47a 
MAR 7 1922 
THE ECONOMY OF JANE STEBBINS. 
herself to meet any of the indignant vil¬ 
lage matrons, she certainly did not ex¬ 
pect to be again confronted by Mrs. Jes- 
sop’s bulky form. 
“ IVe been a-thinking I spoke a bit 
sharp just now,” that lady remarked, al¬ 
most apologetically, “ but I do hate to 
see a woman, make a fool of herself; it 
seems more against natur’, some’ow, than 
fur a man.” 
It was not a very promising beginning, 
but Miss Stebbins appeared to be molli¬ 
fied. Perhaps she realized what an effort 
at graciousness it meant on the part of 
the carpenter’s wife. “ It don’t seem fit¬ 
ting,” Mrs. Jessop went on, “ that such a 
one as Tobias Ling, that’s a poor creature, 
say what you will, should come atwixt 
you an’ me, what ha’ known one another 
these forty years and more. Why, I was 
just a-calling to mind that when we first 
played wi’ dolls together, you couldii’t ha’ 
been older than my little Peggy, and pot 
so unlike neither, being fair and nice- 
looking enough. It’s surprising how 
folks do change.” 
“ Come in,” said Miss Stebbins, gently. 
Every one knew that little Peggy J essop, 
the only girl after a long line of much- 
slapped brothers, had found a warm place 
in her mother’s heart. 
As they got inside, the conversation 
came to an abrupt end, for Miss Steb¬ 
bins was seized with a recurrence of 
breathlessness. She was accustomed to 
these attacks, but this was/worse than 
usual, owing, no doubt, to the excite¬ 
ment of the moment. 
“ The drops,” she said, faintly, “ in the 
other room.” Then she remembered her¬ 
self, but Mrs. Jessop had already started 
to fetch them. 
There came a /sudden astonished ex¬ 
clamation from "the bed-room as Mrs. 
' Jessop found herself in the midst of the 
soft white sea "of fine linen. She brought 
back the drops without comment, how¬ 
ever, only; from her seat at the other 
side of the room she eyed her friend from 
time to/time curiously. 
“I suppose you think I’m fair doited?” 
Miss" Stebbins asked at last, defiantly. 
‘^They must ha’ taken a powerful long 
time i’ the making,” Mrs. Jessop replied. 
Suddenly, to her surprise. Miss Steb¬ 
bins began to icrjy. “ They were all I 
seemed to have to live for,” she said, 
weakly. 
“ Eh, but what put it into your head to 
start ’em?” Mrs. Jessop inquired. Her 
tone was curious, but not unkind. 
“ It was when you were wed,” Miss 
Stebbins sobbed, with a sudden burst of 
long-pent confidence, “ and you were fair 
pushed to get your things done i’ the 
time. So I thought it ’ud be as well to 
be forrard, never dreaming but that I’d 
be marrying soon. Besides, I was glad 
enough of a bit o’ needle-work in my 
hand, for mother had died the winter 
afore, and father was mostly out at 
night. Then, one day, some un told me 
of a grand wedding, and they spoke of 
the bride’s trousseau, as they called it, 
and how she’d had two dozen of every 
mortal thing, and that’s what I set before 
me; not that I ever thought to reach it, 
but it was something to work for like. 
But when I came to doing them, it seemed 
to grow on me, for each thing had to be 
finer than the last, and that’s why I 
learnt to make the lace. 
“ I know you held me to be close, but 
it was this I was always saving for, 
penny by penny, till I didn’t seem to 
think of aught else. Why, I didn’t have 
time for lovers nor courting, nor miss 
’em either, when such things passed out 
o’ my life. But then last spring, when it 
was done, all done, it seemed to ha’ all 
gone to waste.” \ 
Mrs. Jessop got up. She moved with 
ponderous care across the room to where 
Miss Stebbins sat. " Thirty year,” she 
murmured, under her breath. Perhaps 
she was thinking of her row of stalwart 
sons and her rosy little Peggy. Her face 
looked strangely gentle. 
“ Well, we won’t say no more about 
Tobias. I dessay ’ee aren’t worse nor 
another,” she said. “ And, as you say, it 
would ha’ been an awful waste.” 
She laid her hand for a moment on 
Miss Stebbins’s shoulder, and then hur¬ 
ried off, as if ashamed of the unaccus¬ 
tomed caress. Miss Stebbins rose too; v 
it was to contemplate the beauty of the 
fulfilled trousseau. 
JJC. 
