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A Country Doctor Chapter 1 - The Last Mile · The Sarah Orne Jewett Library

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  Speaker 1: CHAPTER I. The Last Mile it had been one of
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  Speaker 1: the warm and almost sultry days which sometimes come in
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  Speaker 1: november a maligned month which is really an epitome of
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  Speaker 1: the other eleven or a sort of index to the
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  Speaker 1: whole year's changes of storm and sunshine the afternoon was
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  Speaker 1: like spring the air was soft and damp and the
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  Speaker 1: buds of the willows had been beguiled into swelling a
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  Speaker 1: little so that there was a bloom over them and
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  Speaker 1: the grass looked as if it had been growing green
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  Speaker 1: of late instead of fading steadily it seemed like a
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  Speaker 1: reprieve from the doom of winter or from even November itself.
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  Speaker 1: The dense and early darkness which usually follows such unseasonable
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  Speaker 1: mildness had already begun to cut short the pleasures of
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  Speaker 1: this spring-like day, when a young woman, who carried a
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  Speaker 1: child in her arms, turned from a main road of
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  Speaker 1: old fields into a footpath which led southwards across the
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  Speaker 1: fields and pastures. She seemed sure of her way and
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  Speaker 1: kept the path without difficulties. though a stranger might easily
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  Speaker 1: have lost it here and there, where it led among
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  Speaker 1: the patches of sweet fern or bayberry bushes, or through
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  Speaker 1: shadowy tracts of small white pines. She stopped sometimes to rest,
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  Speaker 1: and walked more and more wearily with increasing effort, but
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  Speaker 1: she kept on her way desperately, as if it would
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  Speaker 1: not do to arrive much later at the place which
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  Speaker 1: she was seeking. The child seemed to be asleep, it
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  Speaker 1: looked too heavy for so slight a woman to carry.
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  Speaker 1: The path led, after a while, to a more open country.
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  Speaker 1: There was a low hill to be climbed, and at
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  Speaker 1: its top the slender figure stopped and seemed to be
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  Speaker 1: panting for breath. A follower might have noticed that it
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  Speaker 1: bent its head over the child's for a moment as
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  Speaker 1: it stood, dark against the darkening sky. There had formerly
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  Speaker 1: been a defense against the Indians on this hill, which
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  Speaker 1: in the daytime commanded a fine view of the surrounding country,
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  Speaker 1: and the low earthworks or foundations of the garrison were
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  Speaker 1: still plainly to be seen. The woman seated herself on
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  Speaker 1: the sunken wall in spite of the dampness and increasing chill,
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  Speaker 1: still holding the child and rocking to and fro like
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  Speaker 1: one in despair. The child waked and began to whine
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  Speaker 1: and cry a little in that strange, lonely place, and
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  Speaker 1: after a few minutes, perhaps to quiet it, they went
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  Speaker 1: on their way. Near the foot of the hill was
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  Speaker 1: a brook swollen by the autumn rains. It made a
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  Speaker 1: loud noise in the quiet pastures as if it were
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  Speaker 1: crying out against a wrong or some sad memory. the
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  Speaker 1: woman went toward it at first, following a slight ridge,
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  Speaker 1: which was all that remained of a covered path, which
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  Speaker 1: had led down from the garrison to the spring below
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  Speaker 1: at the brookside. If she had meant to quench her
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  Speaker 1: thirst here, she changed her mind, and suddenly turned to
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  Speaker 1: the right, following the brook a short distance, and then
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  Speaker 1: going straight toward the river itself and the high uplands,
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  Speaker 1: which by daylight were smooth pastures with here and there
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  Speaker 1: a tangled apple-tree, or the grassy cellar of a long-vanished farmhouse.
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  Speaker 1: It was night now. It was too late in the
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  Speaker 1: year for the chirp of any insects. The moving air,
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  Speaker 1: which could hardly be called wind, swept over in slow waves,
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  Speaker 1: and a few dry leaves rustled on an old hawthorn
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  Speaker 1: tree which grew beside the hollow where a house had been,
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  Speaker 1: and a low sound came from the river. the whole
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  Speaker 1: countryside seemed to sleep in the darkness but the lonely
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  Speaker 1: woman felt no lack of companionship it was well suited
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  Speaker 1: to her own mood that the world slept and said
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  Speaker 1: nothing to her it seemed as if she were the
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  Speaker 1: only creature alive a little this side of the river
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  Speaker 1: shore there was an old burial-place a primitive spot enough
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  Speaker 1: where the graves were only marked by rough stones and
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  Speaker 1: the short sheep-cropped grass was spread over departed generations of
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  Speaker 1: the farmers and their wives and children By day it
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  Speaker 1: was in sight of the pine woods and the moving water,
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  Speaker 1: and nothing hid it from the great sky overhead. But
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  Speaker 1: now it was like a prison walled about by the
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  Speaker 1: barriers of night. However eagerly the woman had hurried to
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  Speaker 1: this place, and with what purpose she may have sought
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  Speaker 1: the river bank, when she recognized her surroundings she stopped
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  Speaker 1: for a moment, swaying and irresolute.' No, no,' sighed the
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  Speaker 1: child plaintively, and she shuddered and started forward. Then, as
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  Speaker 1: her feet stumbled among the graves, she turned and fled.
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  Speaker 1: It no longer seemed solitary, but as if a legion
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  Speaker 1: of ghosts, which had been wandering under cover of the dark,
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  Speaker 1: had discovered this intruder, and were chasing her, and flocking
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  Speaker 1: around her, and oppressing her from every side. And as
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  Speaker 1: she caught sight of a light in a faraway farmhouse window,
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  Speaker 1: a light which had been shining after her all the
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  Speaker 1: way down to the river, she tried to hurry toward it.
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  Speaker 1: the unnatural strength of terror urged her on she retraced
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  Speaker 1: her steps like some pursued animal she remembered one after
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  Speaker 1: another the fearful story she had known of that ancient
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  Speaker 1: neighborhood the child cried but she could not answer it
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  Speaker 1: she fell again and again and at last all her
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  Speaker 1: strength seemed to fail her her feet refused to carry
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  Speaker 1: her father and she crept painfully a few yards at
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  Speaker 1: a time slowly along the ground The fear of her
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  Speaker 1: superhuman enemies had forsaken her, and her only desire was
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  Speaker 1: to reach the light that shone from the looming shadow
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  Speaker 1: of the house. At last she was close to it.
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  Speaker 1: At last she gave one great sigh, and the child
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  Speaker 1: fell from her grasp. At last she clutched the edge
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  Speaker 1: of the worn doorstep with both hands and lay still.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter 1