"It was red--but I dyed it--I couldn't bear to have it red--it bothered me. That's why I keep the blinds down too--the sun hurts me--it has no right to shine--just the same as if nothing had happened." Her voice quivered with passion.
"Have you any neighbors, Mrs. C----?" I asked; for her manner made me uneasy--she had been too much alone.
"Neighbors!" she stormed,--"neighbors! I haven't any, and I do not want them: they would only lie about me--the way they lied about Fred!"
"Surely nobody ever lied about Fred," I said,--"this fine, brave fellow."
"He does look brave, doesn't he?" she cried. "You are a stranger, but you can see it, can't you? You wouldn't think he was a coward, would you?"
"I would stake everything on his bravery!" I said honestly, looking at the picture.
"It was a wicked lie--all a lie!" she said bitterly.
"Tell us all about it," I said; "I am sure there has been a mistake."
She went quickly out of the room, and my old friend and I stared at each other without speaking. In a few minutes she came back with a "paper" in her hand, and, handing it to me, she said, "Read that and you'll see what they say!"
I read the announcement which stated that her husband had been missing since September 29, and was now believed to have been killed. "This is just what is sent to every one--" I began, but she interrupted me.
"Look here!" she cried, leaning over my shoulder and pointing to the two words "marginally noted"--"What does that mean?"
"We regret to inform you that the soldier marginally noted, who has been declared missing since September 29, is now believed to have been killed!"
"There!" she cried, "can't you see?" pointing again to the two words. "Don't you see what that means?--margin means the edge--and that means that Fred was noted for being always on the edge of the army, trying to escape, I suppose. But that's a lie, for Fred was not that kind, I tell you--he was no coward!"
I saw where the trouble lay, and tried to explain. She would not listen.
"Oh, but I looked in the dictionary and I know: 'margin' means 'the edge,' and they are trying to say that Fred was always edging off--you see--noted for being on the edge, that's what they say."
We reasoned, we argued, we explained, but the poor little lonely soul was obsessed with the idea that a deep insult had been put upon her man's memory.