ter hearing this, Mrs. Peters compares how Mrs. Wright must have felt with a memory of her own past. “I know what stillness is. When we homesteaded in Dakota, and my first baby died – after he was two years old, and me with no other then – I know what stillness is.” (1173) There is a sense of pity for the suspect, anger toward the victim, as if he must have deserved to die. While talking, the women find a fancy box belonging Mrs. Wright. Inside the box, is what they believe to be Mrs. Wright’s dead pet bird. They realize that “somebody – wrung – its – neck” (1172) Remembering a similar incident in her life, Mrs. Peters says, “When I was a girl – my kitten –there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes, ..If they hadn’t held me back I would have hurt him.” (1172) They place the dead bird back in the box, and then, surprisingly, they hide the box. You can almost see what’s going on in the mind of these two women as they must be imagining poor Mrs. Wright, horrified that her awful husband killed her bird, then she must have snapped and strangled him to end her own suffering. The men come back in, not yet finding a motive, Mr. Henderson says, “it’s all perfectly clear except a reason for doing it, .. something to show – something to make a story about – a thing that would connect up with this strange way of doing it”(1173) The men then go to another room, leaving the women alone. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale know that the bird could be just the motive they are looking for. “Mrs. Hale rises, hands tight together, looking intensely at Mrs. Peters, whose eyes make a slow turn, finally meeting Mrs. Hale’s” (1174) They look back at box containing the dead bird. Here is evidence that could possibly help convict Mrs. Wright for murder, their emotions running high, they decide to protect her, to ge...
