Ladies In The Parlor Read Online Free PDF Page A

again.”
    “Well, it wouldn’t come to this house if it had any sense—and you haven’t got any right to bring it here either.”
    The mother took Leora’s hand when she had finished speaking.
    “Leora,” she said slowly, “there’s times I don’t know you, you’re so strange—you’re more like the Blairs than my people—the Flemings were never like that—my mother’d of crawled to save a baby.”
    “And what for—I’d like to know,” snapped Leora.
    “Because she felt it had as much right in this world as she had—that’s why.”
    A thought came to Leora. Her face brightened, “But, Mother,” she said, “It may be you’re not that way at all—suppose I talk to Dr. Haley in the morning—he’s very kind, and he’ll examine you and not charge me anything.” She began to soothe her mother.
    “All right,” returned the worn woman—”maybe you’re right—but I’m so tired—won’t you come up, Leora dear, and stay with me until I go to sleep?”
    “Sure, Mother,” was the answer. Leora picked up the kerosene lamp and lighted her mother’s steps up stairs.
    She sat on her mother’s bed for some moments. Hearing her regular breathing, she undressed and lay down beside Sally.
    She stared into the darkness for a long time, and then, as was her habit, she went to the window and looked at the silent river. Rain began to fall. She listened to it rattle on the roof until her eyes became heavy.
    Again she lay upon the bed.
    The noises of the night became vague and far away.
    Soon the beautiful and turbulent daughter of William Blair was at rest for the night.

Chapter 5
    When Leora came down to breakfast, her brothers and sisters were already jangling their mother’s nerves, “Ma, get me this,” and “Ma, where are my clean stockings?” and “Ma, can I go to the picture show this afternoon?” The mother, patient as the future, tried to be everywhere at once and help Sally get breakfast for a hungry brood at the same time.
    The spick-and-span Leora ignored all the tribe but Sally, who was bent over the stove. “I want to talk to you after breakfast, Sal,” she said.
    Sally, the indomitable, merely said, “All right, Lee,” and went on with her cooking, while two other children rattled the dishes into place on the table.
    The heat from the stove flustered Sally. Her red, round face was already perspiring.
    “Take it easy, Sal,” suggested Leora.
    The gas was weak that morning. Breakfast cooked slowly. “Everybody’s usin’ too much at once,” observed Sally.
    “Yes,” returned her mother, “everybody’s hungry at this hour.”
    “Pa’ll be home and breakfast won’t be ready,” worried Sally.
    “That’ll be too bad,” said Leora, going to the window of the living-room and looking out upon the withered grass of the yard. She could hear men returning from labor at night, dragging their feet along the quiet street that ran in front of the house.
    Soon her father turned in at the broken gate. She walked to the kitchen just as he clattered his tin dinner pail on the sink.
    “Hello there,” said the mother wearily.
    In return he asked, “Ain’t breakfast ready yit?”
    “No,” answered Sally, “the gas is awful weak.”
    “Well gol darn it—you’d have the same story if I got here at noon.”
    Suddenly Leora stood before him.
    “Mother’s not feeling well.” Her body rigid with anger, she spoke calmly, “And there’s going to be no scolding around here.”
    The father stepped backward. Leora, still in front of him, said, “You know what I mean—I can’t keep you from doing a lot of things—but you’re going to be quiet now.”
    The mother stood, her hands on the back of a chair, while Sally, after brushing the hair from her eyes, poured a mixture of mush into a dish.
    Blair for a second was in the mood to rebel. And then, beaten by more than his daughter, he went to the living-room until breakfast was announced.
    The meal was cold before the mother could