"When that is gone I shall have some more for you," I promised.
"Oh, before all this is used up, I must try to get earning myself. But
this, with all those vegetables you gave me yesterday, will give me
such a start. I will buy a whole barrel of flour, it spends so much
better--and get some coals laid in for winter. They are the heaviest
expense."
"Yes," I said, impulsively, "and flannels for the children. It will be so
much better than crape."
"Crape!" she ejaculated. "I don't need crape for my husband. I have too
much mourning in my heart to put any on outside."
I meant some day, when I felt pretty courageous, to repeat her words to
Mr. Winthrop. Once outside, I found the glorious expansion of sky and
horizon very grateful after the narrow limits of the little cottage. At
luncheon Mr. Winthrop asked if I had paid my visit yet to Mill Road. I
acknowledged, with a slight crimsoning of cheek, that I had conveyed to
Mrs. Larkum a small sum of money.
"No doubt she will have a crape weeper as long as the widow Blake's."
"I did not think you noticed the trivialities of women's attire so
minutely."
"I do not as a rule; but in the case of your intimate friends, it is
natural I should endeavor to discover their especial charms."
"Mrs. Larkum said she was going to lay out the money I gave her chiefly
in flour and coals. I suggested flannel would be much better also to buy
than crape. She said she had no need to put on mourning; she already wore
it in her heart.
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