how much it cost. It did cost
considerable. We didn't ever tell anybody just how much; but I didn't
care; I'd always wanted one; an' I made up my mind I'd rather have
that if I had to go without some other things. An' my husband wanted
it too; he was one of the Maxwells, you know, an' I think they all
had a taste for such things if they wa'n't too tight to get 'em. As
for me, I had to do without all my young days, an' I have to now
except for the few things we got together along then when my poor
husband seemed to be prospering; but I've always been crazy over
images, an' I've always thought one in a front yard was about the
most ornamental thing anybody could have. I've told Flora a good many
times that I believed if I'd had advantages when I was young, I
should have made images. Don't you think that one's handsome,
Esther?"

"Real handsome," said Mrs. Field.

"Some folks have found fault with it because it didn't have more
clothes on, but it ain't as if it was in a cemetery. Of course it
would have to be dressed different if it was. An' it ain't anything
but marble, when you come right down to it. I think there's such a
thing as bein' too particular, for my part, don't you?"

"Yes, I do," replied Mrs. Field, looking out at the marble figure.

"Well, I do. Mis' Jay said, after my husband died, that she should
think I'd like to put up that image for a kind of monument for him. I
didn't feel as if I could put up anything more than stones; but I did
think a little of it, and I knew if I did, I should have to have some
wings made on it, and a cape or a shawl over the neck and arms; but
out here it's different. I look out at it a good many times, an' I'm
thankful it ain't got any more on, clothes do get so out of fashion.
You know how they look in photographs sometimes. I s'pose that's the
reason that the men who make these images don't put any more on.
There! I must show you my photograph album, Esther."

Mrs. Maxwell took a heavy album with gilt clasps from the
centre-table, and drew a chair close to Mrs. Field.

"Now you get a chair, an' come on the other side, Lois," said she,
"an' I can show 'em to both of you."

Lois obeyed, and Mrs. Maxwell turned over the album leaves and
explained the pictures.

"This is a lady I used to know," said she. "She lived in North
Elliot. She's dead now. That's her husband; he's married again. His
second wife's kind of silly. Ain't much like the first one. She was a
real stepp