nobody had asked fanny to be a member of the civic league but she was its most energetic promoter, its most zealous advocate. never had she had such a cold weather opportunity.
fanny hated cold weather. it shut people up in houses, shut their mouths, their purses, their laughter. it made life grim and rather gray. fanny loved sunshine and open sunny roads. she tried to do her duty in winter as well as in summer but when the weather drops to ten or twenty below the sunniest of natures is bound to feel it.
but this winter green valley women were so stirred and roused that they thought of other things beside the price of coal and sugar and yarn. the short winter days fairly flew. the civic league was young but already it was laying out an ambitious spring programme. no mere man was a member but all the men had to do was to show a little attention to fanny foster to know what was going on.
"we're going to set up a drinking fountain in the business square," fanny explained. "the men of this town have the hotel but the horses never did have a decent trough of clean water. and we're going to have a little low place fixed so's the dogs can get a drink too. this is to prevent hydrophobia.
"we've already started the boys to building bird houses so's to have them ready to put up the first thing in the spring. there'll be less killing of song birds with sling-shots, though of course there's never been much of that done in green valley.
"then that crossing at west end is going to be attended to. there's been enough rubbers lost in that mudhole to about fill it, so it won't take much to fill it up. we're going to have a little bridge built over that ditch on lane avenue so's we women don't dislocate our joints jumping over it. but first the ditch is going to be deepened and cleaned so's it won't smell so unhealthy. when that's done the ladies aim to plant wild flowers along it, careless like, to make it look as if god had made it instead of lazy men.
"we're going to suggest that all buildings in the business section put out window boxes. we'll furnish the flowers. it will give a distinctive note of beauty to the town." fanny was carefully quoting mrs. brownlee.
"billy evans' wife promised to see to it that billy painted the livery barn and there's a delegation of ladies appointed to wait on mert hagley and see if we can't get him to mend his sheds. they're so lopsided and rickety that mrs. brownlee says they're an eyesore and a menace to public safety.
"there's another delegation that's going to ask the saloon keeper to keep the basement door shut when the trains come in so's to keep that beery and whisky smell out of the streets as much as possible while maybe visitors are walking about.
"we're going to send a special committee to see what the railroad will do about fixing up this old station or, better still, giving us a new one and beautifying its grounds.
"we're planning to see colonel stratton about starting up a club for the preservation of our wild flowers and doc philipps is to have charge of a fight on the moths and things that are eating and killing our fruit trees.
"the school buildings will be investigated and conditions noted. doc philipps says that if the heating plant and ventilation and light was tended to we wouldn't have so much sickness among the children or so many needing glasses.
"as soon as spring really comes the woman's civic league is going to start up a clean-up campaign. of course, green valley never was a dirty town. everybody likes to have their yard nice but there's considerable old faded newspaper and rusty tin cans lying along the roads farther out and in unnoticed corners that nobody's felt responsible for. that will all be attended to. we'll have no filth, no germs, no ugliness anywhere, mrs. brownlee says.
"and i've been appointed a committee of one to wait on seth curtis and call his attention to the careless way he leaves his horses standing about the town. those horses are dangerous and getting uglier in temper every day. and seth is just as bad."
this was only too true. seth had grown bitter and even reckless of late. ever since his quarrel with ruth about jim tumley seth had been boiling with temper. old poisons that had spoiled his life in many ways and that he thought he had conquered crept back to tyrannize over him. poor seth had had so much discipline in his youth that the least hint of pressure threw him into a state of vicious rebellion. seth had a fine mind, could think quicker and straighter to the point than a good many green valley men. but when that mind was clouded with anger and stubbornness seth was a hopeless proposition. ruth was his one star and even she, seth felt, had set herself against him.
so seth, who seldom had frequented the hotel, was there almost every day now when he should have been working. he even drank more than before. not that he cared more for it but it was his way of showing independence.
so seth was very ugly these days and his horses suffered as they had never suffered before. they too were growing ugly and vicious and so nervous that the least noise, the least stir, sent them into a quivering frenzy of fright.
every one in green valley knew this and not a few men and women were worrying. several men were making up their minds to speak sharply to seth about it. but everybody smiled and even felt relieved when they heard that fanny had offered her services to the civic league in this capacity. green valley knew seth and knew fanny foster. fanny would most certainly tell seth about it. and everybody knew just how mad seth would get. fanny would not of course accomplish much. but she would open up the subject, suffer the first violence of seth's anger and so make it easier for some more competent person to take seth to task and force him to be reasonable.
the minister had spoken to seth long ago but though seth listened quietly to the quiet words of the one man he had come to love in his queer fashion, he had set his jaw grimly at the end and said, "no, sir! i've made up my mind not to stand this interference with my personal liberty and god himself can't budge me!"
