"Ow!" exclaimed Mary Cody, interrupting; "I hear the stairs creaking!"
Mrs. O'Neil grabbed the newspaper and thrust it back of a clothes basket. The next instant Mrs. Lathbun, with an empty pitcher in her hand, came in through the dining-room door.
The large, heavily-built woman, not stout but very robust in appearance, had on her usual dress, and smiled pleasantly at them all in greeting.
"Was there any mail?" she asked, going to the stove and beginning to fill her pitcher from the reservoir as she spoke.
"No," said Mary Cody; "I went myself."
"Dear me, how annoying," said Mrs. Lathbun; and then, having finished filling her pitcher, she quietly retired again.
"To think maybe she'll be in the jail at Geneseo to-morrow!" Mary Cody exclaimed, in an awestruck whisper.
Alva turned interrogative eyes towards Mrs. O'Neil.
"Yes, Jack is going to have them arrested," she said.
"Merciful heavens!"