`` It must be her money he is after , '' thought the dressmaker . `` She looks over thirty , and she ca n't pretend to be pretty . I believe she thinks a lot of him , though . '' For the most part , Lynnfield people believed that Bessy had thrown Lawrence over . This opinion was borne out by his woebegone appearance . He was thin and pale ; his face had lost its youthful curves and looked hard and mature . He was moody and taciturn and his speech and manner were marked by a new cynicism . * * * * * In April a well-to-do storekeeper from an adjacent village began to court Bessy Houghton . He was over fifty , and had never been a handsome man in his best days , but Lynnfield oracles opined that Bessy would take him . She could n't expect to do any better , they said , and she was looking terribly old and dowdy all at once . In June Maggie Hatfield went to the Eastmans ' to sew . The first bit of news she imparted to Mrs. Eastman was that Bessy Houghton had refused Jabez Lea -- at least , he did n't come to see her any more . Mrs. Eastman twitched her thread viciously . `` Bessy Houghton was born an old maid , '' she said sharply . `` She thinks nobody is good enough for her , that is what 's the matter . Lawrence got some silly boy-notion into his head last winter , but I soon put a stop to that . '' `` I always had an idea that Bessy thought a good deal of Lawrence , '' said Maggie . `` She has never been the same since he left off going with her . I was up there the morning after that prayer-meeting night people talked so much of , and she looked positively dreadful , as if she had n't slept a wink the whole night . '' `` Nonsense ! ''
said Mrs. XXXXX decisively .
Bessy Eastman Houghton Lawrence Lea boy-notion dressmaker left morning night