I got the little sink scratcher an' tied a wet piece of rag to
the handle an' went around behind her an' hung it suddenly in her back
hair. She put up her hand an' felt it, an' give a yell that woke Elijah.
You know how Jerusha Dodd acts when she's upset! She spun around so the
sink scratcher fell right out but she did n't have sense enough left in
her to know it. She yelled, 'What was it? what was it?' an' I yelled,
'It was a bat, it was a bat;' an' at that I see the last of Jerusha
Dodd, for she was out of my kitchen an' out of my sight afore Elijah
could get to the top of the stairs to begin yellin', 'What was it? what
was it?' on his own hook. I had to tell him all about it then an' he
wanted it for a item right off. He said he'd have a dash for Jerusha an'
a star for me, an' the idea took him like most of his ideas do, an' he
laughed till he coughed the coffee as I'd saved for him all the wrong
way, an' dropped a soft boiled egg as I'd boiled for him into the water
pitcher, an', oh my, I thought misfortunes never would come to a end or
even to a turnin'. But after he'd fished out the egg an' eat it, he went
off down to his uncle's an' he was n't more'n gone when in come Mrs.
Sweet to see if Jerusha left her breastpin, 'cause in her quick
breathin' it had fallen somewhere an' Jerusha was havin' hysterics over
losin' that now. While I was talkin' to Mrs. Sweet at the gate I smelt
somethin' burnin' an' there my whole bakin' of bread was burnt up in the
oven owin' to Jerusha Dodd's breathin' her breastpin out over a bat. I
felt to be some tempered then, an' Mrs. Sweet saw it an' turned around
an' left me, an' after she was gone I went into the house an' pulled
down the shades an' locked the door an' went to sleep. I slept till
Elijah come home to dinner an' of course there was n't no dinner ready
an' that put Elijah out. Elijah's got a good deal of a temper, I find,
an' the only thing in the world to do with a man in a temper, when he is
in a temper, is to make him so mad that he goes right off in a huff an'
leaves you to peace again. So I just made one or two remarks about my
opinion of things as he feels very strong about, an' he said he guessed
he'd get supper down town an' sleep at the store to-night. So he took
himself off an' he was hardly out of the way when Mrs. Macy come to tell
me about Judy Lupey's divorce."

"Is--" cried Mrs. Lathrop.

"Not yet, but she soon will be," said Miss Clegg. "Mrs. Macy's just back