And Lena never knew for certain whether it
was really poison, that green stuff that she had tasted.
During these four years of service, Lena always spent her Sundays out
at the house of her aunt, who had brought her four years before to
Bridgepoint.
This aunt, who had brought Lena, four years before, to Bridgepoint,
was a hard, ambitious, well meaning, german woman. Her husband was a
grocer in the town, and they were very well to do. Mrs. Haydon, Lena's
aunt, had two daughters who were just beginning as young ladies,
and she had a little boy who was not honest and who was very hard to
manage.
Mrs. Haydon was a short, stout, hard built, german woman. She always
hit the ground very firmly and compactly as she walked. Mrs. Haydon
was all a compact and well hardened mass, even to her face, reddish
and darkened from its early blonde, with its hearty, shiny cheeks, and
doubled chin well covered over with the up roll from her short, square
neck.
The two daughters, who were fourteen and fifteen, looked like
unkneaded, unformed mounds of flesh beside her.
The elder girl, Mathilda, was blonde, and slow, and simple, and quite
fat. The younger, Bertha, who was almost as tall as her sister, was
dark, and quicker, and she was heavy, too, but not really fat.
These two girls the mother had brought up very firmly. They were well
taught for their position.
Pages:
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277