prickly heat break out at any minute.

So I hurried and stuffed the grey-blue darling in the top tray, lapped
the old black silk around my waist and belted it in with a black belt
off a new green linen I had bought for morning walks--down to the
butcher's in the High Street, I suppose. That is about the only morning
dissipation in Hillsboro that I can think of, and it all depends on whom
you meet, how much of a dissipation it is.

The next thing that happens after you have done a noble deed is, you
either regard it as a reward of virtue or as a punishment for having
been foolish. I felt both ways when Judge Wade came down the platform at
St. Pancras, looking so much grander than any other man in sight that I
don't see how they ever stand him. At that minute the noble black-silk
deed felt foolish, but at the next minute I was glad I had done it.

It is nice to watch for a person to catch sight of you if you feel sure
how they are going to take it, and somehow in this case I felt sure. I
was not disappointed, for his smile broke his face up into a joy-laugh.
Off came his hat instantly so I could catch a glimpse of the fascinating
frost over his temples, and with a positive sigh of pleasure he got into
the same carriage and took a seat beside me. I turned with an echo smile
all over me, when suddenly his face became grave and considerate, and he
looked at me as all the people in Hillsboro have been doing ever since
poor Mr. Carter's funeral.

"Mrs. Carter," he said very kindly, in a voice that pitched me out of
the carriage window and left me a mile behind on the rails, all by
myself, "I wish I had known of your sad errand to town, so that I could
have offered you some assistance in your selection. You know we have
just had our family grave in the cemetery finally arranged, and I found
the dealers in memorial stones very confusing in their ideas and
designs. Mrs. Henderson just told my mother of your absence from home
last night, and I could only come up to town for the day on important
business or I would have arranged to see you. I hope you found something
that satisfied you."

What is a woman going to say when she has a tombstone thrown in her face
like that? I didn't say anything, but what I thought about Aunt Adeline
filled in a dreadful pause.

Perfectly dumb and quiet I sat for a space of time and wondered just
what I was going to do. It was beyond me at the moment, and the Molly
that is ready for life quick