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A jury of her peers by Susan
Glaspell. When Martha Hale opened the storm

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door and got a cut of the
north wind, she ran back for her

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big woolen scarf. As she hurriedly
wound that round her head, her eye

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made a scandalized sweep of her kitchen. It was no ordinary thing that called

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her away. It was probably further
from ordinary than anything that had ever happened

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in Dixon County. But what her
eye took in was that her kitchen was

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in no shape for leaving her bread
already for mixing, half the flower sifted

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and half unsifted. She hated to
see things half done, but she had

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been at that when the team from
town stopped to get mister Hale, and

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then the sheriff came running in to
say his wife wished missus Hale would come

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too, adding with a grin that
he guessed she was getting scary and wanted

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another woman along. So she had
dropped everything right where it was. Martha

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now came her husband's impatient voice,
don't keep folks waiting out here in the

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cold. She again opened the storm
door, and this time joined the three

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men and the one woman waiting for
her in the big two seated buggy.

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After she had the robes tucked round
her, she took another look at the

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woman who sat beside her on the
back seat. She had met Missus Peters

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the year before at the county fair, and the thing she remembered about her

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was that she didn't seem like a
sheriff's wife. She was small and thin

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and didn't have a strong voice.
Missus Gorman, sheriff's wife before Gorman went

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out and Peters came in, had
a voice that somehow seemed to be backing

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up the law with every word.
But if Missus Peters didn't look like a

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sheriff's wife, Peters made it up
in looking like a sheriff. He was,

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to a dot, the kind of
man who could get himself elected sheriff,

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a heavy man with a big voice, who was particularly funial with the

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Laura, abiding as if to make
it plain that he knew the difference between

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criminals and non criminals. And right
there it came into Missus Hale's mind with

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a stab that this man who was
so pleasant and lively with all of them,

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was going to the rights now as
a sheriff. The country's not very

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pleasant this time of year. Missus
Peters at last ventured as if she felt

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they ought to be talking as well
as the men. Missus Hale scarcely finished

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her reply, for they had gone
up a little hill and could see the

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right place now, and seeing it
did not make her feel like talking.

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It looked very lonesome this cold March
morning. It had always been a lonesome

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looking place. It was down in
a hollow, and the poplar trees around

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it were lonesome looking trees. The
men were looking at it and talking about

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what had happened. The County Attorney
was bending to one side of the buggy

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and kept looking steadily at the place
as they drew up to it. I'm

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glad you came with me, Missus
Peters, said nervously, as the two

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women were about to follow the men
in through the kitchen door. Even after

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she had her foot on the doorstep
her hand on the knob, Martha Hale

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had a moment of feeling she could
not cross that threshold and the reason it

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seemed she couldn't cross it now was
simply because she hadn't crossed it before.

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Time and time again, it had
been in her mind. I ought to

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go over and see Minnie Foster.
She still thought of her as Minnie Foster,

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though for twenty years she had been
Missus Wright. And then there was

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always something to do, and Minnie
Foster would go from her mind. But

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now she could come. The men
went over to the stove. The women

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stood close together by the door.
Young Henderson, the county attorney, turned

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around and said, come up to
the fire, ladies. Missus Peters took

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a step forward and stopped. I'm
not cold, she said, And so

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the two women stood by the door
at first, not even so much as

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looking around the kitchen. The men
talked for a minute about what a good

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thing it was the sheriff had sent
his deputy out that morning to make a

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fire for them. And then Sheriff
Peters stepped back from the stove, unbuttoned

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his outer coat, and leaned his
hands on the kitchen table in a way

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that seemed to mark the beginning of
official business. Now, mister Hale,

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he said, in a sort of
semi official voice, before we move things

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about, you, tell mister Henderson
just what it was you saw when you

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came here yesterday morning. The county
attorney was looking around the kitchen. By

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the way, he said, has
anything been moved? He turned to the

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sheriff. Are things just as you
left them yesterday? Peters looked from cupboard

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to sink, from that to a
small worn rocker a little to one side

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of the g table. It's just
the same. Somebody should have been here

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yesterday, said the county attorney.
Oh, yesterday, returned the sheriff,

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with a little gesture, as of
yesterday having been more than he could bear

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to think of when I had to
send Frank to Morris Center for that man

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who went crazy. Let me tell
you I had my hands full yesterday.

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I knew you could get back from
Omaha by to day, George, And

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as long as I went over everything
here myself, well, mister Hale,

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said the county attorney, in a
way of letting what was past and gone

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go. Tell us just what happened
when you came here yesterday morning. Missus

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Hale, still leaning against the door, had that sinking feeling of the mother

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whose child is about to speak a
piece. Lewis often wandered along and got

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things mixed up in a story.
He hoped he would tell this straightened,

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plain and not say unnecessary things that
would just make things harder for Minnie Foster.

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He didn't begin at once, and
she noticed that he looked queer,

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as if standing in that kitchen and
having to tell what he had seen there

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yesterday morning made him almost sick.
Yes, mister Hale, the county attorney

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reminded, Harry and I had started
a town with a load of potatoes.

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Missus Hale's husband began. Harry was
Missus Hale's oldest boy. He wasn't with

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them now for the very good reason
that those potatoes never got to town yesterday,

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and he was taking them this morning, so he hadn't been home when

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the sheriff stopped to say he wanted
mister Hale to come over to the right

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place and tell the county attorney his
story there where he could point it all

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out with all Missus Hale's other emotions
came the fear now that maybe Harry wasn't

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dressed warm enough. They hadn't any
of them realized how that north wind did

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bite we come along this road.
Hale was going on with a motion of

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his hand to the road over which
they had just come. And as we

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got inside of the house, I
says to Harry, I'm going to see

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if I can't get John Wright take
a telephone, you see, he explained

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to Henderson. Unless I can get
somebody to go in with me, they

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won't come out on this branch road
except for a price I can't pay.

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I'd spoken to write about it once
before, but he put me off,

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saying folks talk too much anyway,
and all he asked was peace and quiet.

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Guess you know about how much he
talked himself. But I thought maybe

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if I went to the house and
talked about it before his wife and said

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all the women folks like the telephones, and that in this lonesome stretch of

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road, it would be a good
thing. Well, I said to Harry

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that that was what I was going
to say, though I said at the

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same time that I didn't know as
what his wife wanted made much difference to

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John. Now there he was saying
things he didn't need to say. Missus

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Hale tried to catch her husband's eye, but fortunately the county attorney interrupted with

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let's talk about that a little later, mister Hale. I do want to

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talk about that, but I'm very
anxious now to get along to just what

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happened when you got here. When
he began this time, it was very

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deliberately and carefully. I didn't see
or hear anything. I knocked at the

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door, and still it was all
quiet inside. I knew they must be

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up. It was past eight o'clock, so I knocked again louder, and

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I thought I heard somebody say come
in. I wasn't sure. I'm not

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sure yet, but I opened the
door this door, jerking a hand toward

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the door by which the two women
stood, and there in that rocker,

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pointing to it, sat Missus Wright. Every one in the kitchen looked at

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the rocker. It came into missus
Hale's mind that that rocker didn't look in

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the least like Minnie Foster, the
mini Foster of twenty years before. It

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was a dingy read with wooden rungs
up the back, and the middle rung

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was gone, and the chair sagged
to one side. How did she look?

