She helped here, she helped there; she took care of babies,
nursed the sick, comforted the aged. On she moved from house to house,
no enduring foundation ever remaining beneath her feet. No sooner
would she strike her roots down into a congenial soil than she would be
forced to pluck them up again and find new earth to which to cling.
She might have married a dozen times during her youth had not her
conscience deterred her from deserting her father and the children left
to her care. In fact one persistent swain who refused to take "No" for
an answer had begged Celestina to wait and pray over the matter.
"I never trouble the Lord with things I can settle myself," replied she
firmly. "I can't go marryin' an' that's all there is to it."
Other offers had been declined with the same characteristic firmness
until now the golden season of mating-time was past, and although she
was still a pretty little woman the stamp of spinsterhood was
unalterably fixed upon her.
Wilton, in the meantime, had long ago lost sight of the uncomplaining
self-sacrifice it had previously lauded and explained Celestina
Morton's unwedded state by declaring that she was too "easy goin'" to
make anybody a good wife.
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