The Front Yard, and Other Italian Stories. Constance Fenimore Woolson
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Constance Fenimore Woolson
The Front Yard, and Other Italian Stories
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664562814
Table of Contents
| ILLUSTRATIONS | ||
|---|---|---|
| "'MADEMOISELLE NEED GIVE HERSELF NO UNEASINESS'" | Frontispiece | |
| "''TWOULD BE SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE THE DAY WITH, THAT WOULD'" | Facing p. | 2 |
| "NOUNCE TOO CAME OUT, AND SAT ON THE WALL NEAR BY, LISTENING" | " | 22 |
| "STILL HOLDING NOUNCE'S HAND, SHE WENT ROUND TO THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE" | " | 42 |
| "'YOU KNOW I AM YOUR SLAVE'" | " | 58 |
| AZUBAH ASH | " | 68 |
| THE OLD WATCH-TOWER | " | 86 |
| "THE CART WAS GOING SLOWLY ACROSS THE FIELDS, FOR THE ROAD WAS OVERFLOWED" | " | 88 |
| "'MRS. CHURCHILL, LET ME PRESENT TO YOU MR. DAVID ROD'" | " | 100 |
| SORRENTO | " | 102 |
| ON THE WAY TO THE DESERTO | " | 112 |
| AT THE DESERTO | " | 114 |
| "SHE SAT DOWN AND GATHERED HER CHILD TO HER BREAST" | " | 128 |
| "FANNY PUT OUT HER HANDS WITH A BITTER CRY" | " | 134 |
| "A SMALL CHILD PERCHED ON EACH OF HIS SHOULDERS" | " | 214 |
THE FRONT YARD
"WELL, now, with Gooster at work in the per-dairy, and Bepper settled at last as help in a good family, and Parlo and Squawly gone to Perugia, and Soonter taken by the nuns, and Jo Vanny learning the carpenter's trade, and only Nounce left for me to see to (let alone Granmar, of course, and Pipper and old Patro), it doos seem, it really doos, as if I might get it done sometime; say next Fourth of July, now; that's only ten months off. 'Twould be something to celebrate the day with, that would; something like!"
The woman through whose mind these thoughts were passing was sitting on a low stone-wall, a bundle of herbs, a fagot of twigs, and a sickle laid carefully beside her. On her back was strapped a large deep basket, almost as long as herself; she had loosened the straps so that she could sit down. This basket was heavy; one could tell that from the relaxed droop of her shoulders relieved from its weight for the moment, as its end rested on a fallen block on the other side of the wall. Her feet were bare, her dress a narrow cotton gown, covered in front to the hem by a dark cotton apron; on her head was a straw bonnet, which had behind a little cape of brown ribbon three inches deep, and in front broad strings of the same brown, carefully tied in a bow, with the loops pulled out to their full width and pinned on each side of her chin. This bonnet, very clean and decent (the ribbons had evidently been washed more than once), was of old-fashioned shape, projecting