Little Mrs.Sommers one day found herself the unexpected possessor of fifteen dollars.It seemed to her a very large amount of money, and the way in which it stuffed and bulged her worn old porte-monnaie gave her a feeling of importance such as she had not enjoyed for years.
The question of investment was one that occupied her greatly.For a day or two she walked about apparently in a dreamy state, but really absorbed in speculation and calculation.She did not wish to act hastily, to do anything she might afterward regret.But it was during the still hours of the night when she lay awake revolving plans in her mind that she seemed to see her way clearly toward a proper and judicious use of the money.
A dollar or two should be added to the price usually paid for Janie's shoes, which would insure their lasting an appreciable time longer than they usually did.She would buy so and so many yards of percale for new shirt waists for the boys and Janie and Mag.She had intended to make the old ones do by skilful patching.Mag should have another gown.She had seen some beautiful patterns, veritable bargains in the shop windows.And still there would be left enough for new stockings-- two pairs apiece--and what darning that would save for a while! She would get caps for the boys and sailor-hats for the girls.The vision of her little brood looking fresh and dainty and new for once in their lives excited her and made her restless and wakeful with anticipation.
The neighbors sometimes talked of certain "better days" that little Mrs.Sommers had known before she had ever thought of being Mrs.Sommers.She herself indulged in no such morbid retrospection.She had no time-- no second of time to devote to the past.The needs of the present absorbed her every faculty.A vision of the future like some dim, gaunt monster sometimes appalled her, but luckily to-morrow never comes.
Mrs.Sommers was one who knew the value of bargains; who could stand for hours making her way inch by inch toward the desired object that was selling below cost.She could elbow her way if need be; she had learned to clutch a piece of goods and hold it and stick to it withpersistence and determination till her turn came to be served, no matter when it came.
But that day she was a little faint and tired.She had swallowed a light luncheon--no! when she came to think of it, between getting the children fed and the place righted, and preparing herself for the shopping bout, she had actually forgotten to eat any luncheon at all!
She sat herself upon a revolving stool before a counter that was comparatively deserted, trying to gather strength and courage to charge through an eager multitude that was besieging breastworks of shirting and figured lawn.An all-gone limp feeling had come over her and she rested her hand aimlessly upon the counter.She wore no gloves.By degrees she grew aware that her hand had encountered something very soothing, very pleasant to touch.She looked down to see that her hand lay upon a pile of silk stockings.A placard near by announced that they had been reduced in price from two dollars and fifty cents to one dollar and ninety- eight cents; and a young girl who stood behind the counter asked her if she wished to examine their line of silk hosiery.She smiled, just as if she had been asked to inspect a tiara of diamonds with the ultimate view of purchasing it.But she went on feeling the soft, sheeny luxurious things-- with both hands now, holding them up to see them glisten, and to feel them glide serpent-like through her fingers.
Two hectic blotches came suddenly into her pale cheeks.She looked up at the girl.
"Do you think there are any eights-and-a-half among these?"There were any number of eights-and-a-half.In fact, there were more of that size than any other.Here was a light-blue pair; there were some lavender, some all black and various shades of tan and gray.Mrs.Sommers selected a black pair and looked at them very long and closely.She pretended to be examining their texture, which the clerk assured her was excellent.
"A dollar and ninety-eight cents," she mused aloud."Well, I'll take this pair." She handed the girl a five-dollar bill and waited for her change and for her parcel.What a very small parcel it was! It seemed lost in the depths of her shabby old shopping-bag.
Mrs.Sommers after that did not move in the direction of the bargain counter.She took the elevator, which carried her to an upper floor into the region of the ladies' waiting-rooms.Here, in a retired corner, she exchanged her cotton stockings for the new silk ones which she had just bought.She was not going through any acute mental process or reasoning with herself, nor was she striving to explain to her satisfaction the motive of her action.She was not thinking at all.She seemed for the time to be taking a rest from that laborious and fatiguing function and to have abandoned herself to some mechanical impulse that directed her actions and freed her of responsibility.
