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Section five of eighteen ninety one collection Missus Manstey's View
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by Edith Wharton. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
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to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Reading by Matt Berrard,
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eighteen ninety one collection by various Section five Missus Manstey's
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View by Edith Wharton, as first published in Scribner's Magazine,
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July eighteen ninety one. The view from missus Manstey's window
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was not a striking one, but to her, at least,
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it was full of interest and beauty. Missus mansty occupied
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the back room on the third floor of a New
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York boarding house, in a street where the ash barrels
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lingered late on the sidewalk and the gaps in the
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pavement would have staggered at Quintus Curtius. She was the
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widow of a clerk and a large wholesale house, and
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his death had left her alone, for her only daughter
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had married in California and could not afford the long
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journey to New York to see her mother. Missus Manstey
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perhaps might have joined her daughter in the West, but
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they had now been so many years apart that they
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had ceased to feel any need of each other's society,
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and their intercourse had long been limited to the exchange
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of a few perfunctory letters, written with indifference by the
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daughter and with difficulty by missus Manstey, whose right hand
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was growing stiff with gout. Even had she felt a
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stronger desire for her daughter's companionship, missus Manstey's increasing infirmity,
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which caused her to dread the three flights of stairs
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between her room and the street, would have given her
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pause on the eve of undertaking so long a journey,
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and without perhaps formulating these reasons she had long since
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accepted as a matter of course for solitary life in
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New York. She was indeed not quite lonely, for a
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few friends still toiled up now and then to her room,
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but their visits grew rare as the years went by.
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Missus Mansky had never been a sociable woman, and during
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her husband's lifetime, his companionship had been all sufficient to her.
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For many years, she had cherished a desire to live
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in the country, to have a hen house and a garden,
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but this longing had faded with age, leaving only in
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the breast of the uncommunicative old woman a vague tenderness
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for plants and animals. It was perhaps this tenderness which
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made her cling so fervently to her view from her window,
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a view in which the most optimistic eye would at
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first have failed to discover any admirable. Missus Mansty, from
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her coin of vantage, a slightly projecting bow window where
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she nursed an ivy and a succession of unwholesome looking bulbs,
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looked at first upon the yard of her own dwelling,
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of which, however, she could get but a restricted glimpse. Still,
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her gaze took in the topmost boughs of the alianthus
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below her window, and she knew how early each year
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the clump of dassentra strung its bending stock with parts
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of pink. But of greater interest were the yards beyond,
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being for the most part attached to boarding houses. They
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were in a state of chronic untidiness and fluttering on
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certain days of the week, with miscellaneous garments and frayed tablecloths.
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In spite of this, missus Mansty found much to admire
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in the long vista which she commanded Some of the
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yards were, indeed but stony wastes, with grass in the
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cracks of the pavement, and no shade in spring, save
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that afforded by the intermittent leafage of the clothes lines.
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These yards Missus mansty disapproved of. But the others, the
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green ones she loved, she had grown used to their disorder.
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The broken barrels, the empty bottles, and paths unswept, no
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longer annoyed her. Hers was the happy faculty of dwelling
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on the pleasanter side of the prospect before her. In
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the very next enclosure, did not a magnolia open its
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hard white flowers against the watery blue of April. And
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was there not a little way down the line a
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fence foamed over every may by lilac waves of wistaria.
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Farther still, a horse chestnut lifted its candelabra of buff
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and pink blossoms above broad fans of foliage. While in
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the opposite yard June was sweet with the breath of
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a neglected syringa, which persisted in growing in spite of
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the countless obstacles opposed to its welfare. But if nature
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occupied the front rank in Missus Manstey's view, there was
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much of a more personal character to interest her in
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the aspect of the house and their inmates. She deeply
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disapproved of the mustered colored curtains which had lately been
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hung in the doctor's window opposite, but she glowed with
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pleasure when the house farther down had its old bricks
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washed with a coat of paint. The occupants of the
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houses did not often show themselves at the back windows,
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but the servants were always in sight noisy slatterns, missus
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Manstey pronounced the greater number. She knew their ways and
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hated them. But to the quiet cook in the newly
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painted house, whose mistress bullied her, and who secretly fed
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the stray cats at nightfall, missus Manstey's warmest sympathies were given.
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On one occasion, her feelings were racked by the neglect
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of a housemaid who, for two days forgot to feed
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the parrot committed to her care. On the third day,
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missus mansty in spite of her gouty hand, had just
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penned a letter beginning, Madam, it is now three days
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since your parrot has been fed. When the forgetful maid
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appeared at the window with a cup of seed in
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her hand. But in missus Manstey's more meditative moods, it
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was the narrowing perspective of far off yards which pleased
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her best. She loved at twilight, when the distant brown
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stone spire seemed melting in the fluid yellow of the west,
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to lose herself in vague memories of a trip to
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Europe made years ago and now reduced in her mind's
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eye to a pale phantasmagoria of indistinct steeples and dreamy skies.
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Perhaps at heart, missus mansty was an artist. At all events.
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She was sensible of many changes of color unnoticed by
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the average eye, and dear to her as the green
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of early spring was the black lattice of branches against
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a cold sulfur sky at the close of a snowy day.
