“Well, I—I give in that it don't seem to me to amount to much, 'cordin' to my figurin'. I don't care much for lodge meetin's and sociables and such, myself. I'd rather have one evenin' at home with you than the whole cargo of 'em.”
This statement was frank, but it was decidedly undiplomatic. Serena sniffed contempt.
“Of course you would!” she said. “I don't get a bit of encouragement here at home, either. I should think you'd be proud to have your wife the head of the Chapter, presiding at meetings and welcoming the visiting delegates and—and all.”
“I am,” hastily. “I'm proud of you, Serena. Always have been, far's that goes. But I'm just as proud of you here in this sittin'-room as I am when you're back of that pulpit, poundin' with your mallet and tellin' Alphy Ann Berry to 'come to order.' Notwithstanding that you're the only one can make her come—or go, either—unless she takes a notion. Why,” with a chuckle, “it takes her husband half an hour to make her go home after meetin's over.”
Mrs. Dott did not chuckle.
“You think it's a joke,” she said. “I don't. It is the Berry woman and her kind that make me disgusted. I'm tired of them all. I'm tired of Trumet. I wish we were somewhere where I had an opportunity; somewhere where I might be appreciated.”
“I appreciate you, Serena.”
Serena ignored the remark. “I wish we had never settled here,” she went on. “I'd leave in a minute, if I could. I'd like to be in with nice people, cultivated people, intelligent, up-to-date society, where I could have a chance to go on and be somebody. I'd like to be a leader. I could be. Annette says I would be in a city like Scarford. She says I 'have the faculty of the born leader.' All I lack is the opportunity.”
Her husband sighed. He had heard all this before. Inwardly he wished Mrs. Black at Scarford, or China, or anywhere, provided it was not Trumet.
His wife heard the sigh. “There, Daniel,” she said; “I won't be complaining. I try not to be. But,” she hesitated, “there is one thing I'd like to ask, now that we've got your Aunt Lavinia's three thousand: Don't you suppose I could have some new clothes; I need at least two dresses right away.”