And the sooner the better . I 'm done -- last winter 's rheumatiz has about finished me . An ' we ca n't afford hired help . '' Roger felt as if his raw , quivering soul were being seared . He looked at his aunt curiously -- at her broad , flat face with the mole on the end of her dumpy nose , the bristling hairs on her chin , the wrinkled yellow neck , the pale , protruding eyes , the coarse , good-humoured mouth . She was so extremely ugly -- and he had seen her across the table all his life . For twenty-five years he had looked at her so . Must he continue to go on looking at ugliness in the shape of a wife all the rest of his life -- he , who worshipped beauty in everything ? `` Did my mother look like you , Aunt Catherine ? '' he asked abruptly . His aunt stared -- and snorted . Her snort was meant to express kindly amusement , but it sounded like derision and contempt . `` Yer ma was n't so humly as me , '' she said cheerfully , `` but she wa n't no beauty either . None of the Temples was ever better lookin ' than was necessary . We was workers . Yer pa wa 'n' t bad looking . You 're humlier than either of 'em . Some ways ye take after yer grandma -- though she was counted pretty at one time . She was yaller and spindlin ' like you , and you 've got her eyes . What yer so int ` rested in yer ma 's looks all at once fer ? ''
`` I was wondering , '' said Roger coolly , `` if Father ever looked XXXXX her across the table and wished she were prettier . ''
For about as at in like than though to with