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The county attorney was inquiring, Well, said Hale, she looked queer.

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How do you mean queer? As
he asked it, he took out

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a notebook and pencil. Missus Hale
did not like the sight of that pencil.

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She kept her eye fixed on her
husband, as if to keep him

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from saying unnecessary things that would go
into that note book and make trouble.

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Hale did speak guardedly, as if
the pencil had affected him too, well,

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as if she didn't know what she
was going to do next, and

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kind of done up. How did
she seem to feel about your coming?

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Why? I don't think she minded
one way or other. She didn't pay

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much of I said, how do
missus right? It's cold, ain't it?

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And she said is it? And
went on pleating at her apron Well.

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I was surprised she didn't ask me
to come up to the stove or

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to sit down, but just sat
there, not even looking at me.

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And so I said, I want
to see John, and then she laughed.

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I guessed you would call it a
laugh. I thought of Harry and

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the team outside. So I said, a little sharp, can I see

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John? No? Says she kind
of dull, like, ain't ye home?

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Says I. Then she looked at
me, Yes, says she.

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He's home. Then why can't I
see him? I asked her, out

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of patience with her now, because
he's dead, says she just as quiet

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and dull and fell to pleat in
her apron dead says I like you do

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when you can't take in what you've
heard. She just nodded her head,

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not getting a bit excited, but
rocking back and forth. Why where is

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he says, I. Not knowing
what to say, she just pointed upstairs

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like this, pointing to the room
above. I got up with the idea

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of going up there myself. By
this time I didn't know what to do.

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I walked from there to hear.
Then I says, why what did

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he die of? He died of
a rope around his neck, says she,

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and just went on pleating at her
apron. Hale stopped speaking and stood

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staring at the rocker, as if
he were still seeing the woman who had

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sat there the morning before. Nobody
spoke. It was as if everyone was

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seeing the woman who had sat there
the morning before. And what did you

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do? Then? The attorney at
last broke the silence. I went out

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00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:09,320
and called Harry. I thought I
might need help. I got Harry in

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and we went upstairs. His voice
fell almost to a whisper. There he

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was lying over the I think I'd
rather have you go into that upstairs,

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the county attorney interrupted, Where you
can point it all out, Just go

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on now with the rest of the
story. Well, my first thought was

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to get that rope off. It
looked he stopped his face twitching. But

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Harry, he went up to him, and he said, no, he's

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dead, all right, and we'd
better not touch anything. So we went

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downstairs. She was still sitting that
same way. Has anybody been notified?

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I asked, No, says she, unconcerned. Who did this, missus

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Wright, said Harry. He said
it business like, and she stopped pleating

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at her apron. I don't know, she says. You don't know,

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says Harry. Weren't you sleeping in
the bed with him, yes, says

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00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:16,960
she. But I was on the
inside. Somebody slipped a rope round his

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neck and strangled him, and you
didn't wake up, says Harry. I

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00:13:20,879 --> 00:13:26,120
didn't wake up, she said after
him. We may have looked as if

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we didn't see how that could be. For after a minute, she said,

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I sleep sound. Harry was going
to ask her more questions, but

169
00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:39,320
I said, maybe that weren't our
business. Maybe we ought to let her

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tell her story first to the coroner
or the sheriff. So Harry went as

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00:13:43,279 --> 00:13:46,600
fast as he could over to high
road, the River's place, where there's

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a telephone, And what did she
do when she knew you had gone for

173
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the coroner? The attorney got his
pencil in his hand, all ready for

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writing. She moved from that chair
to this one over here. Hale pointed

175
00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:05,799
to a small chair in the corner
and just sat there with her hands held

176
00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:09,960
together and looking down. I got
a feeling that I ought to make some

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00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:13,080
conversation, so I said I had
come in to see if John wanted to

178
00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:16,399
put in a telephone. And at
that she started to laugh. And then

179
00:14:16,399 --> 00:14:22,799
she stopped and looked at me,
scared at the sound of a moving pencil.

180
00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:26,720
The man who was telling the story
looked up. I dunno, maybe

181
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:31,320
it wasn't scared, he hastened.
I wouldn't like to say it was.

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00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:35,480
Soon Harry got back, and then
doctor Lloyd came and knew mister Peters,

183
00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:41,279
And so I guess that's all I
know that you don't. He said that

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00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:46,399
last with relief, and moved a
little, as if relaxing. Everyone moved

185
00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:52,519
a little. The County attorney walked
toward the stair door. I guess we

186
00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:56,960
go upstairs first, then out to
the barn and around there. He paused

187
00:14:58,039 --> 00:15:03,000
and looked around the kitchen. You're
convinced there was nothing important here, he

188
00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:09,039
asked the sheriff, Nothing that would
point to any motive. The sheriff,

189
00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:13,240
too, looked all around as if
to reconvince himself. Nothing here but kitchen

190
00:15:13,279 --> 00:15:18,759
things, he said, with a
little laugh, for the insignificance of kitchen

191
00:15:18,799 --> 00:15:24,720
things. The county attorney was looking
at the cupboard, a peculiar, ungainly

192
00:15:24,759 --> 00:15:28,080
structure, half closet and half cupboard, the upper part of it being built

193
00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:33,480
in the wall, and the lower
part just the old fashioned kitchen cupboard,

194
00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:37,720
as if its queerness attracted him.
He got a chair and opened the upper

195
00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:41,840
part and looked in. After a
moment he drew his hand away. Sticky,

196
00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:46,600
here's a nice mess, he said, resentfully. The two women had

197
00:15:46,639 --> 00:15:52,200
drawn nearer, and now the Sheriff's
wife spoke, Oh her fruit, she

198
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:58,440
said, looking to missus Hale for
sympathetic understanding. She turned back to the

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00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:03,679
county Attorney and explained she worried about
that when it turned so cold last night.

200
00:16:03,159 --> 00:16:06,759
She said, the fire would go
out and her jars might burst.

201
00:16:07,159 --> 00:16:14,080
Missus Peter's husband broke into a laugh, Well can you beat the woman held

202
00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:18,320
for murder? And worrying about her
preserves. The young attorney set his lips.

