Seth was standing alone on the hotel steps when Fanny began talking but
all of Green Valley that was abroad was gathered laughingly about her
when she finished and stood waiting for Seth's answer.
Seth had had a glass too much or he would never have done, never have
said what he did and said that day. He would never have taken poor,
harmless, laughter-loving, happy-go-lucky Fanny Foster, who had never
done a mean, malicious thing in her life, who had let her world use her
for all the little hateful tasks that nobody else would do and in which
there was no thanks or any glory,--Seth in his senses would never have
held up this dear though unfinished soul to the scorn, the pitiless
ridicule of her townsmen.
If Fanny had been touched with fire and eloquence because she spoke
with authority, Seth too talked with a bitter brilliance that won the
crowd and held it against its will. With biting sarcasm and horrible
accuracy Seth drew a picture of Fanny as made Green Valley smile and
laugh before it could catch itself and realize the cruelty of its
laughter.
Fanny stood at the foot of the wide flight of stairs like a criminal at
the bar. As Seth's words grew more biting, his judgments more cruel,
Fanny's face flushed with shame, then faded white with pain.
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