`` It 's too gay for me . I was foolish to think it would ever suit me . This brown will do for a spring suit . It does n't make much difference what I wear . '' Maggie Hatfield , who had not been at prayer meeting the night beforehand knew nothing of what had occurred , looked at her curiously , wondering what Lawrence Eastman could see in her to be as crazy about her as some people said he was . Bessy was looking her oldest and plainest just then , with her hair combed severely back from her pale , dispirited face . `` 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 XXXXX her , that is what 's the matter .
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