203
00:16:19,399 --> 00:16:22,200
I guess before we are through with
her, she may have something more

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00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:27,879
serious than preserves to worry about.
Oh well, said missus Hale's husband,

205
00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:34,360
with good natured superiority. Women are
used to worrying over trifles. The two

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00:16:34,399 --> 00:16:41,080
women moved a little closer together.
Neither of them spoke. The county attorney

207
00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:47,320
seemed suddenly to remember his manners and
think of his future. And yet said

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00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:51,759
he, with the gallantry of a
young politician, for all their worries,

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00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:56,960
what would we do without the ladies? The women did not speak, did

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00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:03,840
not unbend. He went to the
sink and began washing his hands. He

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00:17:03,919 --> 00:17:07,720
turned to wipe them on the roller
towel. Welled it for a cleaner place.

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00:17:08,279 --> 00:17:11,599
Dirty towels. Not much of a
housekeeper, would you say, ladies.

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00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,079
He kicked his foot against some dirty
pans under the sink. There's a

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00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:22,519
great deal of work to be done
on a farm, said missus Hale,

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00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,200
stiffly, to be sure, and
yet, with a little bow to her

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00:17:29,079 --> 00:17:32,799
I know there are some Dixon County
farm houses that do not have such roller

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00:17:32,839 --> 00:17:38,799
towels. He gave it a pull
to expose its full length again. Those

218
00:17:38,839 --> 00:17:42,880
towels get dirty orful quick. Men's
hands aren't aways as clean as they might

219
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:48,599
be. Ah loyal to your sex, I see, he laughed. He

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00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:53,240
stopped and gave her a keen look. But you and missus Wright were neighbors.

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I suppose you were friends too.
Martha Hale shook her head. I've

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00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,920
seen little enough of her of late
years. I've not been in this house

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00:18:03,079 --> 00:18:08,240
it's more than a year. And
why was that you didn't like her?

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00:18:10,079 --> 00:18:14,599
I liked her well enough, she
replied with spirit. Farmer's wives have their

225
00:18:14,599 --> 00:18:21,519
hands full, mister Henderson, and
then she looked around the kitchen. Yes,

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00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:26,880
he encouraged, it never seemed a
very cheerful place, said she,

227
00:18:27,599 --> 00:18:33,960
more to herself than to him.
No, he agreed, I don't think

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00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:37,240
any one would call it cheerful.
I shouldn't say she had the home making

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00:18:37,279 --> 00:18:44,599
instinct. Well I don't know as
right had either. She muttered, You

230
00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:48,640
mean they didn't get on very well? He was quick to ask. No,

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00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:53,680
I don't mean anything, she answered
with decision. As she turned a

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00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,240
little away from him. She added, but I don't think a place would

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00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:03,720
be any the cheerfuller for John Wright's
be in it. I'd like to talk

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00:19:03,759 --> 00:19:07,440
to you about that a little later, Missus Hale, he said, I'm

235
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:11,160
anxious to get the lay of things
upstairs now. He moved toward the stair

236
00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:17,119
door, followed by the two men. I suppose anything Missus Peters does will

237
00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:19,799
be all right, the sheriff inquired. She was to take some clothes in

238
00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:22,839
for her, you know, and
a few little things we left in such

239
00:19:22,839 --> 00:19:27,839
a hurry yesterday. The county attorney
looked at the two women they were leaving

240
00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:33,400
there alone among the kitchen things.
Yes, Missus Peters, he said,

241
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,640
his glance resting on the woman who
was not Missus Peters, the big farmer

242
00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:42,880
woman who stood behind the sheriff's wife. Of course, Missus Peters is one

243
00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:48,960
of us, he said, in
a manner of intrusting responsibility. And keep

244
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:51,839
your eye out, Missus Peters,
for anything that might be of use.

245
00:19:52,599 --> 00:19:56,160
No telling you. Women might come
upon a clue to the motive, and

246
00:19:56,279 --> 00:20:00,640
that's the thing we need. Mister
Hale rubbed face, after the fashion of

247
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:06,160
a showman getting ready for a pleasantry. But would the women know a clue

248
00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:10,480
if they did come upon it?
He said, And having delivered himself of

249
00:20:10,519 --> 00:20:15,519
this, he followed the others through
the stair door. The women stood motionless

250
00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:21,480
and silent, listening to the footsteps, first upon the stairs, then in

251
00:20:21,519 --> 00:20:26,880
the room above them. Then,
as if releasing herself from something strange,

252
00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:30,559
missus Hale began to arrange the dirty
pans under the sink, which the county

253
00:20:30,599 --> 00:20:36,799
attorney's disdainful push at the foot had
deranged. I'd hate to have men coming

254
00:20:36,839 --> 00:20:42,039
into my kitchen, she said,
testily, snooping round and criticizing. Of

255
00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:45,880
course, it's no more than her
duty, said the sheriff's wife, in

256
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:52,680
her manner of timid acquiescence. Duty's
all right, replied missus Hale bluffly.

257
00:20:52,279 --> 00:20:56,160
But I guess that deputy sheriff that
come out to make the fire might have

258
00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:59,440
got a little of this on.
She gave the roller towel a pull.

259
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,400
Wish had thought of that sooner.
Seems mean to talk about her for not

260
00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:07,519
having things slicked up when she had
to come away in such a hurry.

261
00:21:08,079 --> 00:21:14,160
She looked around the kitchen. Suddenly
it was not slicked up. Her eye

262
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,839
was held by a bucket of sugar
on a low shelf. The cover was

263
00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:22,319
off the wooden bucket and beside it
was a paper bag half full. Missus

264
00:21:22,319 --> 00:21:27,839
Hale moved toward it. She was
putting this in there, she said to

265
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:33,319
herself. Slowly. She thought of
the flower in her kitchen at home,

266
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:38,720
half sifted, half not sifted.
She had been interrupted and had left things

267
00:21:38,759 --> 00:21:45,680
half done. What had interrupted Minnie
Foster? Why had that work been left

268
00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:51,079
half done? She made a move
as if to finish it. Unfinished things

269
00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:55,680
always bothered her. And then she
glanced round and saw that Missus Peters was

270
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:59,519
watching her, and she didn't want
Missus Peters to get that feeling. She

271
00:21:59,559 --> 00:22:03,960
had got work begun and then for
some reason not finished. It's a shame

272
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,839
about her fruit, she said,
and walked toward the cupboard that the County

273
00:22:07,839 --> 00:22:12,039
Attorney had opened, and got on
the chair, murmuring, I wonder if

274
00:22:12,079 --> 00:22:18,079
it's all gone. It was a
sorry enough looking sight. But here's one

275
00:22:18,079 --> 00:22:22,240
that's all right, she said at
last, she held it toward the light.

276
00:22:22,039 --> 00:22:27,440
Missus cherries too. She looked again. I declare I believe that's the

277
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:33,279
only one. With a sigh,
she got down from the chair, went

278
00:22:33,319 --> 00:22:37,319
to the sink and wiped off the
bottle. She'll feel awful bad after all,

279
00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:41,759
her hard work in the hot weather. I remember the afternoon I put

280
00:22:41,839 --> 00:22:47,039
up my cherries last summer. She
set the bottle on a table, and,

281
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:51,519
with another sigh, started to sit
down in the rocker. But she

282
00:22:51,599 --> 00:22:55,799
did not sit down. Something kept
her from sitting down in that chair.

