Charity Read Online Free Page A

gate, inhaled deeply.
    Lena found herself going next door to Julia’s.
    Julia’s house was modest in size. A fresh coat of white paint brightened both the outside walls and the length of fence that ran along in front of it. The fence, wrought iron with some scroll-work about the gate, did not go around the house; it kept nothing in and nothing out but made a very pretty picture when viewed straight on. Two peony bushes on either side of the front door were in bud.
    Julia met her at the door, a limp handkerchief in one hand, her cat in the other held close to her breast. She wore a gray linen dress, trimmed at the neck and sleeves with thin strips of white lace. She was dressed for company. The cat was gray with white paws and throat. Even in her agitation, Lena was amused at the resemblance between them. As she held the door open, Julia said, “Oh, Lena, he’s gone. Pa’s gone.” Tears rose in her eyes.
    “Yes,” was all Lena could say as she stepped into Julia’s kitchen and sat down at her small table. “Julia, they think Will did it.”
    “I know. It’s a pity.” Julia, with one hand—her other hand still cradled the cat to her bosom—set a cup in front of Lena. As she did so, Lena saw that the ring on her right hand, an opal in a gold setting that Julia always wore, was wrapped in string on the palm side. Lena commented on it and Julia said, “Oh, yes. These old hands are getting thin, especially when they’re cold. I didn’t want the ring slipping off, you know. It was Mother’s.” Julia poured weak coffee into Lena’s cup.
    “Yes, that happened to my mother,” nodded Lena. “She lost her wedding ring in the bread dough. Didn’t know where she’d lost it till Will bit into it in a piece of toast. Nearly broke his tooth!”
    Julia smiled at the story, returned the pot to the stove, and sat down. When she moved, her fine white hair held softly in a loose bun at the nape of her neck, waved gently, cloudlike about her head. With that puffball of white fine hair, she reminded Lena sometimes of a dandelion gone to seed.
    Lena didn’t know where to put her hands. They went from her lap, to play about her mouth and chin, to touching the table top and back to her lap again. Finally, with one hand and a toss of her head she indicated Gertrude’s house a few yards away. “ She’s no help. His own mother. Sitting over there like a fat spider. Thinking he might have done it. ‘Of all the boys,’” Lena mimicked Ma Kaiser’s wheezy voice, “’I never thought it would be Will.’ Oof! She makes me tired. How you’ve stood her all these years, I don’t know.” Lena thumped her fingers on the table top, then took a quick sip of coffee.
    Julia did not answer or remove her loving gaze from the cat in her lap, who with perfect attention licked the inside of a curled paw. “Is Feather getting clean? Kitty Feather...” she crooned as she stroked his back with her thin, blue-veined hand. “Cats are so clean, aren’t they?”
    The kitchen warmed with light cascading through Julia’s white lace curtains. Julia’s house, like Julia herself, always smelled faintly of lavender. For a moment, Lena almost relaxed a little. She blurted out, “Who do you think did it? You know it wasn’t Will, don’t you?”
    “Of course, we all know it couldn’t have been Will,” Julia answered. “Not Will.” Julia continued to stroke her cat.
    “No. That’s right.” Lena’s hands began their nervous search once more. “Well, who do you think, Julia?”
    Julia just shook her head and her eyes filled with tears once more.
    “Well, I don’t know either,” said Lena kindly. She felt sorry for Julia. Pa Kaiser had been good to her in his way. She had taken in sewing over the years, but he had helped her out financially from time to time and paid her a little for some bookkeeping while he was still in the well business. Pa had been generous that way.
    Julia was dabbing her eyes. “We’ll all miss him, that’s