`` We needed some things from the store . '' The light flared up as she spoke and brought out her strong , almost harsh features and deep-set black eyes . Amelia Phillips looked like an overdone sketch in charcoal . `` Has anything happened in Woodford while I 've been away ? '' asked Emily indifferently . Plainly she did not expect an affirmative answer . Woodford life was not eventful . Amelia glanced at her sharply . So she had not heard ! Amelia had expected that Hiram Jameson would have told her . She wished that he had , for she never felt sure of Emily . The older sister knew that beneath that surface reserve was a passionate nature , brooking no restraint when once it overleaped the bounds of her Puritan self-control . Amelia Phillips , with all her naturally keen insight and her acquired knowledge of Emily 's character , had never been able to fathom the latter 's attitude of mind towards her husband . From the time that Emily had come back to her girlhood 's home , five years before , Stephen Fair 's name had never crossed her lips . `` I suppose you have n't heard that Stephen is very ill , '' said Amelia slowly . Not a feature of Emily 's face changed . Only in her voice when she spoke was a curious jarring , as if a false note had been struck in a silver melody . `` What is the matter with him ? '' `` Typhoid , '' answered Amelia briefly . She felt relieved that Emily had taken it so calmly .
Amelia hated Stephen Fair with all the intensity of her nature because she believed XXXXX he had treated Emily ill , but she had always been distrustful that Emily in her heart of hearts loved her husband still .
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