ILLUSTRATIONS
| "The only real hole is where he sat down on an engine spark at the station" | [Frontispiece] |
| "It's her that bought the old Whittacker house" | [21] |
| "Surely you remember me" | [95] |
| Alva | [166] |
| "If you've lent money to the Lathbuns you're going to lose it" | [224] |
IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCING MRS. RAY
"'He moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform,'" sang Mrs. Ray, coming in from the wood-shed and proceeding to fill up the stove, with the energy which characterized her whole person. A short, well-knit, active person it was, too,—a figure of health and compact muscular strength, a well-shaped head with a tight wad of neat hair on top, bright eyes, and a firm mouth.
Mrs. Wiley, a near neighbor, sat by the table and watched her friend with the after-nightfall passivity of a woman who has to be very active during daylight. Mrs. Wiley was not small and well-knit, neither was she energetic. Life for Mrs. Wiley had gone mainly in a minor key composed largely of sharps, and as a consequence she sighed frequently and sighed even now.