schools and lecture halls. Large front suites and
rooms were out of the question for Kate, but luckily a tiny corner room
at the back of the building was empty and when Kate specified how long
she would remain, she secured it at a less figure than she had expected
to pay. She began by almost starving herself at supper in order to
save enough money to replace her hat with whatever she could find that
would serve passably, and be cheap enough. That far she proceeded
stoically; but when night settled and she stood in her dressing jacket
brushing her hair, something gave way. Kate dropped on her bed and
cried into her pillow, as she never had cried before about anything.
It was not ALL about the hat. While she was at it, she shed a few
tears about every cruel thing that had happened to her since she could
remember that she had borne tearlessly at the time. It was a deluge
that left her breathless and exhausted. When she finally sat up, she
found the room so close, she gently opened her door and peeped into the
hall. There was a door opening on an outside veranda, running across
the end of the building and the length of the front.
As she looked from her door and listened intently, she heard the sound
of a woman's voice in choking, stifled sobs, in the room having a door
directly across the narrow hall from hers.
"My Lord! THERE'S TWO OF US!" said Kate.
She leaned closer, listening again, but when she heard a short groan
mingled with the sobs, she immediately tapped on the door. Instantly
the sobs ceased and the room became still. Kate put her lips to the
crack and said in her off-hand way: "It's only a school-marm, rooming
next you. If you're ill, could I get anything for you?"
"Will you please come in?" asked a muffled voice.
Kate turned the knob, and stepping inside, closed the door after her.
She could dimly see her way to the dresser, where she found matches and
lighted the gas. On the bed lay in a tumbled heap a tiny, elderly,
Dresden-china doll-woman. She was fully dressed, even to her wrap,
bonnet, and gloves; one hand clutched her side, the other held a
handkerchief to her lips. Kate stood an instant under the light,
studying the situation. The dark eyes in the narrow face looked
appealingly at her. The woman tried to speak, but gasped for breath.
Kate saw that she had heart trouble.
"The remedy! Where is it?" she cried.
The woman pointed to a purse on the dresser. Kate opened it, took out
a small bottle, and read the directions. In a second, she was holding
a glass to the woman's lips; soon she was better. She looked at Kate
eagerly.
"Oh, please don't leave me," she gasped.
"Of course not!" said Kate instantly. "I'll stay as long as you want
me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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