She kept the farm and took the reins of government in her own capable hands . She made a success of it too , which was more than many a man in Lynnfield had done . Bessy had never had a lover . She had never seemed like other girls , and passed for an old maid when her contemporaries were in the flush of social success and bloom . Mrs. Eastman , Lawrence 's mother , was a widow with two sons . George , the older , was the mother 's favourite , and the property had been willed to him by his father . To Lawrence had been left the few hundreds in the bank . He stayed at home and hired himself to George , thereby adding slowly to his small hoard . He had his eye on a farm in Lynnfield , but he was as yet a mere boy , and his plans for the future were very vague until he fell in love with Bessy Houghton . In reality nobody was more surprised over this than Lawrence himself . It had certainly been the last thing in his thoughts on the dark , damp night when he had overtaken Bessy walking home alone from prayer meeting and had offered to drive her the rest of the way . Bessy assented and got into his buggy . At first she was very silent , and Lawrence , who was a bashful lad at the best of times , felt tongue-tied and uncomfortable . But presently Bessy , pitying his evident embarrassment , began to talk to him . She could talk well , and Lawrence found himself entering easily into the spirit of her piquant speeches . He had an odd feeling that he had never known Bessy Houghton before ; he had certainly never guessed that she could be such good company . She was very different from the other girls he knew , but he decided that he liked the difference . `` Are you going to the party at Baileys ' tomorrow night ? '' he asked , as he helped her to alight at her door . `` I do n't know , '' she answered .
`` I 'm invited -- but I 'm all alone -- and parties have never been very much XXXXX my line . ''
At as before in like of over than that to