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She enjoyed also the sunny thaws of March, when patches
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of earth showed through the snow like ink spots spreading
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on a sheet of white blotting paper. And better still,
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the haze of boughs, leafless but swollen, which replaced the
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clear cut tracery of winter. She even watched with a
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certain interest the trail of smoke from a far off
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factory chimney, and missed a detail in the landscape. When
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the factory was closed and the smoke disappeared, missus Mansty,
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in the long hours which she spent at her window
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was not idle. She read a little and knitted numberless stockings,
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but the view surrounded and shaped her life as the
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sea does a lonely island. When her rear collars came,
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it was difficult for her to detach herself from the
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contemplation of the opposite window washing, or the scrutiny of
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certain green points in a neighboring flower bed which might
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or might not turn into hyacinths. While she feigned an
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interest in her visitor's anecdotes about some unknown grandchild, missus
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Mansy's real friends were the denizens of the yards, the hyacinths,
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the magnolia, the green parrot, the maid who fed the cats,
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the doctor who studied late behind his mustard colored curtains.
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And the confidant of her tender musings was the church
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spire floating in the sunset one April day, as she
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sat in her usual place, with netting cast aside and
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eyes fixed on the blue sky modeled with round clouds.
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A knock at the door announced the entrance of her landlady.
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Missus Mansty did not care for her landlady, but she
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submitted to her visits with ladylike resignation. To day, however,
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it seemed harder than usual to turn from the blue
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sky and the blossoming magnolia to missus Sampson's unsuggestive face,
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and missus Mansty was conscious of a distinct effort as
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she did so. The magnolia is out earlier than usual
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this year, missus Sampson, she remarked, to a rare impulse,
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for she seldom alluded to the absorbing interests of her life.
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In the first place, it was a topic not likely
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to appeal to her visitors, and besides, she lacked the
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power of expression and could not have given utterance to
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her feelings had she wished to the what, missus Mansty inquired,
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the landlady, glancing about the room as if defined there
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the explanation of missus Mansty's statement. The magnolia in the
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next yard. In Missus Black's yard, missus Mansty repeated, is
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it indeed? I didn't know there was a magnolia there,
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said Missus Sampson carelessly. Missus Mansty looked at her. She
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did not know there was a magnolia in the next yard.
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By the way. Missus Sampson continued speaking of Missus Black,
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reminds me that the work on the extension is to
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begin next week. The what it was, Missus Mansty's turn
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to ask the extension, said Missus Sampson, nodding her head
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in the direction of the ignored magnolia. You knew, of
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course that Missus Black was going to build an extension
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to her house. Yes, ma'am, I hear. It is to
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run right back to the end of the yard. How
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she can afford to build an extension and these hard times,
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I don't see. But she always was crazy about building.
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She used to keep a boarding house in seventeenth Street,
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and she nearly ruined herself then by sticking out bow
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windows and what not. I should have thought that would
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have cursed her a building, but I guess it's at
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a disease like drink. Anyhow, The work is to begin
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on Monday. Missus Mansky had grown pale. She always spoke slowly,
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so the landlady did not heed the law pause, which followed.
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At last missus Mansty said, do you know how high
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the extension will be? That's the most absurd part of it.
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The extension is to be built right up to the
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roof of the main building. Now, did you ever, missus
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Mansty paused again. Won't it be a great annoyance to you?
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Missus Sampson, she asked, I should say it would, But
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there's no help for it. If people have got a
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mind to build extensions, there's no law to prevent em.
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That I'm aware of, missus Mansty, knowing this was silent,
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there is no help for it, missus Sampson repeated, But
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if I am a church member, I wouldn't be so
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sorry if it ruined Eliza black Well. Good day, missus Mansty.
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I'm glad to find you so comfortable, So comfortable, so comfortable.
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Loved to herself, the old woman turned once more to
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the window. How lovely the view was that day. The
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blue sky, with its round clouds, shed a brightness over everything.
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The alanthus had put on a tinge of yellow green.
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The hyacinths were budding. The magnolia flowers looked more than
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ever like rosettes carved in alabaster. Soon themstaria would bloom,
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then the horse chestnut, but not for her. Between her
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eyes and them, a barrier of brick and mortar would
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swiftly rise. Presently even the spire would disappear, and all
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her radiant world be blotted out. Missus Mansty set away,
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untouched the dinner tree brought to her that evening. She
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lingered in the window until the windy sunset dyed in
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bat colored dusk. Then going to bed, she lay sleepless
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all night. Early the next day she was up and
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at the window. It was raining, but even through the
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slanting gray gauze, the scene had its charm. And then
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the grain was so good for the trees. She had
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noticed the day before that the alanthus was growing dusty.
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Of course I might move, said missus Mansty aloud, and
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turning from the window, she looked about her room. She
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might move, of course, so might she be flayed alive.
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But she was not likely to survive either operation. The room,
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though far less important to her happiness than the view,
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was as much a part of her existence. She had
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lived in it seventeen years. She knew every stain on
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the wall paper, every rent in the carpet. The light
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fell in a certain way on her engravings. Her books
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had grown shabby on their shelves. Her bulbs and ivy
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were used to their window and knew which way to
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lean to the sun. We are all too old to move,
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she said. That afternoon it cleared wet and radiant. The
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blue reappeared through torn rags of cloud. The alanthus sparkled
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the earth, and the flower borders looked rich and warm.
