"I ain't had nothin' since I left home."
"Didn't you find your—" Mrs. Lathrop began eagerly.
"Cousin?" said the traveller, in a tone that suggested revelations as yet unrevealed,—"oh, yes, Mrs. Lathrop, I found my cousin."
Mrs. Lathrop felt herself to be silenced, and spoke no more. Miss Clegg drank all the tea and ate all the gingerbread. Then, when there was nothing else left to do, she declared herself satisfied, and fixing her gaze mercilessly upon the quaking listener, discharged her first shot.
"I wish I'd never gone!"
This statement was made with a vigor that supported its truth in full. Mrs. Lathrop quivered slightly, and waited breathlessly to hear more.
"I wish I'd never gone, 'n' for the future, Mrs. Lathrop, I'll thank you to never so much 's breathe a relation anywhere near me, for I've had enough family to-day to last me from here to Gabriel 'n' his trumpet, 'n' 'f I ever forget this hour may I die in that one."
Mrs. Lathrop gasped.
Susan coughed and gripped her hands tightly together.
"Mrs. Lathrop, the Bible says 's we may never know what a day 'll bring forth, 'n' 'f I'd 'a' known that this day was gettin' ready to hatch such a Cousin Marion 's I found, I certainly would 'a' spent it some other way. When I think o' the cheerful lovin' spirit 's I pinned my wave on in, 'n' then reflect on what I pinned it on to, I can't but feel 't if I ain't a fool I 'd ought to be one, 'n' I can't say nothin' stronger for the way I feel. They say 's the Devil 's the father o' lies, but it's a slander. The Devil is a floatin' angel by the side o' that letter 's I found. It was a lie, Mrs. Lathrop, a lie from first to last, 'n' it makes my blood run cold to think o' all the years that I lived right underneath it 'n' never 's much 's dreamed o' the iniquity up in that old trunk over my head."