Page 61 (1/1)
"Muvver sended for oo," cried Fay, as Jane kissed her, "an' oo never tome"
"I didn't know, Fay; but I've coarden and ditch and field, and she was dirty and ragged But rags and dirt did not hide her beauty The one thin little bedraggled garment she wore half covered her fine, slim body Red as cherries were her cheeks and lips; her eyes were violet blue, and the crown of her childish loveliness was the curling golden hair All the children of Cottonwoods were Jane Withersteen's friends, she loved them all
But Fay was dearest to her Fay had few play the Gentile children there were none near her age, and the Mormon children were forbidden to play with her So she was a shy, wild, lonely child
"Muvver's sick," said Fay, leading Jane toward the door of the hut
Jane went in There was only one room, rather dark and bare, but it was clean and neat A woman lay upon a bed
"Mrs Larkin, how are you?" asked Jane, anxiously
"I've been pretty bad for a week, but I'm better now"
"You haven't been here all alone--with no one to wait on you?"
"Oh no! My wo in"
"Did you send for es ever got to me"
"I sent the boys, and they left ith your women that I was ill and would you please coht the weakness, as she fought to be above suspicious thoughts, and it passed, leaving her conscious of her utter impotence That, too, passed as her spirit rebounded But she had again caught a gli its secret lines this time into her own household Like a spider in the blackness of night an unseen hand had begun to run these dark lines, to turn and twist them about her life, to plait and weave a web Jane Withersteen knew it now, and in the realization further coolness and sureness cae of her ancestors
"Mrs Larkin, you're better, and I' for you--a turn at nursing, or send you things, or take care of Fay?"
"You're so good Since one ould have become of Fay and me but for you? It was about Fay that I wanted to speak to you This tiht surely I'd die, and I orried about Fay Well, I'll be around all right shortly, butSo Ihter?"