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It was Thursday, and on Monday. The building of the
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extension was to begin on Sunday afternoon. A card was
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brought to Missus Black as she was engaged in gathering
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up the fragments of the boarder's dinner in the basement.
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The card Black edged for Missus Manstey's name. One of
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Missus Sampson's boarders wants to move. I suppose well, I
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can give her a room next year in the extension, Dinah,
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said Missus Black. Tell the lady, I'll be upstairs in
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a minute. Missus Black found Missus mansty standing in the
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long parlor garnished with statuettes and atama cassars. In that house,
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she could not sit down, stooping hurriedly to open the register,
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which let out a cloud of dust. Missus Black advanced
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on her visitor. I am happy to meet you, missus Mansty.
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Take a seat, please, the landlady remarked in her prosperous voice,
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the voice of a woman who can afford to build extensions.
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There was no help for it. Missus Mansty sat down.
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Is there anything I can do for you, ma'am? Missus
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Black continued, My house is full at present, but I
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am going to build an extension. And it is about
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the extension that I wished to speak, Saidssus Mansty. Suddenly,
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I am a poor woman, Missus Black, and I have
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never been a happy one. I shall have to talk
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about myself first too, to make you understand. Missus Black,
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astonished but imperturbable, bowed at this parenthesis. I never had
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what I wanted. Missus Mansty continued. It was always one
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disappointment after another. For years I wanted to live in
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the country. I dreamed and dreamed about it, but we
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never could manage it. There was no sunny window in
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our house, and so all my plants died. My daughter
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married years ago and went away. Besides, she never cared
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for the same things. Then my husband died and I
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was left alone. That was seventeen years ago. I went
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to live at missus Sampson's and I have been there
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ever since. I have grown a little infirm, as you see,
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and I don't get out often, only on fine days
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if I am feeling very well. So you can understand
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my sitting a great deal in my window, the back
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window on the third floor. Well, missus Mansky, said Missus Black.
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Liberally I could give you a back room, I dare say,
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one of the new rooms and the ex But I
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don't want to move. I can't move, said missus Mansky,
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almost with a scream. And I came to tell you
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that if you build that extension, I shall have no
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view from my window. No view, do you understand? Missus
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Black thought herself face to face with a lunatic, and
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she had always heard that the lunatics must be humored.
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Dear me, dear me, she remarked, pushing her chair back
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a little way. That is too bad, isn't it? Why
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I never thought of that? To be sure? The extension
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will interfere with your view. Missus Manstey, you do understand,
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missus Manstey gasped, of course I do. And I'm real
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sorry about it too. But there, don't you worry, missus Mansty.
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I guess we can fix that, all right. Missus Manstey
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rose from her seat, and Missus Black slipped toward the door.
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What do you mean by fixing it? Do you mean
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that I can induce you to change your mind about
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the extension? Oh, missus Black, listen to me. I have
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two thousand dollars in the bank and I could manage.
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I know I could manage to give you a thousand
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if missus Manstey paused. The tears were rolling down her cheeks.
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There there, missus Manstey, don't you worry, repeated Missus Black soothingly.
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I am sure we can settle it. I am sorry
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that I can't stay and talk about it any long, hunger,
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but this is such a busy time of day. With
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supper to get her hand was on the door knob,
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but with sudden vigor, missus Mansty seized her wrist. You
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are not giving me a definite answer. Do you mean
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to say that you accept my proposition? Why? I'll think
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it over, missus Mansty. Certainly I will. I wouldn't annoy
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you for the world. But the work is to begin tomorrow,
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I am told, missus Mansty persisted, Missus Black hesitated, it
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shan't begin. I promise you that I'll send word to
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the builder this very night. Missus Mansty tightened her hold.
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You are not deceiving me, are you? She said? No, No,
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stammered Missus Black, how can you think such a thing
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of me? Missus Mansty. Slowly Missus Mansey's clutch relaxed, and
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she passed through the opened door. Or one thousand dollars,
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she repeated, pausing in the hall. Then she let herself
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out of the house and hobbled down the steps, supporting
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herself on the cast iron, railing. My goodness, exclaimed Missus Black,
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shutting and bolting the hall door. I never knew the
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old woman was crazy, and she looked so quiet and
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ladylike too. Missus Madsty slept well that night, but early
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the next morning she was awakened by a sound of hammering.
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She got to her window with what haste she might,
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and looking out, saw that Missus Black's yard was full
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of workmen. Some were carrying loads of brick from the
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kitchen to the yard, others beginning to demolish the old
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fashioned wooden balcony which adorned each story of Missus Black's house.
