Our church was quite new and it was beautiful. All the casings were
oiled wood, and the walls had just a little yellow in the last skin
coating used to make them smooth, so they were a creamy colour, and the
blinds were yellow. The windows were wide open and the wind drifted
through, while the birds sang as much as they ever do in August, among
the trees and bushes of the cemetery. Every one had planted so many
flowers of all kinds on the graves you could scent sweet odours. Often
a big, black-striped, brown butterfly came sailing in through one of
the windows, followed the draft across the room, and out of another. I
was thinking something funny: it was about what the Princess had said
of other people, and whether hers were worse. I looked at my father
sitting in calm dignity in his Sunday suit and thought him quite as
fine and handsome as mother did. Every Sabbath he wore the same suit,
he sat in the same spot, he worshipped the Lord in his calm, earnest
way. The ministers changed, but father was as much a part of the
service as the Bible on the desk or the communion table. I wondered if
people said things about him, and if they did, what they were. I never
had heard. Twisting in my seat, one by one I studied the faces on the
men's side, and then the women. It was a mighty good-looking crowd.
Some had finer clothes than others--that is always the way--but as a
rule every one was clean, neat, and good to see. From some you
scarcely could turn away. There was Widow Fall. She was French, from
Virginia, and she talked like little tinkly notes of music. I just
loved to hear her, and she walked like high-up royalty. Her dress was
always black, with white bands at the neck and sleeves, black rustly
silk, and her eyes and hair were like the dress. There was a little
red on her cheeks and lips, and her face was always grave until she saw
you directly before her, and then she smiled the sweetest smile.
Maybe Sarah Hood was not pretty, but there was something about her lean
face and shining eyes that made you look twice before you were sure of
it, and by that time you had got so used to her, you liked her better
as she was, and wouldn't have changed her for anything. Mrs. Fritz had
a pretty face and dresses and manners, and so did Hannah Dover, only
she talked too much. So I studied them and remembered what the
Princess had said, and I wondered if she heard some one say that Peter
Justice beat his wife, or if she showed it in her face and manner. She
reminded me of a scared cowslip that had been cut and laid in the sun
an hour. I don't know as that expresses it. Perhaps a flower couldn't
look scared, but it could be wilted and faded. I wondered if she ever
had bright hair, laughing eyes, and red in her lips and cheeks. She
must have been pretty if she had.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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