Edith Wharton - Penn State University

Summerity——” It was the first time he had ever called her by hername. Her misery welled over.“I ain’t—I ain’t ashamed. They’re my people, and I ain’tashamed of them,” she sobbed.“My dear...” he murmured, putting his arm about her;and she leaned against him and wept out her pain.It was too late to go around to Hamblin, and all the starswere out in a clear sky when they reached the North Dormervalley and drove up to the red house.VIISINCE HER REINSTATEMENT in Miss Hatchard’s favour Charityhad not dared to curtail by a moment her hours of attendanceat the library. She even made a point of arrivingbefore the time, and showed a laudable indignation whenthe youngest Targatt girl, who had been engaged to helpin the cleaning and rearranging of the books, came trailingin late and neglected her task to peer through the windowat the Sollas boy. Nevertheless, “library days” seemedmore than ever irksome to Charity after her vivid hours ofliberty; and she would have found it hard to set a goodexample to her subordinate if Lucius Harney had not beencommissioned, before Miss Hatchard’s departure, to examinewith the local carpenter the best means of ventilatingthe “Memorial.”He was careful to prosecute this inquiry on the days whenthe library was open to the public; and Charity was thereforesure of spending part of the afternoon in his company.The Targatt girl’s presence, and the risk of beinginterrupted by some passer-by suddenly smitten with athirst for letters, restricted their intercourse to the exchangeof commonplaces; but there was a fascination to Charityin the contrast between these public civilities and theirsecret intimacy.The day after their drive to the brown house was “libraryday,” and she sat at her desk working at the revisedcatalogue, while the Targatt girl, one eye on the window,chanted out the titles of a pile of books. Charity’s thoughtswere far away, in the dismal house by the swamp, andunder the twilight sky during the long drive home, whenLucius Harney had consoled her with endearing words.44