Helena leaves rejection in her wake

As i read this story, I connected with the character of Helena. She was a young woman who brought happiness and a sort of lightheartedness to those around her. She also made males and females alike, love her. Jewett tells us that "she left the minister a rejected lover" (878). Helena managed to make a man of the cloth love her and she just left him feeling rejected when she finally left her cousin's house. This poor man still blushed for 40 years afterwards every time that Martha would bring him a bowl of cherries. He obviously still remembered the first time that Martha brought him cherries was under orders from her mistress Helena. and Poor Martha! i still feel that Martha held more than just platonic love for Helena. Helena turns a blind eye toward it though, and when she left, she left behind yet another rejected lover in Martha. At the end of the story we get the idea that maybe Helena finally figures out "the whole thing" but it is unclear as to what the "thing" is that she figures out. Maybe she realizes that Martha loved her and found out just too late.