Page:Life's little ironies (1894).pdf/138

wildly, and burst into tears. In the house the chalked “Good-bye” nearly broke her heart, But when she had re-entered the front-room and locked across at Emily’a, a gleam of triamph lit her thin face at her anticipated release from the thraldom of subservience.

To do Emily Lester justice, her assumption of superiority was mainly a figment of Joanna’s brain. That the circumstances of the merchant's wife were more luxurious than Joanna’s, the former could not conceal; though whenever the two met, which was not very often now, Emily endeavored to subdue the difference by every means in her power.

The first summer lapsed away, and Joanna meagrely maintained herself by the shop, which now consisted of little more than a window and a counter. Emily was, in truth, her only large customer; and Mrs, Lester’s kindly readinesa to buy anything and everything without questioning the quality had a sting of bitterness in it, for it was the anoritical attitude of & patron, and almost of a donor. The long, dreary winter moved on; the face of the bureau had been turned to the wall to protect the chalked words of farewell, for Joanna could never bring herself to rub them out, and she often glanced at them with wet eyes. Emily’a handsome boys came home for the Christmas holidays; the university was talked of for them ; and still Joanna subsisted, as it were, with held breath, like a person submerged. Only one summer more, and the spell would end. Towards the end of the time Emily called on her quondam friend. She had heard that Joanna began to feel anxious; she had received no letter from husband or sons for some months. Enmily’s silke rustled arrogantly when, in response to Joanna's almost dumb invitation, she squeezed through the opening of the counter and into the parlor behind the shop.