Her head dropped to his breast, pressed by his hands close to his heart. She could see nothing, but she could hear a strange beating sound like a wooden hammer upon flesh. Her body was cramped; it seemed to her that she could not breathe; then her father's embrace relaxed and she rose quickly.
Her wild glance sought the window. Mrs. Sassaman drove slowly up the lane, Dr. Wescoe's car turned in from the highway, but their coming now made no difference.
CHAPTER XI
CHANGE
Within a few minutes the farmhouse took on the air of almost hysterical activity which follows upon a sudden death. Mrs. Sassaman, after sinking upon a chair and giving a few tearful gasps, went to her room to change her dress, so that she might set to work. The tenant farmer drove away to carry the startling news to Grandfather and Matthew, and his wife panted up the hill and sat waiting in the kitchen until Mrs. Sassaman should be ready to give her the detailed information for which her soul longed. But Mrs. Sassaman had too exalted a sense of her own importance to gossip. There were, moreover, many things to be done at once, the house to be put in perfect order, funeral meats to be baked, the bees to be told of their master's death, and all the jars of preserves in the cellar to be turned.
Matthew returned with Calvin bringing word that Grandfather would follow with Amos. Having had no active exercise, Matthew had grown stout and looked nearer thirty than twenty. He kissed Ellen and they sat silently until Grandfather arrived.
"The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." It was Grandfather's accustomed salutation on entering a house of mourning. He spoke with a long sigh which expressed his apprehension about the fate of his son-in-law.
In spite of his misgivings he planned to bury Levis's body in the little cemetery beside his wife. Wednesday afternoon would be a suitable time and he would preach the sermon himself. For a half-hour the three men and Ellen sat together in the parlor. Frequently Matthew glanced at Ellen, then away. God had strangely given him his heart's desire, but he could not help pitying Ellen. He felt very solemn and important.
"I don't think that bright tie looks well under the circumstances, Ellen," he said gently.