283
00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:02,480
She straightened, stepped back, and
half turned away, stood looking at it.

284
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:08,000
Seeing the woman who had sat there
pleating at her apron, The thin

285
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:12,160
voice of the sheriff's wife broke in
upon her. I must be getting those

286
00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:17,640
things from the front room closet.
She opened the door into the other room,

287
00:23:18,079 --> 00:23:22,200
started in, stepped back. You
coming with me, Missus Hale,

288
00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:27,240
she asked, nervously. You you
could help me get them. They were

289
00:23:27,279 --> 00:23:32,279
soon back. The stark coldness of
that shut up room was not a thing

290
00:23:32,319 --> 00:23:37,200
to linger in my said Missus Peters, dropping the things on the table and

291
00:23:37,279 --> 00:23:42,440
hurrying to the stove. Missus Hale
stood examining the clothes the woman who was

292
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:48,480
being detained in town had said she
wanted right. Was close, she exclaimed,

293
00:23:48,759 --> 00:23:52,640
holding up a shabby black skirt that
bore the marks of much making over.

294
00:23:53,799 --> 00:23:57,359
I think maybe that's why she kept
so much to herself. I suppose

295
00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:02,079
she felt she couldn't do her part, and then you don't enjoy things when

296
00:24:02,079 --> 00:24:06,680
you feel shabby. She used to
wear pretty clothes and be lively when she

297
00:24:06,759 --> 00:24:10,160
was Minnie Foster, one of the
town girls, singing in the choir.

298
00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:17,519
But that, oh, that was
twenty years ago. With a carefulness in

299
00:24:17,559 --> 00:24:22,359
which there was something tender, she
folded the shabby clothes and piled them at

300
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:26,759
one corner of the table. She
looked up at Missus Peters, and there

301
00:24:26,799 --> 00:24:32,079
was something in the other woman's look
that irritated her. She don't care,

302
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:36,240
she said to herself, much difference
it makes to her whether Minnie Foster had

303
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:41,160
pretty clothes when she was a girl. Then she looked again, and she

304
00:24:41,279 --> 00:24:45,839
wasn't so sure. In fact,
she hadn't at any time been perfectly sure

305
00:24:45,839 --> 00:24:51,039
about Missus Peters. She had that
shrinking manner, and yet her eyes looked

306
00:24:51,039 --> 00:24:55,960
as if they could see a long
way into things. This all you was

307
00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:00,240
to take, in, asked Missus
Hale, No, said the sheriff's wife.

308
00:25:00,319 --> 00:25:06,160
She said she wanted an apron funny
thing to want. She ventured in

309
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,839
her nervous little way, For there's
not much to get you dirty in jail.

310
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:14,839
Goodness knows but I suppose just to
make her feel more natural if you're

311
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:18,880
used to wearing an apron. She
said, they were in the bottom drawer

312
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,200
of this cupboard. Yes, here
they are, And then her little shawl

313
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:27,400
that always hung on the stair door. She took the small gray shawl from

314
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:33,200
behind the door leading up stairs and
stood a minute looking at it. Suddenly

315
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:40,079
missus Hale took a quick step toward
the other woman, Missus Peters. Yes,

316
00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:45,839
missus Hale, do you think she
did it? A frightened look blurred

317
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:51,640
the other thing in missus Peters's eyes. Oh I don't know, she said,

318
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:56,200
in a voice that seemed to shrink
away from the subject. Well I

319
00:25:56,240 --> 00:26:00,039
don't think she did, affirmed missus
Hale, stoutly asking for an apron and

320
00:26:00,079 --> 00:26:07,480
her little shawl, worrying about her
fruit. Mister Peters says footsteps were heard

321
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:11,680
in the room above. She stopped, looked up, and then went on

322
00:26:11,799 --> 00:26:17,759
in a lowered voice. Mister Peters
says, it looks bad for her.

323
00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,119
Mister Henderson is awful sarcastic in a
speech, and he's going to make fun

324
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:26,279
of her, saying she didn't wake
up for a moment. Missus Hale had

325
00:26:26,319 --> 00:26:32,160
no answer. Then, well,
I guess John Wright didn't wake up when

326
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:37,559
they were slipping that rope under his
neck. She muttered, No, it's

327
00:26:37,599 --> 00:26:41,079
strange, breathed missus Peters. So
I think it was such a funny way

328
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:47,279
to kill a man. She began
to laugh. At sound of the laugh

329
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:52,640
abruptly stopped. That's just what mister
Hale said, said Missus Hale, in

330
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,680
a resolutely natural voice. There was
a gun in the house, he says.

331
00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:03,240
That's what he can't understand. Mister
Henderson said coming out, though what

332
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:07,799
was needed for the case was a
motive, something to show anger or sudden

333
00:27:07,799 --> 00:27:12,200
feeling. Well, I don't see
any signs of anger around here, said

334
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:18,720
missus Hale. I don't. She
stopped. It was as if her mind

335
00:27:18,759 --> 00:27:22,240
tripped on something. Her eye was
caught by a dish towel in the middle

336
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:29,000
of the kitchen table. Slowly she
moved toward the table, One half of

337
00:27:29,039 --> 00:27:33,720
it was wiped clean, the other
half messy. Her eyes made a slow,

338
00:27:34,039 --> 00:27:38,240
almost unwilling turn to the bucket of
sugar and the half empty bag beside

339
00:27:38,279 --> 00:27:47,079
it. Things begun and not finished. After a moment, she stepped back

340
00:27:47,599 --> 00:27:51,960
and said, in that manner of
releasing herself. Wonder how they're finding things

341
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,200
upstairs. I hope she had it
a little more redd up up there,

342
00:27:56,160 --> 00:28:02,480
you know, she paused, and
feeling gathered. It seems kind of sneaking,

343
00:28:02,799 --> 00:28:06,160
locking her up in town and coming
out here to get her own house

344
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:11,720
to turn against her. But missus
Hale said the sheriff's wife. The law

345
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:18,640
is the law, I suppose tis, answered missus Hale. Shortly she turned

346
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:22,279
to the stove, saying something about
that fire not being much to brag of.

