| | 1 | Author: | Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins, 1852-1930 | Add | | | Title: | Criss-cross  | | | | Published: | 1995 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | SELMA WHEELOCK sat in her accustomed place beside a front window.
She swayed gently in her hair-cloth rocker. She leaned her head
back and sidewise, and gazed out at the prospect with an expression
almost absurdly tragic. Tragedy did not sit comfortably upon those
mild features in that long, sweet face, softly curtained with folds
of thin, blond hair which had not turned gray, although Selma was
almost an old woman. However, tragedy, hawk-like, unswerving, did
look from Selma's blue eyes. She might, from her expression, have
been gazing at some scene of horror instead of at her own tidy,
square front yard with its gravel walk bordered with leafless
shrubs, with a leafless cherry-tree standing stark upon one side,
and a leafless horse-chestnut on the other. Beyond the front yard
with its prim fence was the main street of the village; opposite
was Maria Hopkins's house. When Selma's eyes roved beyond her own
front yard and the main street, and fastened upon Maria Hopkins's
house, the tragedy deepened. It seemed about to swoop, fierce
beaked and clawed. There was seemingly nothing exasperating about
the opposite house. It was a plain white structure with a door in
the middle front and two windows on each side of the door. The
house was raised upon terraces over which clambered rough stone
steps. Upon each of the terraces were two trees—cherry upon the
upper, horse-chestnut upon the lower. Two of the windows at the
front displayed slants of lace curtains, two plain white shades. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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