The woman who came soon gave notice that she "couldn't stay in no such neighborhood for steady company."
Mr. Leverett and Cousin Adams urged her to sell. If there should be war she might not have a chance in a long while again.
"But I don't know the first thing in the world to do," she moaned. "I haven't a chick nor a child to care about me."
"Come over and stop with us a bit until you can make some plans. There's two rooms upstairs in which you could housekeep if you wanted to. Our family gets smaller all the time. But if you liked to live with us a spell——" said Mr. Leverett.
"I don't know how 'Lizabeth could stand an old woman and a young one"—hesitatingly.
"If you mean Doris, she is going over to Winthrop's," he replied.
"Ready to jump at the chance, I'll warrant. You can't count on children."
"No, Aunt Priscilla, she didn't jump. She's a wise, fond little thing. Win asked her about Christmas, and she wouldn't consent until Betty came back, for fear we would be lonesome. It quite touched me when I heard of it. Win has some ideas about her education, and I guess he's nearer right. So that needn't trouble you. It would be so much better for you to sell."
"I'll think it over," she said almost gruffly, for she was moved herself. "I never could get along with this Rachel Day. She doesn't allow that anyone in the world knows anything but herself, and I kept house before she was born. I don't like quite such smart people."
Miss Hetty Perkins came in to offer her services as housekeeper. Every now and then she had "edged round," as Aunt Priscilla expressed it. Everybody said Hetty was closer than the skin, but then she had no one except herself to depend upon. And Amos Perkins called to see if Aunt Priscilla had anyone she could trust to do her business. He heard she was going to sell.