At this she startled the community by reciting the
sleep-walking scene from Lady Macbeth, clad in a lace-trimmed Empire
nightgown, red slippers with high heels, whitened face, wild hair, and,
of course, the candlestick, with such terrible effect that the mothers of
the infant class had difficulty in getting their progeny to stay in bed
in the dark for some weeks to come. The pastor considered that, under the
circumstances, she gave the words "out damned spot" undue emphasis, while
the "Watch-out Committee" of the S. C. E. failed entirely to agree as to
what gave the nightgown a decided pink tint, opinions greatly varying.
Some insisted that it was flesh, while the pastor's wife, knowing the
flavour of persecution, firmly insisted that it was merely a pink cambric
slip, as was most right and proper. But her charity was immediately
discounted by Mrs. Barton, who said that likely it was pink lining, for
Marie's flesh was yellow, and not pink.
However, this event was soon forgotten in the greater interest that
gathered about Fannie Penney's return ride from town.
It seems that soon after Fannie left the town limits and was jogging
along the turnpike, the big roan horse of all work began to stumble, then
grew lame forward, and finally came to a standstill.
Fannie got out, examined his feet, soon found that not only had he cast a
shoe, but in doing so had managed to step on a nail and drive it into his
frog.
Pages:
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183