I went upstairs.  The girl who had spoken to me—­I found afterward that she was the elder of the daughters—­motioned me to go into the north chamber.  I found them all there.  The mother, Mrs. H. Boardman Jameson, as I afterward knew her name to be, was lying on the bed, her head propped high with pillows; the younger daughter was fanning her, and she was panting softly as if she were almost exhausted.  The grandmother sat beside the north window, with a paper-covered book on her knees.  She was eating something from a little white box on the window-sill.  The boy was at another window, also with a book in which he did not seem to be interested.  He looked up at me, as I entered, with a most peculiar expression of mingled innocence and shyness which was almost terror.  I could not see why the boy should possibly be afraid of me, but I learned afterward that it was either his natural attitude or natural expression.  He was either afraid of every mortal thing or else appeared to be.  The singular elevated arch of his eyebrows over his wide-open blue eyes, and his mouth, which was always parted a little, no doubt served to give this impression.  He was a pretty boy, with a fair pink-and-white complexion, and long hair curled like a girl’s, which looked odd to me, for he was quite large.

Mrs. Jameson beckoned me up to the bed with one languid finger, as if she could not possibly do more.  I began to think that perhaps she had some trouble with her heart like myself, and the fire had overcome her, and I felt very sympathetic.

“I am sorry you have had such an unpleasant experience,” I began, but she cut me short.

“My good woman,” said she in little more than a whisper, “do you know of any house in a sanitary location where we can obtain board immediately?  I am very particular about the location.  There must be no standing water near the house, there must not be trees near on account of the dampness, the neighbors must not keep hens—­of course, the people of the house must not keep hens—­and the woman must have an even temper.  I must particularly insist upon an even temper.  My nerves are exceedingly weak; I cannot endure such a rasping manner as that which I have encountered to-day.”

When she stopped and looked at me for an answer I was so astonished that I did not know what to say.  There she was, just arrived; had not eaten one meal in the house, and wanting to find another boarding-place.

Finally I said, rather stupidly I suppose, that I doubted if she could find another boarding-place in our village as good as the one which she already had.

She gave another sigh, as if of the most determined patience.  “Have I not already told you, my good woman,” said she, “that I cannot endure such a rasping manner and voice as that of the woman of the house?  It is most imperative that I have another boarding-place at once.”

She said this in a manner which nettled me a little, as if I had boarding-places, for which she had paid liberally and had a right to demand, in my hand, and was withholding them from her.  I replied that I knew of no other boarding-place of any kind whatsoever in the village.  Then she looked at me in what I suppose was meant to be an ingratiating way.