Mary Cary: "Frequently Martha"Bosher, Kate Langley
General
Mary Cary: "Frequently Martha"
Bosher, Kate Langley
Children -- Juvenile fiction; Orphans -- Juvenile fiction
She was stuffed in the right places, and her hair was frizzed just like
Miss Bray's. Frizzed in front, and slick and tight in the back; and her
face was a purple pink, and powdered all over, with a piece of dough
just above her mouth on the left side to correspond with Miss Bray's
mole.
And she held herself so like her, shoulders back, and making that little
nervous sniffle with her nose, like Miss Bray makes when she's excited,
that once I had to wink at her to stop.
The groom didn't look like Dr. Rudd. But she wore men's clothes, and
that's the only way you'd know some men were men, and almost anything
will do for a groom. Nobody noticed him.
We were getting on just grand, and I was marrying away, telling them
what they must do and what they mustn't. Particularly that they mustn't
get mad and leave each other, for Yorkburg was very old-fashioned and
didn't like changes, and would rather stick to its mistakes than go back
on its word. And then I turned to the bride.
"Miss Bray," I said, "have you told this man you are marrying that you
are two-faced and underhand, and can't be trusted to tell the truth?
Have you told him that nobody loves you, and that for years you have
tried to pass for a lamb, when you are an old sheep? And does he know
that though you're a good manager on little and are not lazy, that your
temper's been ruined by economizing, and that at times, if you were
dead, there'd be no place for you? Peter wouldn't pass you, and the
devil wouldn't stand you. And does he know he's buying a pig in a bag,
and that the best wedding present he could give you would be a set of
new teeth? And will you promise to stop pink powder and clean your
finger-nails every day? And--"
But I got no further, for something made me look up, and there, standing
in the door, was the real Miss Bray.
All I said was--"Let us pray!"
VI
"MY LADY OF THE LOVELY HEART"
Beautiful gloriousness! Miss Katherine has come back!
What a different place some people can make the same place!
Yesterday there wasn't an interesting thing in Yorkburg. Nothing but
dust and shabby old houses and poky people who knew nothing to talk
about, and to-day--oh, to-day it's dear! I love it!
You see, after that wedding everything went wrong. The girls said it
wasn't fair for me to be punished so much more than the rest, and they
wanted to tell the Board about it; but for once I agreed with Miss Bray.
"I did it. I made it up and fixed everything, and you all just agreed,"
I said. "And if anybody has to pay, I'm the one to do it." And I paid
all right. Paid to the full. But it's over now, and I'm not going to
think about it any more. When a thing is over, that should be the end
of it, Miss Katherine says, and with me what she says goes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account