It made her feel like rolling up her sleeves and putting the whole place to rights again.No matter if Cornelia was determined to be everywhere at once,there were a great many things left undone on this place.She would start tomorrow and do them.It was good to be strong enough for everything,even if all you made melted and changed and slipped under your hands,so that by the time you finished you almost forgot what you were working for.What was it I set out to do?She asked herself intently,but she could not remember.A fog rose over the valley,she saw it marching across the creek swallowing the trees and moving up the hill like an army of ghosts.Soon it would be at the near edge of the orchard,and then it was time to go in and light the lamps.Come in,children,don't stay out in the night air.
Lighting the lamps had been beautiful.The children huddled up to her and breathed like little calves waiting at the bars in the twilight.Their eyes followed the match and watched the flame rise and settle in a blue curve,then they moved away from her.The lamp was lit,they didn't have to be scared and hang on to mother any more.Never,never,never more.God,for all my life,I thank Thee.Without Thee,my God,I could never have done it.Hail,Mary,full of grace.
I want you to pick all the fruit this year and see nothing is wasted.There's always someone who can use it.Don't let good things rot for want of using.You waste life when you waste good food.Don't let things get lost.It's bitter to lose things.Now,don't let me get to thinking,not when I'm tired and taking a little nap before supper...
The pillow rose about her shoulders and pressed against her heart and the memory was being squeezed out of it:oh,push down the pillow,somebody:it would smother her if she tried to hold it.Such a fresh breeze blowing and such a green day with no threats in it.But he had not come,just the same.What does a woman do when she has put on the white veil and set out the white cake for a man and he doesn't come?She tried to remember.No,I swear he never harmed me but in that.He never harmed me but in that...and what if he did?There was the day,the day,but a whirl of dark smoke rose and covered it,crept up and over into the bright field where everything was planted so carefully in orderly rows.That was hell,she knew hell when she saw it.For sixty years she had prayed against remembering him and against losing her soul in the deep pit of hell,and now the two things were mingled in one and the thought of him was a smoky cloud from hell that moved and crept in her head when she had just got rid of Doctor Harry and was trying to rest a minute.Wounded vanity,Ellen,said a sharp voice in the top of her mind.Don't let your wounded vanity get the upper hand of you.Plenty of girls get jilted.You were jilted,weren't you?Then stand up to it.Her eyelids wavered and let in streamers of blue-gray light like tissue paper over her eyes.She must get up and pull the shades down or she'd never sleep.She was in bed again and the shades were not down.How could that happen?Better turn over,hide from the light,sleeping in the light gave you nightmares."Mother,how do you feel now?"and a stinging wetness on her forehead.But I don't like having my face washed in cold water!
Hapsy?George?Lydia?Jimmy?No,Cornelia and her features were swollen and full of little puddles."They're coming,darling,they'll all be here soon."Go wash your face,child,you look funny.
Instead of obeying,Cornelia knelt down and put her head on the pillow.She seemed to be talking but there was no sound."Well,are you tongue-tied?Whose birthday is it?Are you going to give a party?"
Cornelia's mouth moved urgently in strange shapes."Don't do that,you bother me,daughter."
"Oh no,Mother.Oh,no..."
Nonsense.It was strange about children.They disputed your every word."No what,Cornelia?"
"Here's Doctor Harry."
"I won't see that boy again.He just left five minutes ago."
"That was this morning,Mother.It's night now.Here's the nurse."
"This is Doctor Harry,Mrs.Weatherall.I never saw you look so young and happy!"
"Ah,I'll never be young again—but I'd be happy if they'd let me lie in peace and get rested."
She thought she spoke up loudly,but no one answered.A warm weight on her forehead,a warm bracelet on her wrist,and a breeze went on whispering,trying to tell her something.A shuffle of leaves in the everlasting hand of God.He blew on them and they danced and rattled."Mother,don't mind,we're going to give you a little hypodermic.""Look here,daughter,how do ants get in this bed?I saw sugar ants yesterday."Did you send for Hapsy too?
It was Hapsy she really wanted.She had to go a long way back through a great many rooms to find Hapsy standing with a baby on her arm.She seemed to herself to be Hapsy also,and the baby on Hapsy's arm was Hapsy and himself and herself,all at once,and there was no surprise in the meeting.Then Hapsy melted from within and turned flimsy as gray gauze and the baby was a gauzy shadow,and Hapsy came up close and said,"I thought you'd never come,"and looked at her very searchingly and said,"You haven't changed a bit!"They leaned forward to kiss,when Cornelia began whispering from a long way off,"Oh,is there anything you want to tell me?Is there anything I can do for you?"
