Maria didn't live long
afterward. She began to fade away just the same fashion the others
had. Well, she was warned, but she acted real mad when folks said
anythin': said Luella was a poor, abused woman, too delicate to
help herself, and they'd ought to be ashamed, and if she died
helpin' them that couldn't help themselves she would--and she did.
"'I s'pose Maria has gone home,' says I to Luella, when I had gone
in and sat down opposite her.
"'Yes, Maria went half an hour ago, after she had got supper and
washed the dishes,' says Luella, in her pretty way.
"'I suppose she has got a lot of work to do in her own house to-
night,' says I, kind of bitter, but that was all thrown away on
Luella Miller. It seemed to her right that other folks that wa'n't
any better able than she was herself should wait on her, and she
couldn't get it through her head that anybody should think it
WA'N'T right.
"'Yes,' says Luella, real sweet and pretty, 'yes, she said she had
to do her washin' to-night. She has let it go for a fortnight
along of comin' over here.'
"'Why don't she stay home and do her washin' instead of comin'
over here and doin' YOUR work, when you are just as well able, and
enough sight more so, than she is to do it?' says I.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93