347
00:28:22,279 --> 00:28:26,319
She worked with it for a minute, and when she straightened up,

348
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:30,599
she said aggressively, the law is
the law, and a bad stove is

349
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:33,519
a bad stove. How do you
like to cook on this? Pointing with

350
00:28:33,599 --> 00:28:38,480
the poker to the broken lining.
She opened the oven door and started to

351
00:28:38,519 --> 00:28:42,839
express her opinion of the oven.
But she was swept in her own thoughts,

352
00:28:44,319 --> 00:28:48,359
thinking of what it would mean year
after year to have that stove to

353
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,279
wrestle with the thought of Minnie Foster
trying to bake in that oven, and

354
00:28:52,319 --> 00:28:59,200
the thought of her never going over
to see Minnie Foster. She was startled

355
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:06,559
by hearing Missus Peters say a person
gets discouraged and loses heart. The sheriff's

356
00:29:06,559 --> 00:29:10,440
wife had looked from the stove to
the sink, to the pail of water

357
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:15,200
which had been carried in from outside. The two women stood there, silent.

358
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,640
Above them the footsteps of the men
who were looking for evidence against the

359
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:23,359
woman who had worked in that kitchen. That look of seeing into things,

360
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:27,359
of seeing through a thing to something
else, was in the eyes of the

361
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:33,400
sheriff's wife. Now. When missus
Hale next spoke to her, it was

362
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:37,519
gently, better loosen up your things, Missus Peters, will not feel them

363
00:29:37,559 --> 00:29:41,960
when we go out. Missus Peters
went to the back of the room to

364
00:29:42,039 --> 00:29:47,519
hang up the fur tippet she was
wearing. A moment later, she exclaimed

365
00:29:48,079 --> 00:29:52,599
why she was piecing a quilt and
held up a large sewing basket piled high

366
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:57,359
with quilt pieces. Missus Hale spread
some of the blocks on a table.

367
00:29:59,599 --> 00:30:03,079
It's low cabin patten, she said, putting several of them together. Pretty,

368
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:07,680
isn't it. They were so engaged
with a quilt that they did not

369
00:30:07,759 --> 00:30:12,359
hear the footsteps on the stairs.
Just as the stair door opened, Missus

370
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:15,359
Hale was saying, do you suppose
she was going to quilt it? Or

371
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:21,680
just not it. The sheriff threw
up his hands. They wonder whether she

372
00:30:21,799 --> 00:30:26,200
was going to quilt it or just
not it. There was a laugh for

373
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:30,400
the ways of women, a warming
of hands over the stove, and then

374
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,839
the county attorney said briskly, well, let's go right out to the barn

375
00:30:33,839 --> 00:30:38,480
and get that cleared up. I
don't see as there's anything so strange,

376
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:42,799
missus Hale said, resentfully, after
the outside door had closed on. The

377
00:30:42,839 --> 00:30:48,240
three men are taking up our time
with little things while we're waiting for them

378
00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:51,759
to get the evidence. I don't
see as it's anything to laugh about.

379
00:30:52,519 --> 00:30:56,519
Of course, they've got awful important
things on their minds, said the sheriff's

380
00:30:56,559 --> 00:31:03,279
wife apologetically. They returned to an
inspection of the block for the quilt.

381
00:31:03,119 --> 00:31:07,599
Missus Hale was looking at the fine, even sewing and preoccupied with thoughts of

382
00:31:07,599 --> 00:31:11,559
the woman who had done that sewing, when she heard the Sheriff's wife say,

383
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:18,039
in a queer tone, why look
at this one? She turned to

384
00:31:18,079 --> 00:31:23,599
take the block held out to her. The sewing said Missus Peters in a

385
00:31:23,599 --> 00:31:27,319
troubled way. All the rest of
them have been so nice and even,

386
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:32,599
but this one, why it looks
as if she didn't know what she was

387
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:40,400
about. Her eyes met, something
flashed to life passed between them. Then,

388
00:31:40,839 --> 00:31:42,799
as if with an effort, they
seemed to pull away from each other

389
00:31:45,559 --> 00:31:48,680
a moment. Missus Hale sat there, her hands folded over that sewing,

390
00:31:49,079 --> 00:31:53,839
which was so unlike all the rest
of the sewing. Then she had pulled

391
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:59,440
a knot and drawn the threads.
Oh what are you doing, missus Hale,

392
00:32:00,039 --> 00:32:04,480
asked the sheriff's wife startled, just
pulling out a stitch or two that's

393
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:08,400
not sewed very good, said missus
Hale, mildly. I don't think we

394
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:14,640
ought to touch things, Missus Peters
said, a little helplessly. I'll just

395
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,960
finish up this end, answered missus
Hale. Still in that mild, matter

396
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:23,759
of fact fashion, she threaded a
needle and started to replace bad sewing with

397
00:32:23,839 --> 00:32:31,279
good. For a little while she
sewed in silence. Then in that thin,

398
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:38,759
timid voice, she heard missus Hale. Yes, Missus Peters, what

399
00:32:38,799 --> 00:32:44,680
do you suppose she was so nervous
about? Oh? I don't know,

400
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:49,039
said missus Hale, as if dismissing
a thing not important enough to spend much

401
00:32:49,079 --> 00:32:52,799
time on. I don't know.
As she was nervous. I sow awful

402
00:32:52,839 --> 00:32:59,000
queer sometimes when I'm just tired.
She cut a thread, and out of

403
00:32:59,039 --> 00:33:01,960
the corner of her eye, looked
up at Missus Peters. The small,

404
00:33:02,079 --> 00:33:07,759
lean face of the sheriff's wife seemed
to have tightened up. Her eyes had

405
00:33:07,799 --> 00:33:13,200
that look of peering into something.
But next moment she moved and said,

406
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:17,079
in her thin, indecisive way,
well, I must get those clothes wrapped.

407
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:21,519
They may be through sooner than we
think. I wonder where I could

408
00:33:21,519 --> 00:33:27,119
find a piece of paper and string
in that cupboard, may be, suggested

409
00:33:27,119 --> 00:33:31,759
missus Hale. After a glance around, one piece of the crazy sewing remained

410
00:33:31,839 --> 00:33:38,240
unripped. Missus Peter's back turned.
Martha Hale now scrutinized that piece compared it

411
00:33:38,279 --> 00:33:44,640
with the dainty, accurate sewing of
the other blocks. The difference was startling.

412
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:49,519
Holding this block made her feel queer, as if the distracted thoughts of

413
00:33:49,559 --> 00:33:52,319
the woman who had perhaps turned to
it to try and quiet herself, were

414
00:33:52,319 --> 00:33:59,759
communicating themselves to her. Missus Peter's
voice roused her. Here's a bird,

415
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:05,440
she said. Did she have a
bird? Missus Hale? Why? I

416
00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:08,000
don't know whether she did or not. She turned to look at the cage.

