CHAPTER XX.
AUNT MARTHA.
The room was clean.

There was a rag carpet on the floor; a pine bureau neatly varnished; a half dozen plain but whole chairs; a bedstead, upon which the bedding was scrupulously neat; a pine table, upon which lay a much-thumbed leather-bound family Bible and a few religious books; and between the windows, over the bureau, hung a common engraving of Christ upon the Cross.

The windows themselves looked upon the back of the stores on South Street.

Upon the floor was a large basket full of work, with which the occupant of the room was evidently engaged.

The whole room had an air of severity and cheerlessness, yet it was clear that every thing was most carefully arranged, and continually swept and washed and dusted.
The person who had opened the door was a woman of nearly forty.