ways the one to consult with
about matters o' dress."

"She passed away easy at the last, I hope?" asked Mrs. Crane with
interest.

"Why, I wa'n't there, if you'll believe it!" exclaimed Sarah Ellen,
flushing, and looking at her friend for sympathy. "Sister Barsett
revived up the first o' the afternoon, an' they sent for Elder French.
She took notice of him, and he exhorted quite a spell, an' then he
spoke o' there being need of air in the room, Mis' Deckett havin'
closed every window, an' she asked me of all folks if I hadn't better
step out; but Elder French come too, an' he was very reasonable, an'
had a word with me about Mis' Deckett an' Mis' Peak an' the way they
was workin' things. I told him right out how they never come near when
the rest of us was havin' it so hard with her along in the spring, but
now they thought she was re'lly goin' to die, they come settlin' down
like a pair o' old crows in a field to pick for what they could get. I
just made up my mind they should have all the care if they wanted it.
It didn't seem as if there was anything more I could do for Sister
Barsett, an' I set there in the kitchen within call an' waited, an'
when I heard 'em sayin', 'There, she's gone, she's gone!' and Mis'
Deckett a-weepin', I put on my bunnit and stepped myself out into the
road. I felt to repent after I had gone but a rod, but I was so worked
up, an' I thought they'd call me back, an' then I was put out because
they didn't, an' so here I be. I can't help it now." Sarah Ellen was
crying again; she and Mrs. Crane could not look at each other.

"Well, you set an' rest," said Mrs. Crane kindly, and with the merest
shadow of disapproval. "You set an' rest, an' by an' by, if you'd feel
better, you could go back an' just make a little stop an' inquire
about the arrangements. I wouldn't harbor no feelin's, if they be
inconsiderate folks. Sister Barsett has often deplored their actions
in my hearing an' wished she had sisters like other folks. With all
her faults she was a useful person an' a good neighbor," mourned Mercy
Crane sincerely. "She was one that always had somethin' interestin' to
tell, an' if it wa'n't for her dyin' spells an' all that sort o'
nonsense, she'd make a figger in the world, she would so. She walked
with an air always, Mis' Barsett did; you'd ask who she was if you
hadn't known, as she passed you by. How quick we forget the outs about
anybody that's gone! But I always feel grateful to anybody