ut I tell you
what I do wish, Mrs Peters. I wish I had come over sometimes when _she_
was here. I--(_looking around the room_)--wish I had.

MRS PETERS: But of course you were awful busy, Mrs Hale--your house and
your children.

MRS HALE: I could've come. I stayed away because it weren't
cheerful--and that's why I ought to have come. I--I've never liked this
place. Maybe because it's down in a hollow and you don't see the road. I
dunno what it is, but it's a lonesome place and always was. I wish I had
come over to see Minnie Foster sometimes. I can see now--(_shakes her
head_)

MRS PETERS: Well, you mustn't reproach yourself, Mrs Hale. Somehow we
just don't see how it is with other folks until--something comes up.

MRS HALE: Not having children makes less work--but it makes a quiet
house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did come
in. Did you know John Wright, Mrs Peters?

MRS PETERS: Not to know him; I've seen him in town. They say he was a
good man.

MRS HALE: Yes--good; he didn't drink, and kept his word as well as most,
I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs Peters. Just to
pass the time of day with him--(_shivers_) Like a raw wind that gets to
the bone, (_pauses, her eye falling on the cage_) I should think she
would 'a wanted a bird. But what do you suppose went with it?

MRS PETERS: I don't know, unless it got sick and died.

(_She reaches over and swings the broken door, swings it again, both
women watch it_.)

MRS HALE: You weren't raised round here, were you? (_MRS PETERS shakes
her head_) You didn't know--her?

MRS PETERS: Not till they brought her yesterday.

MRS HALE: She--come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird
herself--real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and--fluttery.
How--she--did--change. (_silence; then as if struck by a happy thought
and relieved to get back to everyday things_) Tell you what, Mrs Peters,
why don't you take the quilt in with you? It might take up her mind.

MRS PETERS: Why, I think that's a real nice idea, Mrs Hale. There
couldn't possibly be any objection to it, could there? Now, just what
would I take? I wonder if her patches are in here--and her things.

(_They look in the sewing basket_.)

MRS HALE: Here's some red. I expect this has got sewing things in it.
(_brings out a fancy box_) What a pretty box. Looks like something
somebody would give you. Maybe her scissors are in here. (_Opens box.
Suddenly puts her