But
she controlled herself, though her face was colorless and her hands
were more tremulous than before. Unfastening her comfortable cloak
she replaced it with a shabby shawl; took off her neat bonnet and
put on a hood, unfolded six linen shirts, and shook them out before
her landlady's eyes; then retied the parcel, and, pausing on the
threshold of the door, looked back with an expression that haunted
the woman long afterward, as she said, with the quiver of strong
excitement in her voice:
"Mrs. Flint, I have always dealt honorably by you; I always mean to
do it, and don't deserve to be suspected of dishonesty like that. I
leave every thing I own behind me, and if I don't come back, you can
sell them all and pay yourself, for I feel now as if I never wanted
to see you or this room again."
Then she went rapidly away, supported by her indignation, for she
had done her best to pay her debts; had sold the few trinkets she
possessed, and several treasures given by the Carrols, to settle her
doctor's bill, and had been half killing herself to satisfy Mrs.
Flint's demands. The consciousness that she had been too lavish in
her generosity when fortune smiled upon her, made the present want
all the harder to bear.
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