h my work, if Miles would only stop undoin' what I
do. But it looks like I can't keep up any longer,' says she, 'with him
workin' against me all the time.' And Miles says, 'You hear that? You
hear that? Talkin' about lookin' after the children, and every child
grown and married and gone long ago! She's crazy, crazy as a loon!'
The doctor turned around and give Miles a look that hushed him up. And
then he took hold of Hannah's hand and smoothed it right gentle and
easy, and says he, 'That's right, tell me all your troubles; a trouble
is easier to bear after you've told it to somebody.'

"It looked like Hannah's tongue was loosed, and she went on talkin'
harder and faster than I ever had known her to talk before. Says she,
'I never was a lazy woman, and I always kept up with my work, I always
loved to work, and Miles never could say I slighted anything about the
house, but now it's different. It looks like there's a change come
over me. I can't do what I used to do, and there's times when I don't
seem to keer how things go. I reckon it's my fault, and I'm always
blamin' myself for not gittin' more done, but I can't help it. There's
a change come over me, and I ain't the woman I was a year ago.'

"The doctor, he was listenin' to it all jest as kind and earnest as
you please, and he nodded his head and says, 'Yes, I understand it
all, and I know exactly how you feel.' And he put his fingers on
Hannah's wrist and thought a minute, and says he, 'Hannah, my
child,'--No matter how old a woman was, honey," said Aunt Jane,
interrupting herself, "Dr. Pendleton would always say 'my child' or
'my daughter,' or 'my sister' when he was talkin' to her. Maria Petty
used to say that jest the sound of his voice was as good as medicine
to a sick person. And says he, 'There's one more question I want to
ask you: Is there anything you can think of that you'd like to have or
like to do?'

"And Hannah put her hand up to her face and burst out cryin' like a
little child, and the old doctor patted her on the shoulder and says
he, 'That's right; cry as much as you please,' and when Hannah had
kind o' quieted down, he says again, 'Now tell me what it is you want;
I know there's somethin' you want, and if you can get it, it'll make
you well.' And Hannah begun cryin' again, and says she, 'If I told you
what it is I want, you'd think I'm crazy sure enough, and may be I am.
My head feels heavy and dizzy,' says she, 'and sometimes I feel like I
was