My mother was sitting by the firefire, but poorly in health , and very low in spirits , lookinglookat it through her tearstear, and despondingdespondheavily about herself and the fatherless little stranger , who was already welcomedwelcomeby some grosses of prophetic pins , in a drawer upstairs , to a world not at all excited on the subject of his arrivalarrival; my mother , I say , was sitting by the firefire, that bright , windy March afternoon , very timid and sad , and very doubtful of ever coming alive out of the trial that was before her , when , liftinglifther eyes as she drieddrythem , to the window opposite , she sawseea strange lady comingcomeup the garden .
A gush of tearstearat her mother 's farewell kisskiss, a touchtouchin her throat when the cars clackedclackby the flour mill where her father worked by the day , a pathetic sighsighas the familiar green environs of the village passedpassin review , and the threads which bound her so lightly to girlhood and home were irretrievably brokenbreak.
well did the tall stately girl of eighteen rememberrememberthe tearstearshed with such wild passion of griefgriefby the little girl of nine , as she hidhideher face under the bed-clothes , in that first night ; and how she was biddenbidnot to cry by the nurse , because it would disturb Miss Edith ; and how she had criedcryas bitterly , but more quietlyquietly, till her newly-seennewly, grand , pretty aunt had comecomesoftly upstairs with Mr. Hale to show him his little sleepingsleepdaughter .
When he had stood in the doorway with his soldier 's clothes on his back , and with the light of excitement and expectancy in his eyes almost defeating the glow of regret for the home bonds , he had seenseetwo tearstearleaving their trailstrailon his mother 's scarred cheeks .
All the good counsels of my parents , my father ’s tearstearand my mother ’s entreatiesentreaty, camecomenow fresh into my mind ; and my conscience , which was not yet come to the pitch of hardness to which it has since , reproachedreproachme with the contempt of advice , and the breach of my duty to God and my father .
Thus , between the outbreaksoutbreakof her tearstearfor her mother , it became apparentapparentto her that she must sacrifice her own feelings , and make a cheerful home for papa , and that a great many changes would be necessary in the household -- changes which went so far as even to extend to the furniture .
Though , indeed , she had herself decideddecidealready , in the intervals of her tearstear, that the drawing-room furniture had got very faded and shabby , and that it would be very expedient to have it renewed for the new reign of youth and energy which was about to commence .
Even envious Miss Briggs never spoke ill of her ; high and mighty Miss Saltire ( Lord Dexter 's granddaughter ) allowed that her figure was genteel ; and as for Miss Swartz , the rich woolly-haired mulatto from St. Kitt 's , on the day Amelia wentgoaway , she was in such a passionpassionof tearstearthat they were obliged to sendsendfor Dr. Floss , and half tipsifytipsifyher with salvolatile .