417
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:12,599
Missus Peters was holding up. I've
not been here in so long,

418
00:34:13,599 --> 00:34:17,960
she sighed. There was a man
round last year selling canary's cheap, but

419
00:34:19,039 --> 00:34:22,719
I don't know as she took one. Maybe she did. She used to

420
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:29,039
sing real pretty herself. Missus Peters
looked around the kitchen. Seems kind of

421
00:34:29,079 --> 00:34:32,039
funny to think of a bird here, she half laughed. An attempt to

422
00:34:32,039 --> 00:34:36,800
put up a barrier. But she
must have had one, or why would

423
00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:42,280
she have a cage? I wonder
what happened to it. I suppose maybe

424
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:46,480
the cat got it, suggested Missus
Hale, resuming her sewing. No,

425
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:51,599
she didn't have a cat. She's
got that feeling some people have about cats

426
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:54,840
being afraid of them. When they
brought her to our house yesterday. My

427
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:59,119
cat got in the room and she
was real upset and asked me to take

428
00:34:59,159 --> 00:35:05,360
it out. My sister Bessie was
like that, laughed missus Hale. The

429
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:10,679
sheriff's wife did not reply. The
silence made missus Hale turn round. Missus

430
00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:16,679
Peters was examining the bird cage.
Look at this door, she said,

431
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:23,679
slowly. It's broke. One hinge
has been pulled apart. Missus Hale came

432
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:30,239
nearer, looks as if some one
must have been rough with it. Again,

433
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:37,519
their eyes met, startled, questioning, apprehensive. For a moment,

434
00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:44,360
neither spoke nor stirred. Then missus
Hale, turning away, said briskly,

435
00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:47,039
if they're going to find any evidence, I wish they'd be about it.

436
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:52,320
I don't like this place, but
I'm awful glad you came with me,

437
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,559
missus Hale. Missus Peters put the
bird cage on the table and sat down.

438
00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:01,599
It would be lonesome for me sitting
here alone. Yes, it would,

439
00:36:01,599 --> 00:36:07,280
wouldn't it, agreed missus Hale,
a certain determined naturalness in her voice.

440
00:36:07,599 --> 00:36:10,800
She had picked up the sewing,
but now it dropped in her lap,

441
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:15,960
and she murmured in a different voice. But I tell you what I

442
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:19,920
do wish, Missus Peters, I
wish I had come over here sometimes when

443
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:25,159
she was here, I wish I
had. But of course you were awful

444
00:36:25,159 --> 00:36:30,440
busy, missus Hale, your house
and your children. I could have come,

445
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:36,519
retorted missus Hale shortly. I stayed
away because it weren't cheerful, and

446
00:36:36,599 --> 00:36:42,320
that's why I ought to have come. I She looked around I've never liked

447
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,920
this place, maybe because it's down
in a hollow and you don't see the

448
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:49,440
road. I don't know what it
is, but it's a lonesome place,

449
00:36:49,519 --> 00:36:52,320
and always was. I wish I
had come over to see Minny Foster.

450
00:36:52,400 --> 00:37:00,039
Sometimes I can see now she did
not put it into words. Well,

451
00:37:00,199 --> 00:37:06,639
you mustn't reproach yourself, counseled Missus
Peters. Sometimes we just don't see how

452
00:37:06,679 --> 00:37:13,760
it is with other folks till something
comes up. Not having children makes less

453
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:19,039
work, mused Missus Hale after a
silence, But it makes a quiet house.

454
00:37:19,639 --> 00:37:22,159
And write out to work all day
and no company. When he did

455
00:37:22,159 --> 00:37:28,760
come in. Did you know John
Wright? Missus Peters, not to know

456
00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:31,280
him. I've seen him in town. They say he was a good man.

457
00:37:34,159 --> 00:37:38,360
Yes, good, conceded John Wright's
neighbor grimly. He didn't drink and

458
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:42,519
kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts.

459
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,360
But he was a hard man,
Missus Peters. Just to pass the

460
00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:51,679
time of day with him. She
stopped, shivered a little, like a

461
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:55,679
raw wind that gets to the bone. Her eye fell upon the cage on

462
00:37:55,719 --> 00:38:00,119
the table before her, and she
added, almost bitterly, I should think

463
00:38:00,159 --> 00:38:06,760
she would have wanted a bird.
Suddenly, she leaned forward, looking intently

464
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:12,079
at the cage. But what do
you suppose went wrong with it? I

465
00:38:12,119 --> 00:38:16,920
don't know, returned missus Peters,
unless it got sick and died. But

466
00:38:17,039 --> 00:38:22,360
after she said it, she reached
over and swung the broken door. Both

467
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:27,679
women watched, as if somehow held
by it. You didn't know her,

468
00:38:28,559 --> 00:38:32,480
missus Hale asked, a gentler note
in her voice. Not till they brought

469
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:38,920
her yesterday, said the sheriff's wife. She come to think of it,

470
00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:44,280
she was kind of like a bird
herself, real sweet and pretty, but

471
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:52,679
kind of timid and fluttery. How
she did change that held her for a

472
00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:59,280
long time. Finally, as if
struck with a happy thought and relieved to

473
00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,199
get back to every every day things, she exclaimed, Tell you what,

474
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:06,519
missus Peters, why don't you take
the quilt in with you? It might

475
00:39:06,559 --> 00:39:10,800
take up her mind. Why,
I think that's a real nice idea,

476
00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:15,800
missus Hale, agreed the Sheriff's wife, as if she too were glad to

477
00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:20,920
come into the atmosphere of a simple
kindness. There couldn't possibly be any objection

478
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,119
to that, could there? Now? Just what will I take. I

479
00:39:24,159 --> 00:39:29,760
wonder if her patches are in here
and her other things. They turned to

480
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:34,519
the sewing basket. Here's some red, said missus Hale, bringing out a

481
00:39:34,599 --> 00:39:39,039
roll of cloth underneath. That was
a box here. Maybe her scissors are

482
00:39:39,039 --> 00:39:45,320
in here and her things. She
held it up. What a pretty box.

483
00:39:45,639 --> 00:39:47,639
I'll warrant that was something she had
a long time ago, when she

484
00:39:47,719 --> 00:39:52,599
was a girl. She held it
in her hand a moment, then,

485
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:59,880
with a little sigh, opened it
instantly. Her hand went to her nose.

486
00:40:00,599 --> 00:40:07,800
Why, missus Peters drew nearer,
then turned away. There's something wrapped

487
00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:13,599
up in this piece of silk,
faltered missus Hale. This isn't her scissors,

488
00:40:14,199 --> 00:40:19,440
said Missus Peters in a shrinking voice. Her hand not steady. Missus

489
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:23,639
Hale raised the piece of silk.
Oh, Missus Peters, she cried,

490
00:40:24,159 --> 00:40:32,599
it's Missus Peters bent closer. It's
the bird, she whispered. But Missus

491
00:40:32,679 --> 00:40:37,519
Peters, cried missus Hale, look
at it. It's neck, Look at

492
00:40:37,519 --> 00:40:44,559
its neck. It's all other side
too. She held the box away from

493
00:40:44,599 --> 00:40:51,960
her, the sheriff's wife again benting
closer. Somebody wrung its neck, said

494
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:57,239
she, in a voice that was
slow and deep, and then again the

495
00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:00,440
eyes of the two women met,
this time clung together in a look of

496
00:41:00,519 --> 00:41:07,639
dawning comprehension of growing horror. Missus
Peters looked from the dead bird to the

497
00:41:07,639 --> 00:41:13,800
broken door of the cage. Again
their eyes met, and just then there

498
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:17,119
was a sound at the outside door. Missus Hale slipped the box under the

499
00:41:17,199 --> 00:41:22,000
quilt pieces in the basket and sank
into the chair before it. Missus Peters

500
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:28,079
stood holding the table. The county
Attorney and the sheriff came in from outside.

