Part 8 (2/2)

Then Frieda dropped the letter to wave another long grey sock, shot through with shi+ning knitting needles It was soely at the heel

”I wonder if I a?” she inquired anxiously The utilitarian nature of Frieda's occupation contrasted curiously with the general fluffiness of her appearance For no auish could ever keep Frieda from the desire to wear pretty clothes and to make herself as attractive as possible However, no one had any right to say she was unhappy, except as every one else was, through syht upon the world

Like er part of Europe and also in the United States, Jack and Olive were devoting all their energies to the work of the war They had both taken short courses in Red Cross nursing and had organized clubs and classes in the neighborhood for every kind of relief work, while Frank had turned over several of his houses to the Belgian refugees

Therefore, only Frieda res

She had undertaken to learn to knit for the soldiers, but insisted that since her name meant peace and was a Ger o out or reat deal, which was odd, as one of the reasons she had given for her unhappiness in her own home was that her husband wished to spend too much time there, so that she had becoreed to visit the poor people on the estate and in the neighboring village, in order to relieve Jack from this one of her many duties

Moreover, she enjoyed the odd types of old men and women, so unlike any other people whoreat favorite with the herit on these same queer old persons and the children who had been left behind

This afternoon, after she had finished reading the second of her two letters, the latter froot up fro to drive down to the village to see old Dame Quick,” she announced, ”I promised to read to her this afternoon” 'Daive to the oldest woman in Granchester, because she was so extraordinarily lively

”What will you do with Jimmie while you read? He will never keep still,”

Jack called, as Frieda moved toward the door

Frieda paused ”Oh, he and nurse will return back in the governess cart

I want to walk home Don't worry if I am a little late,” and before Olive or Jack would speak, she had disappeared

”I hope Frieda won't be too long She does not know this country as I do,” Jackof thein the little governess cart onthe nurse with them and more often not Jie when he was into every kind of mischief, and Frieda was not fond of children

Therefore, her family had wondered why she appeared to desire so ht have answered that he asked so many questions that she did not have tis; however, she had never said this, even to herself

The governess cart was a little wicker carriage swung low on theels, with an ancient, shaggy pony, who never reat ladies in the English novels, Frieda stored away under the seat of her cart as much jelly and jam as her sister's housekeeper would allow her At the nearest grocery shop she bought a package of tea, some tins of biscuits and a half pound of tobacco For the truth was that Frieda's old wo the villagers, but Dains” was so very old that she allowed herself certain privileges

It was a dislish people and particularly English children do not stay indoors because of bad weather

Frieda wore a blue rain proof coat and a soft hat which she pulled down over her yellow hair, to keep the soft mist out of her eyes as well as she could Jimmie and his nurse were also enveloped inThere was only a Nove Ji more color than was usual to Frieda's face

On the way to the village Ji ”America” in not a particularly reat deal of earnest effort, since Frieda was trying to teach the British Jimmie to be o into Mrs Huggins' cottage with his aunt, but on that point Frieda was resolute She had a fancy for seeing her old friend alone this afternoon Actually she had a reason which had been developing in her h Frieda herself considered her reason nonsensical

In answer to her knock the old woman came to the door She looked like one of the pictures one remembers in the Mother Goose books, and also like one of them, ”she lived alone, all in her little house of stone”

Dae of two roo row of little stone houses, in one of the half a dozen streets in Granchester

Frieda always felt a shi+ver as she went inside, since the floor was of stone and there was a dahly wared to live there in contentment for about seventy years She had come there as a bride before she enty and was now ”ninety or thereabouts,” as she described herself