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Missus mansty saw that she had been deceived. At first,
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she thought of confiding her trouble to Missus Sampson, but
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a subtle discouragement soon took possession of her, and she
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went back to bed, not caring to see what was
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going on. Toward after noon, however, feeling that she must
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know the worst, she rose and dressed herself. It was
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a laborious task, for her hands were stiffer than usual,
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and the hooks and buttons seemed to evade her. When
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she seated herself in the window, she saw that the
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workmen had removed the upper part of the balcony, and
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that the bricks had multiplied since morning. One of the men,
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a coarse fellow with a bloated face, picked a magnolia blossom, and,
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after smelling it, threw it to the ground. The next man,
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carrying a load of bricks, trod on the flower. In
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passing look out. Jim called one of the men to
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another who was smoking a pipe. If you throw matches
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around near those barrels of paper, you'll have the old
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tenor box burning down before you know it. And missus Mansty,
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leaning forward, perceived that there were several barrels of paper
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and rubbish under the wooden balcony. At length, the work
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ceased and twilight fell. The sunset was perfect, and a
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roseate light, transfiguring the distant spire lingered late in the west.
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When it grew dark, missus Manstey drew down the shades
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and proceeded in her usual methodical manner to light her lamp.
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She always filled and lit it with her own hands,
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keeping a kettle of kerosene on a zinc covered shelf
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in a closet. As the lamplight filled the room, it
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assumed its usual peaceful aspect. The books and pictures and
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plants seemed like their mistress to settle themselves down for
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another quiet evening, and missus Mansty, as was her wont
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drew up her armchair to the table and began to ned.
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That night, she could not sleep. The weather had changed
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and a wild wind was abroad, blotting the stars with
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close driven clouds. Missus Manstey rose once or twice and
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looked out of the window, but of the view nothing
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was discernible, save a tardy light or two in the
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opposite windows. These lights at last went out, and missus Mansky,
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who had watched for their extension, began to dress herself.
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She was in evident haste, for she merely flung a
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thin dressing gown over her night dress and wrapped her
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head in a scarf. Then she opened her closet and
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cautiously took out the kettle of karosene. Having slipped a
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bundle of wooden matches into her pocket, she proceeded with
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increasing precautions to unlock her door, and a few moments
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later she was feeling her way down the dark staircase,
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led by a glimmer of gas from the lower hall.
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At length she reached the bottom of the stairs and
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began the more difficult descent into the utter darkness of
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the basement. Here, however, she could move more freely as
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there was less danger of being overheard, and without much
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delay she contrived to unlock the iron door leading into
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the yard. A gust of cold wind smote her as
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she stepped out and groped shiveringly under the clothesline. That morning,
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at three o'clock, an alarm of fire brought the engines
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to missus Black's door, and also brought Missus Sampson's startled
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borders to their windows. The wooden balcony at the back
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of Missus Black's house was ablaze, and among those who
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watched the progress of the flames was Missus Maddst, leaning
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in her thin dressing gown from the open window. The fire, however,
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was soon put out, and the frightened occupants of the
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house who had fled in scant attire, reassembled at dawn
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to find that little mischief had been done beyond the
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cracking of window panes and smoking sailings. In fact, the
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chief sufferer by the fire was Missus Mansty, who was
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found in the morning gasping with pneumonia, a not unnatural result,
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as everyone remarked of her having hung out of an
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open window at her age and a dressing gown, it
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was easy to see that she was very ill, but
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no one had guessed how grave the doctor's verdict would be,
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and the faces gathered that evening about Missus Sampson's table
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were awestruck and disturbed. Not that any of the boarders
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knew Missus Mansty well. She kept to herself, as they said,
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and seemed to fancy herself too good for them, but
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then it is always disagreeable to have anyone dying in
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the house, and as one lady observed to another, it
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might just as well have been you or me, my dear,
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But it was only missus Mansty, and she was dying
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as she had lived lonely, if not alone. The doctor
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had sent a trained nurse, and Missus Sampson, with muffled step,
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came in from time to time, but both to Missus
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Mansty seemed remote and unsubstantial, as the figures in a dream.
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All day she said nothing, but when she was asked
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for her daughter's address, she shook her head. At times.
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The nurse noticed that she seemed to be listening attentively
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for some sound which did not come. Then again she dozed.
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The next morning at daylight, she was very low. The
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nurse called Missus Sampson, and as the tube went over
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the old woman, they saw her lips move. Left me
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up out of bed, she whispered. They raised her in
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their arms, and with her stiff hand, she pointed to
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the window. Oh, the window. She wants to sit in
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the window. She used to sit there all day. Missus
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Samson explained, I could do her no harm. I suppose
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nothing matters now, said the nurse. They carried missus Manstey
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to the window and placed her in her chair. The
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dawn was abroad, a jubilant spring on the spire had
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already caught a golden ray, though the magnolia and horse
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chestnut still slumbered in shadow. In Missus Black's yard, all
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was quiet. The charred timbers of the balcony lay where
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they had fallen. It was evident that since the fire,
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the builders had not returned to their work. The magnolia
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had unfolded a few more sculptural flowers. The view was undisturbed.
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It was hard for Missus Mansty to breathe. Each moment
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it grew more difficult. She tried to make them open
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the window, but they would not understand. If she could
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have tasted the air sweet with a penetrating alanthes save,
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it would have eased her. But the view at least
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was there. The spire was golden now. The heavens had
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warmed from pearl to blue. Day was alight from east
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to west. Even the magnolia had caught the sun. Missus
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Mansky's head fell back and smiling. She died that day.
