Page:Ethan Frome (Scribners 1922).djvu/149

Rh before at Shadd's Falls, where they had come to visit relatives. They had a little girl with fair curls, who wore a gold locket and was dressed like a princess. The deserted wife had not done badly either. Her husband had given her the farm and she had managed to sell it, and with that and the alimony she had started a lunch-room at Bettsbridge and bloomed into activity and im- portance. Ethan was fired by the thought. Why should he not leave with Mattie the next day, instead of letting her go alone ? He would hide his valise under the seat of the sleigh, and Zeena would suspect nothing till she went upstairs for her after- noon nap and found a letter on the bed

His impulses were still near the surface, and he sprang up, re-lit the lantern, and sat down at the table. He rummaged in the drawer for a sheet of paper, found one, and began to write.

"Zeena, I've done all I could for you, and I don't see as it's been any use. I don't blame you, nor I don't blame myself. Maybe both of us will do better separate. I'm going to try my luck West, and you can sell the farm and mill, and keep the money"

His pen paused on the word, which brought