She arranged her beautiful, thick, white hair very carefully,
and put on her purple silk dress with the little gold spots in it.
The Old Lady always wore silk from motives of economy.
It was much cheaper to wear a silk dress that had belonged
to her mother than to buy new print at the store. The Old Lady
had plenty of silk dresses which had belonged to her mother.
She wore them morning, noon, and night, and Spencervale
people considered it an additional evidence of her pride.
As for the fashion of them, it was, of course, just because she
was too mean to have them made over. They did not dream
that the Old Lady never put on one of the silk dresses without
agonizing over its unfashionableness, and that even the eyes
of Crooked Jack cast on her antique flounces and overskirts
was almost more than her feminine vanity could endure.
In spite of the fact that the Old Lady had not welcomed
the new day, its beauty charmed her when she went out for a walk
after her dinner--or, rather, after her mid-day biscuit.
It was so fresh, so sweet, so virgin; and the spruce woods
around the old Lloyd place were athrill with busy spring doings
and all sprinkled through with young lights and shadows.
Some of their delight found its way into the Old Lady's bitter
heart as she wandered through them, and when she came out at
the little plank bridge over the brook down under the beeches,
she felt almost gentle and tender once more.
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