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The building of the extension was resumed end of Section
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five Missus Manstey's view by Edith Wharton
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Section five of eighteen ninety one collection Missus Manstey's View
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by Edith Wharton. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.839
recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
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00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:18.519
to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Reading by Matt Berrard,
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eighteen ninety one collection by various Section five Missus Manstey's
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View by Edith Wharton, as first published in Scribner's Magazine,
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July eighteen ninety one. The view from missus Manstey's window
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00:00:36.359 --> 00:00:39.439
was not a striking one, but to her, at least,
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it was full of interest and beauty. Missus mansty occupied
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the back room on the third floor of a New
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York boarding house, in a street where the ash barrels
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lingered late on the sidewalk and the gaps in the
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pavement would have staggered at Quintus Curtius. She was the
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widow of a clerk and a large wholesale house, and
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his death had left her alone, for her only daughter
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00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:08.599
had married in California and could not afford the long
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journey to New York to see her mother. Missus Manstey
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perhaps might have joined her daughter in the West, but
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they had now been so many years apart that they
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had ceased to feel any need of each other's society,
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and their intercourse had long been limited to the exchange
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of a few perfunctory letters, written with indifference by the
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daughter and with difficulty by missus Manstey, whose right hand
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was growing stiff with gout. Even had she felt a
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stronger desire for her daughter's companionship, missus Manstey's increasing infirmity,
26
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which caused her to dread the three flights of stairs
27
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between her room and the street, would have given her
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pause on the eve of undertaking so long a journey,
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and without perhaps formulating these reasons she had long since
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accepted as a matter of course for solitary life in
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New York. She was indeed not quite lonely, for a
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few friends still toiled up now and then to her room,
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but their visits grew rare as the years went by.
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Missus Mansky had never been a sociable woman, and during
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her husband's lifetime, his companionship had been all sufficient to her.
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For many years, she had cherished a desire to live
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00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:35.599
in the country, to have a hen house and a garden,
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but this longing had faded with age, leaving only in
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00:02:39.719 --> 00:02:44.240
the breast of the uncommunicative old woman a vague tenderness
40
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for plants and animals. It was perhaps this tenderness which
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made her cling so fervently to her view from her window,
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a view in which the most optimistic eye would at
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00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:03.240
first have failed to discover any admirable. Missus Mansty, from
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her coin of vantage, a slightly projecting bow window where
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she nursed an ivy and a succession of unwholesome looking bulbs,
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looked at first upon the yard of her own dwelling,
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of which, however, she could get but a restricted glimpse. Still,
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her gaze took in the topmost boughs of the alianthus
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below her window, and she knew how early each year
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the clump of dassentra strung its bending stock with parts
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of pink. But of greater interest were the yards beyond,
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being for the most part attached to boarding houses. They
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were in a state of chronic untidiness and fluttering on
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certain days of the week, with miscellaneous garments and frayed tablecloths.
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In spite of this, missus Mansty found much to admire
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in the long vista which she commanded Some of the
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yards were, indeed but stony wastes, with grass in the
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cracks of the pavement, and no shade in spring, save
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that afforded by the intermittent leafage of the clothes lines.
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These yards Missus mansty disapproved of. But the others, the
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green ones she loved, she had grown used to their disorder.
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The broken barrels, the empty bottles, and paths unswept, no
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longer annoyed her. Hers was the happy faculty of dwelling
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on the pleasanter side of the prospect before her. In
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the very next enclosure, did not a magnolia open its
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hard white flowers against the watery blue of April. And
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was there not a little way down the line a
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fence foamed over every may by lilac waves of wistaria.
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Farther still, a horse chestnut lifted its candelabra of buff
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and pink blossoms above broad fans of foliage. While in
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the opposite yard June was sweet with the breath of
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a neglected syringa, which persisted in growing in spite of
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the countless obstacles opposed to its welfare. But if nature
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occupied the front rank in Missus Manstey's view, there was
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much of a more personal character to interest her in
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the aspect of the house and their inmates. She deeply
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disapproved of the mustered colored curtains which had lately been
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hung in the doctor's window opposite, but she glowed with
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pleasure when the house farther down had its old bricks
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washed with a coat of paint. The occupants of the
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houses did not often show themselves at the back windows,
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but the servants were always in sight noisy slatterns, missus
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Manstey pronounced the greater number. She knew their ways and
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hated them. But to the quiet cook in the newly
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painted house, whose mistress bullied her, and who secretly fed
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the stray cats at nightfall, missus Manstey's warmest sympathies were given.
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On one occasion, her feelings were racked by the neglect
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of a housemaid who, for two days forgot to feed
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the parrot committed to her care. On the third day,
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missus mansty in spite of her gouty hand, had just
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penned a letter beginning, Madam, it is now three days
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since your parrot has been fed. When the forgetful maid
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appeared at the window with a cup of seed in
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her hand. But in missus Manstey's more meditative moods, it
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was the narrowing perspective of far off yards which pleased
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her best. She loved at twilight, when the distant brown
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stone spire seemed melting in the fluid yellow of the west,
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to lose herself in vague memories of a trip to
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Europe made years ago and now reduced in her mind's
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eye to a pale phantasmagoria of indistinct steeples and dreamy skies.
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Perhaps at heart, missus mansty was an artist. At all events.
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She was sensible of many changes of color unnoticed by
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the average eye, and dear to her as the green
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of early spring was the black lattice of branches against
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a cold sulfur sky at the close of a snowy day.
