FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118  
119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   >>  
ds would have been your reward if you could have seen it, and although she had been delirious up to that time for several days, the sight of the poppies seemed to call her mind back. She died very peacefully and happily at daybreak this morning. She was a sweet and lovable girl and we had all grown very fond of her, as I am sure you did, too. May God abundantly bless you, dear Mr. and Mrs. Motherwell, for your kind thoughtfulness to this poor lonely girl. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto Me." Yours cordially, (Nurse) AGNES HUNT. "By Jinks." Sam Motherwell took the letter from his wife's hand and excitedly read it over to himself, going over each word with his blunt forefinger. He turned it over and examined the seal, he looked at the stamp and inside of the envelope, and failing to find any clue to the mystery he ejaculated again: "By Jinks! What the deuce is this about poppies. Is that them things she sowed out there?" His wife nodded. "Well, who do you suppose sent them? Who would ever think of sending them?" Mrs. Motherwell made no reply. "It's a blamed nice letter anyway," he said, looking it over again, "I guess Polly didn't give us a hard name to them up there in the 'ospital, or we wouldn't ha' got a letter like this; and poor Polly's dead. Well, she was a kind of a good-natured, willin' thing too, and not too slow either." Mrs. Motherwell was still silent. She had not thought that Polly would die, she had always had great faith in the vitality of English people. "You can't kill them," she had often said; but now Polly was dead. She was sick, then, when she went around the house so strangely silent and flushed. Mrs. Motherwell's memory went back with cruel distinctness--she had said things to Polly then that stung her now with a remorse that was new and terrible, and Polly had looked at her dazed and wondering, her big eyes flushed and pleading. Mrs. Motherwell remembered now that she had seen that look once before. She had helped Sam to kill a lamb once, and it came back to her now, how through it all, until the blow fell, the lamb had stood wondering, pleading, yet unflinching, and she had run sobbing away--and now Polly was dead--and those big eyes she had so often seen tearful, yet smiling, were closed and their tears forever wiped away. That night she dreamed of Polly, confused, troubled dreams; now it was Polly's mother who was dead,
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118  
119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   >>  



Top keywords:
Motherwell
 

letter

 

wondering

 
silent
 

things

 

flushed

 

looked

 

pleading

 

poppies

 

vitality


forever

 
English
 

thought

 
natured
 
dreams
 

ospital

 

mother

 

wouldn

 

willin

 

confused


dreamed

 

people

 

troubled

 

closed

 

terrible

 
remorse
 

distinctness

 

helped

 

remembered

 

unflinching


smiling

 

tearful

 
sobbing
 

memory

 

strangely

 

thoughtfulness

 

lonely

 

abundantly

 

Inasmuch

 

cordially


delirious
 
reward
 

morning

 

lovable

 

daybreak

 
happily
 

peacefully

 
excitedly
 
suppose
 

nodded