Of course she is exacting
and fretful at times, but that is only because of her illness, and I can
get along with it; but she has given me a pretty room, and allows me an
hour or two for air and exercise every day. I am happier there than I
have been since mother died."
"That is good!" said Sara.
"And only think," continued the pleased girl, "she is talking now of
going to the seashore. You don't know how I long for a sight of the
ocean! The only trouble is, she can't find a place quiet enough to suit
her--she hates to go to a great hotel, or where there is a crowd."
Sara looked up with a sudden thought.
"Killamet would be quiet enough--how nice it would be if she'd take my
house there!"
"Your house! Have you a house?"
"Yes, the children and I; it's not much of one--just a cottage, but
perfectly comfortable in summer. If Mrs. Searle would send down some
furniture, I think she could really make it cosey."
"I'll tell her about it" said Bertha, and did, with the result that the
lady decided to take it for the next two months, at a fair rental.
This little excitement over, Sara had only herself and the children to
think of, and in her weak physical condition these thoughts were far
from pleasant.
What was to prevent Bertha's experience from becoming her own, or
possibly Molly's, in case of evil fortune? If she should often be ill,
who would care for them? She seemed to herself, just then, such a frail
plank between them and want! She raised her white, blue-veined hands and
looked at them; they did not seem made for struggling, and a sense of
powerlessness, born of bodily weakness, enwrapped her in its hopeless
gloom.
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