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She enjoyed also the sunny thaws of March, when patches
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of earth showed through the snow like ink spots spreading
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on a sheet of white blotting paper. And better still,
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the haze of boughs, leafless but swollen, which replaced the
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clear cut tracery of winter. She even watched with a
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certain interest the trail of smoke from a far off
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factory chimney, and missed a detail in the landscape. When
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the factory was closed and the smoke disappeared, missus Mansty,
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in the long hours which she spent at her window
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was not idle. She read a little and knitted numberless stockings,
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but the view surrounded and shaped her life as the
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sea does a lonely island. When her rear collars came,
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it was difficult for her to detach herself from the
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contemplation of the opposite window washing, or the scrutiny of
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certain green points in a neighboring flower bed which might
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or might not turn into hyacinths. While she feigned an
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interest in her visitor's anecdotes about some unknown grandchild, missus
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Mansy's real friends were the denizens of the yards, the hyacinths,
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the magnolia, the green parrot, the maid who fed the cats,
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the doctor who studied late behind his mustard colored curtains.
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And the confidant of her tender musings was the church
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spire floating in the sunset one April day, as she
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sat in her usual place, with netting cast aside and
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eyes fixed on the blue sky modeled with round clouds.
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A knock at the door announced the entrance of her landlady.
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Missus Mansty did not care for her landlady, but she
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submitted to her visits with ladylike resignation. To day, however,
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it seemed harder than usual to turn from the blue
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sky and the blossoming magnolia to missus Sampson's unsuggestive face,
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and missus Mansty was conscious of a distinct effort as
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she did so. The magnolia is out earlier than usual
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this year, missus Sampson, she remarked, to a rare impulse,
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for she seldom alluded to the absorbing interests of her life.
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In the first place, it was a topic not likely
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to appeal to her visitors, and besides, she lacked the
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power of expression and could not have given utterance to
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her feelings had she wished to the what, missus Mansty inquired,
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the landlady, glancing about the room as if defined there
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the explanation of missus Mansty's statement. The magnolia in the
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next yard. In Missus Black's yard, missus Mansty repeated, is
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it indeed? I didn't know there was a magnolia there,
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said Missus Sampson carelessly. Missus Mansty looked at her. She
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did not know there was a magnolia in the next yard.
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By the way. Missus Sampson continued speaking of Missus Black,
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reminds me that the work on the extension is to
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begin next week. The what it was, Missus Mansty's turn
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to ask the extension, said Missus Sampson, nodding her head
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in the direction of the ignored magnolia. You knew, of
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course that Missus Black was going to build an extension
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to her house. Yes, ma'am, I hear. It is to
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run right back to the end of the yard. How
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she can afford to build an extension and these hard times,
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I don't see. But she always was crazy about building.
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She used to keep a boarding house in seventeenth Street,
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and she nearly ruined herself then by sticking out bow
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windows and what not. I should have thought that would
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have cursed her a building, but I guess it's at
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a disease like drink. Anyhow, The work is to begin
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on Monday. Missus Mansky had grown pale. She always spoke slowly,
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so the landlady did not heed the law pause, which followed.
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At last missus Mansty said, do you know how high
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the extension will be? That's the most absurd part of it.
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The extension is to be built right up to the
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roof of the main building. Now, did you ever, missus
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Mansty paused again. Won't it be a great annoyance to you?
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Missus Sampson, she asked, I should say it would, But
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there's no help for it. If people have got a
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mind to build extensions, there's no law to prevent em.
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That I'm aware of, missus Mansty, knowing this was silent,
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there is no help for it, missus Sampson repeated, But
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if I am a church member, I wouldn't be so
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sorry if it ruined Eliza black Well. Good day, missus Mansty.
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I'm glad to find you so comfortable, So comfortable, so comfortable.
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Loved to herself, the old woman turned once more to
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the window. How lovely the view was that day. The
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blue sky, with its round clouds, shed a brightness over everything.
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The alanthus had put on a tinge of yellow green.
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The hyacinths were budding. The magnolia flowers looked more than
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ever like rosettes carved in alabaster. Soon themstaria would bloom,
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then the horse chestnut, but not for her. Between her
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eyes and them, a barrier of brick and mortar would
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swiftly rise. Presently even the spire would disappear, and all
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her radiant world be blotted out. Missus Mansty set away,
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untouched the dinner tree brought to her that evening. She
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lingered in the window until the windy sunset dyed in
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bat colored dusk. Then going to bed, she lay sleepless
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all night. Early the next day she was up and
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at the window. It was raining, but even through the
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slanting gray gauze, the scene had its charm. And then
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the grain was so good for the trees. She had
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noticed the day before that the alanthus was growing dusty.
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Of course I might move, said missus Mansty aloud, and
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turning from the window, she looked about her room. She
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might move, of course, so might she be flayed alive.
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But she was not likely to survive either operation. The room,
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though far less important to her happiness than the view,
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was as much a part of her existence. She had
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lived in it seventeen years. She knew every stain on
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the wall paper, every rent in the carpet. The light
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fell in a certain way on her engravings. Her books
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had grown shabby on their shelves. Her bulbs and ivy
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were used to their window and knew which way to
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lean to the sun. We are all too old to move,
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she said. That afternoon it cleared wet and radiant. The
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blue reappeared through torn rags of cloud. The alanthus sparkled
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the earth, and the flower borders looked rich and warm.
