I believe they were black."
"Mary Ellen, how hard you are on me! You didn't use to be. You never
were hard on anybody. You wouldn't have hurt a fly."
Her face contracted slightly. "Perhaps I wouldn't! perhaps I wouldn't!
But I've had a good deal to bear this afternoon, and maybe I do feel a
little different towards you from what I ever have felt. I've been
hearing a loose-tongued woman tell how my own niece has been made
town-talk because a man old enough to know better was running after
her. I said, years ago, I never would come into this place while you
was in it; but when I heard that, I felt as if Providence had marked
out the way. I knew I was the one to step into the breach. So I had Tim
harness up and bring me over, and here I am. William, I don't want you
should make a mistake at your time of life!"
The minister seemed already a younger man. A strong color had risen in
his face. He felt in her presence a fine exhilaration denied him
through all the years without her. Who could say whether it was the
woman herself or the resurrected spirit of their youth? He did not feel
like answering her. It was enough to hear her voice. He leaned forward,
looking at her with something piteous in his air.
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