501
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,559
Well, ladies, said the county
attorney, as one turning from serious

502
00:41:32,599 --> 00:41:37,440
things to little pleasantries. Have you
decided whether she was going to quilt it

503
00:41:37,559 --> 00:41:42,519
or not it? We think,
began the Sheriff's wife, in a flurried

504
00:41:42,599 --> 00:41:47,280
voice, that she was going to
not it. He was too preoccupied to

505
00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:52,039
notice the change that came in her
voice on that last. Well, that's

506
00:41:52,119 --> 00:41:57,880
very interesting, I'm sure, he
said tolerantly. He caught sight of the

507
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:02,519
bird cage. Has the bird?
We think the cat got it, said

508
00:42:02,519 --> 00:42:07,440
Missus Hale, in a voice curiously
even He was walking up and down,

509
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:14,360
as if thinking something out. Is
there a cat? He asked absently,

510
00:42:15,039 --> 00:42:21,360
Missus Hale shot a look up at
the sheriff's wife. Well not now,

511
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:27,239
said Missus Peters. They're superstitious,
you know. They leave. She sank

512
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:32,159
into her chair. The county attorney
did not heed her, no sign at

513
00:42:32,159 --> 00:42:36,280
all of anyone having come in from
the outside. He said to Peters,

514
00:42:36,599 --> 00:42:42,000
in the manner of continuing an interrupted
conversation, their own rope. Now,

515
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:45,920
let's go upstairs again and go over
it piece by piece. It would have

516
00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:52,039
to have been someone who knew just
the The stair door closed behind them,

517
00:42:52,119 --> 00:42:57,960
and their voices were lost. The
two women sat motionless, not looking at

518
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:00,800
each other, but as if peering
into something, and at the same time

519
00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:06,880
holding back when they spoke. Now
it was as if they were afraid of

520
00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:09,239
what they were saying, but as
if they could not help saying it.

521
00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:16,559
She liked the bird, said Martha
Hale, low and slowly. She was

522
00:43:16,639 --> 00:43:22,679
going to bury it in that pretty
box. When I was a girl,

523
00:43:22,119 --> 00:43:28,079
said Missus Peters under her breath,
my kitten, there was a boy took

524
00:43:28,119 --> 00:43:34,000
a hatchet, and before my eyes, before I could get there, she

525
00:43:34,079 --> 00:43:37,239
covered her face an instant. If
they hadn't held me back, I would

526
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:43,599
have she caught herself, looked up
stairs, where footsteps were heard, and

527
00:43:43,679 --> 00:43:52,800
finished weakly hurt him. Then they
sat without speaking or moving. I wonder

528
00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:58,199
how it would seem. Missus Hale
at last began, as if feeling her

529
00:43:58,239 --> 00:44:04,880
way over strange ground, never to
have had any children around. Her eyes

530
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:07,559
made a slow sweep of the kitchen, as if seeing what that kitchen had

531
00:44:07,559 --> 00:44:15,039
meant through all the years. No
right wouldn't like the bird, she said,

532
00:44:15,079 --> 00:44:20,760
after that, a thing that sang
she used to sing. He killed

533
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:28,440
that too. Her voice tightened.
Missus Peters moved uneasily. Of course,

534
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:34,039
we don't know who killed the bird. I knew John Wright, was missus

535
00:44:34,039 --> 00:44:37,760
Hale's answer. It was an awful
thing was done in this house that night,

536
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:43,519
missus Hale said, the sheriff's wife
killing a man while he slept,

537
00:44:44,199 --> 00:44:49,320
slipping a thing round his neck that
choked the life out of him. Missus

538
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:53,199
Hale's hand went out to the bird
cage. We don't know who killed him,

539
00:44:53,920 --> 00:45:00,960
whispered missus Peters wildly. We don't
know. Missus Hale had not moved.

540
00:45:02,159 --> 00:45:07,719
If there had been years and years
of nothing, then a bird to

541
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:13,719
sing to you, it would be
awful still after the bird was still.

542
00:45:15,559 --> 00:45:19,440
It was as if something within her, not herself, had spoken, and

543
00:45:19,519 --> 00:45:23,760
it found in Missus Peters something she
did not know as herself. I know

544
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:30,159
what stillness is, she said,
in a queer, monotonous voice, When

545
00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:35,679
we homesteaded in Dakota and my first
baby died after he was two years old,

546
00:45:36,079 --> 00:45:43,039
and me with no other Then missus
Hale stirred, how soon do you

547
00:45:43,079 --> 00:45:47,679
suppose they'll be through looking for the
evidence. I know what stillness is,

548
00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:53,400
repeated Missus Peters in just that same
way. Then she too pulled back.

549
00:45:54,519 --> 00:45:59,039
The law has got to punish crime, Missus Hale, she said, in

550
00:45:59,079 --> 00:46:04,239
her tight little way. I wish
you'd seen Minnie Foster was the answer.

551
00:46:04,639 --> 00:46:07,920
When she wore a white dress with
blue ribbons and stood up there in a

552
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:13,320
choir and sang the picture of that
girl. The fact that she had lived

553
00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:16,000
neighbor to that girl for twenty years
and had let her die for lack of

554
00:46:16,039 --> 00:46:22,000
life was suddenly more than she could
bear. Oh I wish I'd come over

555
00:46:22,039 --> 00:46:24,920
here once in a while, she
cried. That was a crime. Who's

556
00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:30,039
going to punish that? We mustn't
take on, said Missus Peters with a

557
00:46:30,079 --> 00:46:36,719
frightened look toward the stairs. I
might have known she needed help. I

558
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:39,840
tell you it's queer, Missus Peters. We lived close together, and we

559
00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:45,559
live far apart. We all go
through the same things. It's all just

560
00:46:45,599 --> 00:46:50,039
a different kind of the same thing. If it weren't, why do you

561
00:46:50,119 --> 00:46:53,280
and I understand? Why do we
know what we know? This minute?

562
00:46:55,079 --> 00:47:00,920
She dashed her hand across her eyes. Then see the jar of fruit on

563
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:06,039
the table. She reached for it
and choked out. If I was you,

564
00:47:06,119 --> 00:47:08,280
I wouldn't tell her her fruit was
gone. Tell her it ain't.