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It was Thursday, and on Monday. The building of the
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extension was to begin on Sunday afternoon. A card was
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brought to Missus Black as she was engaged in gathering
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up the fragments of the boarder's dinner in the basement.
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The card Black edged for Missus Manstey's name. One of
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Missus Sampson's boarders wants to move. I suppose well, I
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can give her a room next year in the extension, Dinah,
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said Missus Black. Tell the lady, I'll be upstairs in
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a minute. Missus Black found Missus mansty standing in the
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long parlor garnished with statuettes and atama cassars. In that house,
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she could not sit down, stooping hurriedly to open the register,
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which let out a cloud of dust. Missus Black advanced
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on her visitor. I am happy to meet you, missus Mansty.
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Take a seat, please, the landlady remarked in her prosperous voice,
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the voice of a woman who can afford to build extensions.
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There was no help for it. Missus Mansty sat down.
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Is there anything I can do for you, ma'am? Missus
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Black continued, My house is full at present, but I
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am going to build an extension. And it is about
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the extension that I wished to speak, Saidssus Mansty. Suddenly,
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I am a poor woman, Missus Black, and I have
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never been a happy one. I shall have to talk
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about myself first too, to make you understand. Missus Black,
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astonished but imperturbable, bowed at this parenthesis. I never had
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what I wanted. Missus Mansty continued. It was always one
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disappointment after another. For years I wanted to live in
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the country. I dreamed and dreamed about it, but we
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never could manage it. There was no sunny window in
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our house, and so all my plants died. My daughter
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married years ago and went away. Besides, she never cared
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for the same things. Then my husband died and I
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was left alone. That was seventeen years ago. I went
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to live at missus Sampson's and I have been there
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ever since. I have grown a little infirm, as you see,
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and I don't get out often, only on fine days
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if I am feeling very well. So you can understand
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my sitting a great deal in my window, the back
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window on the third floor. Well, missus Mansky, said Missus Black.
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Liberally I could give you a back room, I dare say,
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one of the new rooms and the ex But I
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don't want to move. I can't move, said missus Mansky,
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almost with a scream. And I came to tell you
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that if you build that extension, I shall have no
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view from my window. No view, do you understand? Missus
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Black thought herself face to face with a lunatic, and
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she had always heard that the lunatics must be humored.
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Dear me, dear me, she remarked, pushing her chair back
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a little way. That is too bad, isn't it? Why
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I never thought of that? To be sure? The extension
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will interfere with your view. Missus Manstey, you do understand,
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missus Manstey gasped, of course I do. And I'm real
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sorry about it too. But there, don't you worry, missus Mansty.
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I guess we can fix that, all right. Missus Manstey
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rose from her seat, and Missus Black slipped toward the door.
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What do you mean by fixing it? Do you mean
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that I can induce you to change your mind about
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the extension? Oh, missus Black, listen to me. I have
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two thousand dollars in the bank and I could manage.
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I know I could manage to give you a thousand
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if missus Manstey paused. The tears were rolling down her cheeks.
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There there, missus Manstey, don't you worry, repeated Missus Black soothingly.
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I am sure we can settle it. I am sorry
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that I can't stay and talk about it any long, hunger,
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but this is such a busy time of day. With
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supper to get her hand was on the door knob,
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but with sudden vigor, missus Mansty seized her wrist. You
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are not giving me a definite answer. Do you mean
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to say that you accept my proposition? Why? I'll think
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it over, missus Mansty. Certainly I will. I wouldn't annoy
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you for the world. But the work is to begin tomorrow,
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I am told, missus Mansty persisted, Missus Black hesitated, it
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shan't begin. I promise you that I'll send word to
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the builder this very night. Missus Mansty tightened her hold.
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You are not deceiving me, are you? She said? No, No,
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stammered Missus Black, how can you think such a thing
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of me? Missus Mansty. Slowly Missus Mansey's clutch relaxed, and
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she passed through the opened door. Or one thousand dollars,
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she repeated, pausing in the hall. Then she let herself
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out of the house and hobbled down the steps, supporting
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herself on the cast iron, railing. My goodness, exclaimed Missus Black,
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shutting and bolting the hall door. I never knew the
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old woman was crazy, and she looked so quiet and
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ladylike too. Missus Madsty slept well that night, but early
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the next morning she was awakened by a sound of hammering.
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She got to her window with what haste she might,
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and looking out, saw that Missus Black's yard was full
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of workmen. Some were carrying loads of brick from the
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kitchen to the yard, others beginning to demolish the old
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fashioned wooden balcony which adorned each story of Missus Black's house.
