José — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

JOSE. 13 the Bottchers, settled near them. The new-comer had two daughters, pictures of sturdy robust woman- hood, and they had frequently called at the Apple Farm for advice and assistance. Joseph had twice gone home with them to render some neighborly help; and so it transpired that as Pepita was one afternoon returning from one of her customary rambles, and was accidentally passing an outbuild- ing, she heard the elder Bottcher’s voice: “Tt is a sorry lot for us, wife,” she heard him say; “and what will it all end in? In your old age you are working harder than ever, while you should long ago have surrendered your place to some sturdy daughter-in-law. Joseph’s face grows thin- ner and paler, though he keeps his troubles to him- self, and I haven’t the heart to speak to him about it. But what will it all lead to? Now there are the two Vogel girls. Ah! what a wife one of them would have been for Joseph! He seems to realize his condition more fully since their arrival. I can tell by the way he eyes the elder; but it is of no use now! What will be the end when you can go on no longer?” “God is wise,” replied the wife; “and shapes all things for a purpose; therefore speak not of it, that / our hearts may not grow sadder still; but bear the inevitable as I do!” Pepita stood still and listened to the conversation with large, staring eyes, as if some strange thoughts and visions were passing through her mind; and then she cowered down in the grass, pressed her face into her hands, and so remained, silent and motionless as the tree trunks all around her. She did not enter the house until the sun was going down, her face paler than usual, though no Eomicboo Ss (E(@)