"yes, he can, seth. but don't let it go that far," cynthia's son had begged.
now all green valley was waiting to see fanny tackle seth in the name of the civic league. it would be funny, everybody said.
fanny did it one sunny afternoon in early spring when the streets were gay with folks all out to taste the first bit of gladness in the air. fanny did it in her usual lengthy and thorough manner and permitted no interruptions. she was talking for the first time in her life with authority vested in her by a civic body. so there was a strength and a conscientiousness about her remarks that struck home.
seth was standing alone on the hotel steps when fanny began talking but all of green valley that was abroad was gathered laughingly about her when she finished and stood waiting for seth's answer.
seth had had a glass too much or he would never have done, never have said what he did and said that day. he would never have taken poor, harmless, laughter-loving, happy-go-lucky fanny foster, who had never done a mean, malicious thing in her life, who had let her world use her for all the little hateful tasks that nobody else would do and in which there was no thanks or any glory,—seth in his senses would never have held up this dear though unfinished soul to the scorn, the pitiless ridicule of her townsmen.
if fanny had been touched with fire and eloquence because she spoke with authority, seth too talked with a bitter brilliance that won the crowd and held it against its will. with biting sarcasm and horrible accuracy seth drew a picture of fanny as made green valley smile and laugh before it could catch itself and realize the cruelty of its laughter.
fanny stood at the foot of the wide flight of stairs like a criminal at the bar. as seth's words grew more biting, his judgments more cruel, fanny's face flushed with shame, then faded white with pain.
but seth went too far. he went so far that he couldn't stop himself. and the crowd who had gathered to hear a little harmless fun now stood petrified and heartsick. no one stirred, though everybody was wishing themselves miles away. and seth's voice, dripping with cruelty, went on.
then all at once from the heart of the crowd a little figure pushed its way. it was seth's wife, ruth. she walked halfway up that flight of stairs and looked steadily at her husband. seth stopped in the middle of a word.
"seth curtis," ruth's face was as white as fanny's and her voice rang out like a silver bell, "seth curtis, you will apologize, ask forgiveness of fanny foster, who is my friend and an old schoolmate, or before god and these people i will disown you as my husband and the father of my children. fanny foster never had an apple or a goody in her lunch in the old school days that she didn't share it with somebody. she has never had a dollar or a joy that she hasn't divided. no one in green valley ever had a pain or a sorrow that she did not make it hers and try to help in some way. and in all the world there can be no more willing hands than hers."
the silver voice stopped, choked with sobs, and ruth's eyes, looking down on the shrunken, bowed figure of green valley's gossip, brimmed over with tears.
seth, sober now, stared at his wife, at the broken, crushed fanny, at the crowd that stood waiting in still misery.
ruth walked down to fanny and flung her arms about her. fanny patted her friend's shoulder softly and tried to comfort not herself but ruth. "there, there, ruthie, don't, don't take on so. remember, you're nursing a baby and it might make him sick. it's all right, everything's all right. only," fanny's voice was dull and colorless and she never once raised her head, "only i wish john wouldn't hear of this. i've been such a disappointment to john without—this."
though she spoke only to ruth everybody heard. it was the first and only favor fanny foster had ever asked of green valley. and green valley, as it watched ruth lead her away, swore that if possible john should not hear.
but john did hear three days later. and then the quiet man whose patience had made people think him a fool let loose the stored-up bitterness of years. he who in the beginning should and could have saved his girl wife with love and firmness now judged and rejected her with the terrible wrath, the cold merciless justice of a man slow to anger or to judge.
it was springtime and grandma, sitting in her kitchen, heard and wept for fanny. the windows at the foster house were open and john talked for all the world to hear. his name had been dragged through the gutter and he was past caring for appearances. grandma writhed under the words that were more cruel than a lash. at the end john foster swore that so long as he lived he would never speak to fanny. and grandma shivered, for she knew john foster.
for days not even grandma saw fanny. then she saw her washing windows, scrubbing the porch steps, hanging up clothes. there came from the foster house the whir of a sewing machine, the fragrant smell of fresh bread. the children came out with faces shining as the morning, hair as smooth as silk, shoes polished. and grandma knew that if john foster found a speck of dirt in his house he would have to look for it with a microscope. but there was a kind of horror in the eyes of fanny's children. they didn't play any more or run away but of their own accord stayed home to fetch and carry for the strange mother who was now always there, who never sang, never spoke harshly to them, who worked bitterly from morning till night.
every spring fanny foster used to flit through green valley streets like a chattering blue-jay. but now nobody saw her, only now and then at night, slinking along through the dark. and many a kindly heart ached for her, remembering how fanny loved the sunshine and laughter.
but at last the spring grew too wonderful to resist. even fanny's numb heart and flayed spirit was warmed with the golden heat. she had some money that she wanted to deposit in the bank for john. for fanny was saving now as only fanny knew how when she set her mind to it. and she had set not only her mind but her very soul on making good. every cruel taunt had left a ghastly wound and only work of the hardest kind could ease the hurt.
fanny walked through the streets as though she had just recovered from a long illness. everybody who saw her hurried out to greet her and talk but she only smiled in a pitiful sort of way and hastened on. it was nearly noon and she wanted to avoid the midday bustle and the crowds of children. she had set out the children's dinner but she hoped to get back before they reached home.
