Martha's Lady Page #3

"Martha's Lady" is a novella by Sarah Orne Jewett that captures the intricacies of rural life in New England through the lens of human relationships and social dynamics. The story revolves around Martha, a strong-willed and independent woman, as she navigates her role within her community and her family. Jewett's vivid portrayal of the characters and settings reflects the themes of feminism, autonomy, and the bonds between nature and personal identity. With her signature style, Jewett delves into the emotional and psychological landscapes of her characters, offering readers a poignant exploration of love, duty, and self-discovery in a changing world.

• Short story

								


"What are you saying, Martha?  I have sent him nothing!" exclaimed Miss
Pyne, much astonished.  "What does she mean, Helena?"

"Only a few cherries," explained Helena.  "I thought Mr. Crofton would
like them after his afternoon of parish calls.  Martha and I arranged
them before tea, and I sent them with our compliments."

"Oh, I am very glad you did," said Miss Harriet, wondering, but much
relieved.  "I was afraid"--

"No, it was none of my mischief," answered Helena daringly.  "I did not
think that Martha would be ready to go so soon.  I should have shown
you how pretty they looked among their green leaves.  We put them in
one of your best white dishes with the openwork edge.  Martha shall
show you to-morrow; mamma always likes to have them so."  Helena's
fingers were busy with the hard knot of a parcel.

"See this, cousin Harriet!" she announced proudly, as Martha
disappeared round the corner of the house, beaming with the pleasures
of adventure and success.  "Look! the minister has sent me a book:
Sermons on what?  Sermons--it is so dark that I can't quite see."

"It must be his 'Sermons on the Seriousness of Life;' they are the only
ones he has printed, I believe," said Miss Harriet, with much pleasure.
"They are considered very fine discourses.  He pays you a great
compliment, my dear.  I feared that he noticed your girlish levity."

"I behaved beautifully while he stayed," insisted Helena.  "Ministers
are only men," but she blushed with pleasure.  It was certainly
something to receive a book from its author, and such a tribute made
her of more value to the whole reverent household.  The minister was
not only a man, but a bachelor, and Helena was at the age that best
loves conquest; it was at any rate comfortable to be reinstated in
cousin Harriet's good graces.

"Do ask the kind gentleman to tea!  He needs a little cheering up,"
begged the siren in India muslin, as she laid the shiny black volume of
sermons on the stone doorstep with an air of approval, but as if they
had quite finished their mission.

"Perhaps I shall, if Martha improves as much as she has within the last
day or two," Miss Harriet promised hopefully.  "It is something I
always dread a little when I am all alone, but I think Mr. Crofton
likes to come.  He converses so elegantly."

II.

These were the days of long visits, before affectionate friends thought
it quite worth while to take a hundred miles' journey merely to dine or
to pass a night in one another's houses.  Helena lingered through the
pleasant weeks of early summer, and departed unwillingly at last to
join her family at the White Hills, where they had gone, like other
households of high social station, to pass the month of August out of
town.  The happy-hearted young guest left many lamenting friends behind
her, and promised each that she would come back again next year.  She
left the minister a rejected lover, as well as the preceptor of the
academy, but with their pride unwounded, and it may have been with
wider outlooks upon the world and a less narrow sympathy both for their
own work in life and for their neighbors' work and hindrances.  Even
Miss Harriet Pyne herself had lost some of the unnecessary
provincialism and prejudice which had begun to harden a naturally good
and open mind and affectionate heart.  She was conscious of feeling
younger and more free, and not so lonely.  Nobody had ever been so gay,
so fascinating, or so kind as Helena, so full of social resource, so
simple and undemanding in her friendliness.  The light of her young
life cast no shadow on either young or old companions, her pretty
clothes never seemed to make other girls look dull or out of fashion.
When she went away up the street in Miss Harriet's carriage to take the
slow train toward Boston and the gayeties of the new Profile House,
where her mother waited impatiently with a group of Southern friends,
it seemed as if there would never be any more picnics or parties in
Ashford, and as if society had nothing left to do but to grow old and
get ready for winter.

Martha came into Miss Helena's bedroom that last morning, and it was
easy to see that she had been crying; she looked just as she did in
that first sad week of homesickness and despair.  All for love's sake
she had been learning to do many things, and to do them exactly right;
her eyes had grown quick to see the smallest chance for personal
service.  Nobody could be more humble and devoted; she looked years
older than Helena, and wore already a touching air of caretaking.

"You spoil me, you dear Martha!" said Helena from the bed.  "I don't
know what they will say at home, I am so spoiled."

Martha went on opening the blinds to let in the brightness of the
summer morning, but she did not speak.

"You are getting on splendidly, aren't you?" continued the little
mistress.  "You have tried so hard that you make me ashamed of myself.
At first you crammed all the flowers together, and now you make them
look beautiful.  Last night cousin Harriet was so pleased when the
table was so charming, and I told her that you did everything yourself,
every bit.  Won't you keep the flowers fresh and pretty in the house
until I come back?  It's so much pleasanter for Miss Pyne, and you 'll
feed my little sparrows, won't you?  They're growing so tame."

"Oh, yes, Miss Helena!" and Martha looked almost angry for a moment,
then she burst into tears and covered her face with her apron.  "I
could n't understand a single thing when I first came.  I never had
been anywhere to see anything, and Miss Pyne frightened me when she
talked.  It was you made me think I could ever learn.  I wanted to keep
the place, 'count of mother and the little boys; we 're dreadful hard
pushed.  Hepsy has been good in the kitchen; she said she ought to have
patience with me, for she was awkward herself when she first came."

Helena laughed; she looked so pretty under the tasseled white curtains.

"I dare say Hepsy tells the truth," she said.  "I wish you had told me
about your mother.  When I come again, some day we 'll drive up
country, as you call it, to see her.  Martha!  I wish you would think
of me sometimes after I go away.  Won't you promise?" and the bright
young face suddenly grew grave.  "I have hard times myself; I don't
always learn things that I ought to learn, I don't always put things
straight.  I wish you would n't forget me ever, and would just believe
in me.  I think it does help more than anything."

"I won't forget," said Martha slowly.  "I shall think of you every
day."  She spoke almost with indifference, as if she had been asked to
dust a room, but she turned aside quickly and pulled the little mat
under the hot water jug quite out of its former straightness; then she
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