Part One

In the first part of "The Wives of the Dead," the narrator assures readers his tale is "scarcely worth relating," then proceeds to tell it in detail. A hundred years ago, in the early eighteenth century, two "young and comely" (attractive) women in a Massachusetts seaport town married brothers and set up house together. In "two successive" days, they learn of their husbands' deaths: one is lost at sea, while the other is killed fighting the French and Indians in Canada. The British battled with the French for control of North America at this time, and colonists from the Bay colonies often fought on the Canadian frontier. Though many townspeople turn out to offer their sympathy, the women want to be left alone to console each other.

After the mourners leave, Mary, the more practical and disciplined of the pair, prepares dinner, but Margaret, distraught and...