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Missus mansty saw that she had been deceived. At first,
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she thought of confiding her trouble to Missus Sampson, but
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a subtle discouragement soon took possession of her, and she
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went back to bed, not caring to see what was
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going on. Toward after noon, however, feeling that she must
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know the worst, she rose and dressed herself. It was
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a laborious task, for her hands were stiffer than usual,
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and the hooks and buttons seemed to evade her. When
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she seated herself in the window, she saw that the
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workmen had removed the upper part of the balcony, and
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that the bricks had multiplied since morning. One of the men,
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a coarse fellow with a bloated face, picked a magnolia blossom, and,
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after smelling it, threw it to the ground. The next man,
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carrying a load of bricks, trod on the flower. In
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passing look out. Jim called one of the men to
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another who was smoking a pipe. If you throw matches
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around near those barrels of paper, you'll have the old
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tenor box burning down before you know it. And missus Mansty,
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leaning forward, perceived that there were several barrels of paper
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and rubbish under the wooden balcony. At length, the work
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ceased and twilight fell. The sunset was perfect, and a
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roseate light, transfiguring the distant spire lingered late in the west.
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When it grew dark, missus Manstey drew down the shades
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and proceeded in her usual methodical manner to light her lamp.
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She always filled and lit it with her own hands,
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keeping a kettle of kerosene on a zinc covered shelf
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in a closet. As the lamplight filled the room, it
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assumed its usual peaceful aspect. The books and pictures and
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plants seemed like their mistress to settle themselves down for
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another quiet evening, and missus Mansty, as was her wont
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drew up her armchair to the table and began to ned.
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That night, she could not sleep. The weather had changed
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and a wild wind was abroad, blotting the stars with
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close driven clouds. Missus Manstey rose once or twice and
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looked out of the window, but of the view nothing
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was discernible, save a tardy light or two in the
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opposite windows. These lights at last went out, and missus Mansky,
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who had watched for their extension, began to dress herself.
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She was in evident haste, for she merely flung a
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thin dressing gown over her night dress and wrapped her
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head in a scarf. Then she opened her closet and
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cautiously took out the kettle of karosene. Having slipped a
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bundle of wooden matches into her pocket, she proceeded with
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increasing precautions to unlock her door, and a few moments
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later she was feeling her way down the dark staircase,
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led by a glimmer of gas from the lower hall.
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At length she reached the bottom of the stairs and
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began the more difficult descent into the utter darkness of
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the basement. Here, however, she could move more freely as
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there was less danger of being overheard, and without much
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delay she contrived to unlock the iron door leading into
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the yard. A gust of cold wind smote her as
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she stepped out and groped shiveringly under the clothesline. That morning,
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at three o'clock, an alarm of fire brought the engines
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to missus Black's door, and also brought Missus Sampson's startled
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borders to their windows. The wooden balcony at the back
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of Missus Black's house was ablaze, and among those who
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watched the progress of the flames was Missus Maddst, leaning
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in her thin dressing gown from the open window. The fire, however,
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was soon put out, and the frightened occupants of the
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house who had fled in scant attire, reassembled at dawn
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to find that little mischief had been done beyond the
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cracking of window panes and smoking sailings. In fact, the
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chief sufferer by the fire was Missus Mansty, who was
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found in the morning gasping with pneumonia, a not unnatural result,
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as everyone remarked of her having hung out of an
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open window at her age and a dressing gown, it
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was easy to see that she was very ill, but
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no one had guessed how grave the doctor's verdict would be,
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and the faces gathered that evening about Missus Sampson's table
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were awestruck and disturbed. Not that any of the boarders
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knew Missus Mansty well. She kept to herself, as they said,
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and seemed to fancy herself too good for them, but
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then it is always disagreeable to have anyone dying in
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the house, and as one lady observed to another, it
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might just as well have been you or me, my dear,
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But it was only missus Mansty, and she was dying
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as she had lived lonely, if not alone. The doctor
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had sent a trained nurse, and Missus Sampson, with muffled step,
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came in from time to time, but both to Missus
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Mansty seemed remote and unsubstantial, as the figures in a dream.
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All day she said nothing, but when she was asked
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for her daughter's address, she shook her head. At times.
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The nurse noticed that she seemed to be listening attentively
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for some sound which did not come. Then again she dozed.
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The next morning at daylight, she was very low. The
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nurse called Missus Sampson, and as the tube went over
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the old woman, they saw her lips move. Left me
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up out of bed, she whispered. They raised her in
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their arms, and with her stiff hand, she pointed to
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the window. Oh, the window. She wants to sit in
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the window. She used to sit there all day. Missus
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Samson explained, I could do her no harm. I suppose
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nothing matters now, said the nurse. They carried missus Manstey
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to the window and placed her in her chair. The
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dawn was abroad, a jubilant spring on the spire had
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already caught a golden ray, though the magnolia and horse
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chestnut still slumbered in shadow. In Missus Black's yard, all
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was quiet. The charred timbers of the balcony lay where
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they had fallen. It was evident that since the fire,
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the builders had not returned to their work. The magnolia
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had unfolded a few more sculptural flowers. The view was undisturbed.
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It was hard for Missus Mansty to breathe. Each moment
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it grew more difficult. She tried to make them open
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the window, but they would not understand. If she could
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have tasted the air sweet with a penetrating alanthes save,
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it would have eased her. But the view at least
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was there. The spire was golden now. The heavens had
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warmed from pearl to blue. Day was alight from east
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to west. Even the magnolia had caught the sun. Missus
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Mansky's head fell back and smiling. She died that day.
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The building of the extension was resumed end of Section
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five Missus Manstey's view by Edith Wharton