565
00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:13,800
Tell her it's all right, all
of it here. Take this in to

566
00:47:13,840 --> 00:47:17,000
prove it to her. She she
may never know whether it was broke or

567
00:47:17,039 --> 00:47:22,519
not. She turned away. Missus
Peters reached out for the bottle of fruit

568
00:47:22,719 --> 00:47:27,360
as if she were glad to take
it, as if touching a familiar thing,

569
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:31,440
having something to do, could keep
her from something else. She got

570
00:47:31,519 --> 00:47:36,840
up, looked about for something to
wrap the fruit in, took a petticoat

571
00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:39,440
from a pile of clothes she had
brought from the front room, and nervously

572
00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:45,800
started winding that round the bottle.
My, she began, in a high,

573
00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:50,199
false voice. It's a good thing. The men couldn't hear us getting

574
00:47:50,199 --> 00:47:54,519
all stirred up over a little thing
like a dead canary. She hurried over

575
00:47:54,559 --> 00:48:00,480
that, as if that could have
anything to do with with Why wouldn't they

576
00:48:00,519 --> 00:48:08,079
laugh? Footsteps were heard on the
stairs. Maybe they would, muttered missus

577
00:48:08,079 --> 00:48:15,800
Hale. Maybe they wouldn't. No, Peters, said the county attorney incisively.

578
00:48:15,199 --> 00:48:20,280
It's all perfectly clear except the reason
for doing it. But you know

579
00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:23,519
juries when it comes to women.
If there was some definite thing, something

580
00:48:23,599 --> 00:48:28,719
to show, something to make a
story about, something that would connect up

581
00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:34,039
with this clumsy way of doing it
in a covert way. Missus Hale looked

582
00:48:34,039 --> 00:48:38,199
at missus Peters. Missus Peters was
looking at her. Quickly, they looked

583
00:48:38,199 --> 00:48:44,159
away from each other. The outer
door opened and mister Hale came in.

584
00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:47,599
I've got the team round now,
he said, pretty cold out there.

585
00:48:50,280 --> 00:48:53,480
I'm going to stay here a while
by myself. The county attorney suddenly announced,

586
00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:57,320
you can send Frank out for me, can't you? He asked the

587
00:48:57,320 --> 00:49:00,239
sheriff. I want to go over
everything. I'm not satisfied we can't do

588
00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:07,000
better again. For one brief moment, the two women's eyes found one another.

589
00:49:08,559 --> 00:49:12,800
The sheriff came up to the table. Did you want to see what

590
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:16,440
Missus Peters was going to take in? The county attorney picked up the apron

591
00:49:17,199 --> 00:49:22,320
He laughed, Oh, I guess
they're not very dangerous things the ladies have

592
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:27,760
picked out. Missus Hale's hand was
on the sewing basket in which the box

593
00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:30,960
was concealed. She felt that she
ought to take her hand off the basket.

594
00:49:32,079 --> 00:49:37,239
She did not seem mabel to.
He picked up one of the quilt

595
00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:40,840
blocks which she had piled on to
cover the box. Her eyes felt like

596
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:45,320
fire. She had a feeling that
if he took up the basket she would

597
00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:51,239
snatch it from him, but he
did not take it up. With another

598
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:54,480
little laugh, he turned away,
saying, no, Missus Peters doesn't need

599
00:49:54,519 --> 00:50:00,400
supervising for that matter, A sheriff's
wife is married to the law. Ever

600
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:05,239
think of it that way, Missus
Peters. Missus Peters was standing beside the

601
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:08,199
table. Missus Hale shot a look
up at her, but she could not

602
00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:13,840
see her face. Missus Peters had
turned away. When she spoke, her

603
00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:20,480
voice was muffled. Not just that
way, she said, married to the

604
00:50:20,599 --> 00:50:24,719
law, chuckled. Missus Peters husband
He moved toward the door into the front

605
00:50:24,800 --> 00:50:29,360
room and said to the county Attorney, I just want you to come in

606
00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:31,079
here a minute, George. We
ought to take a look at these windows.

607
00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:38,000
Oh windows, said the county attorney, scoffingly. We'll be right out,

608
00:50:38,039 --> 00:50:42,360
mister Hale, said the sheriff to
the farmer, who was still waiting

609
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:46,559
by the door. Hale went to
look after the horses. The sheriff followed

610
00:50:46,559 --> 00:50:52,440
the county attorney into the other room
again for one final moment, the two

611
00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:59,920
women were alone in that kitchen.
Martha Hale sprang up her hands tight together,

612
00:51:00,559 --> 00:51:04,719
looking at that other woman with whom
it rested. At first, she

613
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:07,880
could not see her eyes, for
the Sheriff's wife had not turned back since

614
00:51:07,880 --> 00:51:13,360
she had turned away at that suggestion
of being married to the law. But

615
00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:19,400
now Missus Hale made her turn back. Her eyes made her turn back slowly,

616
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:23,840
unwillingly. Missus Peters turned her head
until her eyes met the eyes of

617
00:51:23,880 --> 00:51:29,840
the other woman. There was a
moment when they held each other in a

618
00:51:29,880 --> 00:51:35,559
steady, burning look in which there
was no evasion or flinching. Then Martha

619
00:51:35,599 --> 00:51:39,039
Hale's eyes pointed the way to the
basket in which was hidden the thing that

620
00:51:39,079 --> 00:51:44,000
would make certain the conviction of the
other woman, that woman who was not

621
00:51:44,119 --> 00:51:47,239
there, and yet who had been
there with them all through that hour.

622
00:51:49,880 --> 00:51:53,519
For a moment Missus Peters did not
move, and then she did it with

623
00:51:53,599 --> 00:51:58,119
a rush forward. She threw back
the quilt pieces, got the box,

624
00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:02,400
tried to put it in her hand
bag. It was too big. Desperately

625
00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:07,480
she opened it, started to take
the bird out, but there she broke.

626
00:52:07,119 --> 00:52:13,440
She could not touch the bird.
She stood there, helpless, foolish.

627
00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:17,639
There was the sound of a knob
turning in the inner door. Martha

628
00:52:17,639 --> 00:52:22,480
Hale snatched the box from the sheriff's
wife and got it in the pocket of

629
00:52:22,519 --> 00:52:25,199
her big coat, just as the
sheriff and the county attorney came back into

630
00:52:25,199 --> 00:52:31,079
the kitchen. Well, Henry said
the county attorney facetiously. At least we

631
00:52:31,159 --> 00:52:35,360
found out that she was not going
to quilt it. She was going to

632
00:52:36,079 --> 00:52:39,639
what is it you call it,
ladies, Missus Hale's hand was against the

633
00:52:39,679 --> 00:52:51,639
pocket of her coat. We call
it not it, mister Henderson. End

634
00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:53,400
of a Jury of her Peers by
Susan Glaspell