she came out of the bank and stood on the bank steps. she looked down the streets. nobody was about and so against her will her eyes turned to the spot where she had been so pitilessly pilloried a month before.
as then, seth's team was standing in front of the hotel. little billy evans was climbing into the big wagon. she watched the child in a kind of stupor. she knew he ought not to do that. seth's horses were not safe for a grown-up, much less a child. she wondered where seth was or billy evans or hank. she wondered if she'd better have them telephone to billy from the bank and have him get little billy. she half turned to do that and then out of the hotel door jim tumley came reeling and singing. only his voice was a maudlin screech. little billy had by this time gotten into the wagon, pulled the whip from its socket, and just as jim came staggering up, touched the more nervous of the two horses with it. and then it happened—what green valley had been dreading for months.
when men heard the commotion and turned to look they saw seth's horses tearing madly round the hotel corner. little billy evans was rattling around in the wagon box like a cork on the water and fanny foster, swaying like a reed, was hanging desperately to the horses' heads.
hank lolly was pitching hay into the barn loft. he saw, jumped and then lay still with a broken leg. seth saw and billy evans and scores of other men, and they all ran madly to help. but the terrified animals waited for no man. and then from the throats of the running crowd a groan broke, for the school doors opened and into the spring sunshine and the arms of certain death the little first and second graders came dancing.
the school building hid the danger from the children and they did not comprehend the hoarse shouts of warning. but fanny heard, heard the childish laughter and the screams of horror. she knew those horses must not turn that corner. her feet swung against the shafts. her heel caught for a minute and she jerked with all her might. the mad creatures swerved and dashed themselves and her against a telegraph pole.
when they picked up little billy and fanny they were both unconscious. one of billy's little arms was broken, so violently had he been flung about and against the iron bars of the scat. fanny's injuries were more serious.
they took her home to her spotless house with the children's dinner set out on the red tablecloth in the kitchen. the pussy willows the children had brought her the day before were in a vase in the center. her husband came home and spoke to her but she neither saw him nor heard. they gave him a blood-stained bank book with his name on it.
and so she lay for days and sometimes doc philipps thought she would live and at other times he was sure she couldn't; but if she lived he knew that she would never again flit like vagrant sunshine through green valley streets. she would spend the rest of her days in a wheel chair or on crutches.
when they got courage finally to tell her, fanny only smiled and said nothing. but she ate less and smiled more and steadily grew weaker and weaker and as steadily refused to see her husband.
"no," she said quietly, "there's nothing i want to see john about and there's nothing for him to see me about any more. i guess," she smiled at the gruff old doctor, "you're about the only man i can stand the sight of or who would put up with me."
"fanny," doc philipps told her, "if you don't buck up and get well, if you die on my hands, it will be the first mean thing you ever did."
"oh, well—it would be the last," laughed fanny.
"fanny, don't you know that seth curtis and nearly all the town comes here at least once a day? how do you suppose john and seth and the rest of us will feel if you just quit and go?"
and then in bitterness of heart fanny answered.
"oh, i'm tired of living, of being snubbed and made fun of. i'm past caring how anybody else will feel. i tell you i'm a misfit. god never took pains to finish me. i've been a miserable failure, no good to anybody. my children will be better off without me. john said so."
"my god!" groaned the old doctor, "did john say that?" he knew now that no medicine that he could give, no skill of his would mend a heart bruised like that.
"yes—he said that—and a whole lot more. said i've eternally disgraced him and dragged him down and will land him in jail or the poorhouse. and i guess maybe it's so. only all the time he was talking i kept thinking how he teased me to marry him. i really liked bud willis over in elmwood better, in a way, than i did john. and i meant to marry bud. he wasn't as good a boy as john, but he was so jolly and we'd have had such a good time together that i'd never have got mixed up in any mess like this. maybe we would have ended in the poorhouse but we'd have had a good time going, and i bet bud and i would have found something to laugh at even when we got there. oh, i'm glad it's over. don't think i'm afraid to die. i kind of hate to leave robbie. robbie's like me. and some day somebody'll tell him what a fool he is—like they told me. i wish i could warn him or learn him not to care. but, barring robbie, i'm not afraid to go. but i'd be afraid to live. to live all the rest of my days on my back or in a chair—i—who was made to go? john can't abide me well and able to work. he'd hate the sight of me useless. no, sir! there's nothing nor nobody i'd sit in a chair for all the rest of my life."
"yes, there is—peggy."
john spoke from the shadowy doorway, for the dusk had fallen.
"you will do it for me, girl. i'll get you the nicest chair and the prettiest crutches. and when you are tired of them i'll carry you about in my arms. and you'll never again—i swear it—be sorry that you didn't marry bud willis."
the spring twilight filled the room. through it the doctor tiptoed to the door and left these two to build a new world out of the fragments and blunders of the old.
