Ethan Frome Page #3

little house for ned and Ruth.

I'm glad to do it for them...

For the cost.

Ethan...

You ain't needing money, are you, Ethan?

No.

I just...

just wasn't thinking.

'Cause if you are...

I just wasn't thinking,

Mr. hale.

Just the man I wanted to see.

Here.

Take this and tell Mattie

that I forgive her.

Forgive her?

Yeah.

For not riding with me.

And say, "to my favorite

dance partner."

Now, you watch where you're walking.

I nearly stepped on you, puss.

She's keeping zeena's place warm.

Looks as if there'll be more snow coming.

You think so?

Do you suppose it'll interfere

with zeena's getting back?

I don't suppose she could be home

much before tomorrow evening.

There's only the one train.

And I expect she's told

jotham to meet her then.

That's supposing jotham

remembers what he's been told,

which ain't always the case,

is it, with jotham?

I'll get you more.

I ain't making fun.

I ain't saying nothing

I ain't said to jotham, Mattie.

Ethan, I wasn't thinking you were.

It ain't his fault.

Once his aunt died, poor man,

well, he...

he's got distractions.

And he's fortunate to have somebody like you

to...

That's what zeena says.

And zeena's right.

It ain't being especially hungry.

I'm always especially hungry.

It's the cooking.

What?

Jotham's got a little shed now

behind the gows'.

They give it to him.

I'm very pleased you like the cooking.

I do.

It's been...

I don't know...

more than a year

since I think I was

complimented for anything.

I'm sorry.

I can't believe that.

Maybe not for cooking, but...

For dancing?

Well, I ain't heard none.

I'll bet denis eady.

Then you mustn't have been listening.

Well, if it was denis, he did speak,

and I probably wasn't.

My hands... cold as ice.

Though it don't seem right my saying it,

the last compliment I think I remember

was from my piano playing,

and that was...

what piano playing?

You never do.

You don't have a piano, so how could you?

Sometime, maybe.

Who has...

my piano playing and for my singing...

that's what I was complimented for.

Mattie...

I'd like some more.

I would.

Well, you haven't finished what you got.

I said I'd like some more.

While I'm waiting

I'll try one of these

good-looking things.

Hello, there.

You want a bite?

Yeah?

We don't eat like this every day, do we?

I'm always asking zeena to let me.

I know.

Ethan, I didn't mean anything against...

don't.

Let's just the two of us sit here and eat,

like we were...

Sit here and eat like we were...

What?

It's broken!

No! It's broken!

It wasn't your fault.

You don't understand!

The cat...

it wasn't meant to be used! I shouldn't

have given her some doughnut.

She kept it in the good parlor.

She kept it there, and now

she'll want to know why!

Zeena doesn't have to know anything.

I'll get another one.

I'll go to shadd's falls if I have to.

You'll never get one there!

It was a wedding present from a cousin.

Let me do that.

You're cutting yourself.

What are we going to do?

I'll set it back.

I'll get some glue tomorrow.

She never looks at the thing anyway.

Nearly forgot... got you

something in town today.

Why would you get me something?

They're sweets.

It's beautiful!

It's lovely!

It's so lovely, Ethan.

Denis eady asked me to give that to you.

Sweets!

I love sweets.

They're good ones.

I can see that.

Take one.

You try one.

Very good.

What you s-sewing?

Ethan...

I c...

Cooking...

Piano playing...

Singing...

There's a lot I didn't know.

And I used to be the best

reciter in my school.

Nothing scared me.

I could stand in front of everyone.

I'd close my eyes...

"Solemnly, mournfully, dealing its dole

"the curfew bell is beginning to toll.

"Cover the embers and put out the light

toil... Comes

with morning and..."

"And the rest

with the night."

I can't remember the rest.

You're cold.

Good night.

Good night.

Mattie silver...

what a wonderful surprise.

We'll be needing some glue, denis.

Glue?

Glue for the lady.

Let's see...

I thought it was...

Ethan.

Rose.

Well, I don't know where

my father keeps the glue.

Maybe... Here.

Well, if you don't have it,

maybe Mrs. homan does.

If we ain't got it,

Mrs. homan sure won't.

Hey, Mattie...

What do you think about my present?

What present was that, denis eady?

Ethan, didn't you give Mattie the...

That.

It was lovely.

Thank you.

5 cents.

3... 4... 5.

Thank you.

I hope zeena ain't broke

nothing she set store by.

Come on, boy.

Boy.

For the first week, they treat me

like I'm some country idiot

who don't read or write.

I don't say anything...

the less someone knows about

you... my father said this.

But then, Mattie, I hear them

talking about bettsbridge.

That's where they're from.

Our bettsbridge?

Here we are in Florida on

the other side of the country,

and they're from bettsbridge,

and I'm from Starkfield.

Florida is a place you got to see, Mattie.

It's...

Can I come in for dinner?

We just got back, jotham.

I ain't had time.

Zeena's been back long enough.

Ain't she fixed it yet?

Z-zeena's back?

When did she...

Mr. gow brought her.

Didn't you see them?

I thought that you would have passed them.

They... they weren't here

much after you left.

Mattie's going to make dinner.

Should she set you a plate?

Mnh-mnh. Don't feel

I could touch a morsel.

You must be tired, after the long trip.

That was a good thing

getting a ride with gow.

I guess, what, he was picking

something up at the station?

What train did you take?

I didn't know there was a...

I didn't take the train.

Mr. gow happened to be

in bettsbridge, so...

That was good of him.

I'm a great deal sicker than you think.

I've got complications.

Is that what the new doctor told you?

What I should have is an operation.

You've never been told that before.

What do you know about

this new doctor anyway?

I didn't need to have anybody

tell me I was getting worse.

Every day, everybody...

Could see it.

Everybody in bettsbridge

knows about Dr. buck.

He has his office in worcester,

and he comes over once a fortnight

to shadd's falls and bettsbridge.

Eliza Spears was wasting

away with kidney trouble

before she went to him,

and now she's up and around

and singing in the choir.

I'm glad of that.

You just do what he tells you, then.

I mean to.

He says...

That I should have a hired girl.

And that I oughtn't

to have to do a single...

a hired girl?

And aunt Martha found me one right off.

Everybody in bettsbridge

says that I was real lucky

to get a girl to come way out here.

And I agreed to give her

a dollar extra to make sure.

She'll be over tomorrow afternoon.

If you meant to engage a girl,

you ought to have told me

before you started.

How could I tell you before I started?

How did I know

what Dr. buck would say?

And did Dr. buck tell you

how I was to pay her wages?

No, he didn't. For I'd

been ashamed to tell him

that you grudged me the money

to get back my health

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