This touched upon an exciting subject to active members of that parish. Miss Binson and Mrs. Crowe belonged to opposite parties and liad at one time come as near hard feelings as they could, and yet escape them. Each hastened to speak of other things and to show her untouched friendliness.
“I do agree with you,” said Sister Binson, “that few of us know what use to make of money, beyond everyday necessities. You`ve seen more o` the world than I have, and know what`s expected. When it comes to taste and judgment about such things, I ought to defer to others”; and with this modest avowal the critical moment passed when there might have been an improper discussion.
In the silence that followed, the fact of their presence in a house of death grew more clear than before. There was something disturbing in the noise of a mouse gnawing at the dry boards of a closet wall near by. Both the watchers looked up anxiously at the clock; it was almost the middle of the night, and the whole world seemed to have left them alone with their solemn duty. Only the brook was awake.
Sister Binson
“Perhaps we might give a look upstairs now,” whispered Mrs. Crowe, as if she hoped to hear some reason against their going just t hen to the chamber of death; but Sister Binson rose, with a serious and yet satisfied countenance, and lifted the small lamp from the table. She was much more used to watching than Mrs. Crowe, and much less affected by it. They opened the door into a small entry with a steep stairway; they climbed the creaking stairs, and entered the cold upper room on tiptoe. Mrs. Crowe`s heart began to beat very fast as the lamp was put on a high bureau, and made long, fixed shadows about the walls. She went hesitatingly toward the solemn shape under its white drapery, and felt a sense of remonstrance as Sarah Ann gently, but in a businesslike way, turned back the thin sheet.
“Seems to me she looks pleasanter and pleasanter,” whispered Sarah Ann Binson impulsively, as they gazed at the white face with its wonderful smile. “Tomorrow `twill all have faded out. I do believe they kind of wake up a day or two after they die, and it`s then they go.” She replaced the light covering, and they both turned quickly away; there was a chill in this upper room.
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