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Chapter 19 Miss Ophelias Experiences and Opinions Continued Tom, you neednt get me the horses. I dont want to go, she said. Why not, Miss Eva? These things sink into my heart, Tom, said Eva,they sink into my heart, she repeated, earnestly. I dont want to go; and she turned from Tom, and went into the house. A few days after, another woman came, in old Prues place, to bring the rusks; Miss Ophelia was in the kitchen. Lor! said Dinah, whats got Prue? Prue isnt coming any more, said the woman, mysteriously. Why not? said Dinah. she ant dead, is she? We doesnt exactly know. Shes down cellar, said the woman, glancing at Miss Ophelia. After Miss Ophelia had taken the rusks, Dinah followed the woman to the door. What has got Prue, any how? she said. The woman seemed desirous, yet reluctant, to speak, and answered, in low, mysterious tone. Well, you mustnt tell nobody, Prue, she got drunk agin,and they had her down cellar,and thar they left her all day,and I hearn em saying that the flies had got to her,and shes dead! Dinah held up her hands, and, turning, saw close by her side the spirit-like form of Evangeline, her large, mystic eyes dilated with horror, and every drop of blood driven from her lips and cheeks. Lor bless us! Miss Evas gwine to faint away! What go us all, to let her har such talk? Her pall be rail mad. I shant faint, Dinah, said the child, firmly; and why shouldnt I hear it? It ant so much for me to hear it, as for poor Prue to suffer it. Lor sakes! it isnt for sweet, delicate young ladies, like you,these yer stories isnt; its enough to kill em! Eva sighed again, and walked up stairs with a slow and melancholy step. Miss Ophelia anxiously inquired the womans story. Dinah gave a very garrulous version of it, to which Tom added the particulars which he had drawn from her that morning. An abominable business,perfectly horrible! she exclaimed, as she entered the room where St. Clare lay reading his paper. Pray, what iniquity has turned up now? said he. What now? why, those folks have whipped Prue to death! said Miss Ophelia, going on, with great strength of detail, into the story, and enlarging on its most shocking particulars. I thought it would come to that, some time, said St. Clare, going on with his paper. |
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