The elms increased their girth; the railway crept up the river; the young men went to Southern battle-fields, and some of them returned; children of a second generation walked in the Hesperides; the Institute was reduced to three beneficiaries; Main Street smelled of tar from the asphalt sidewalks; Chester Street was prosperous. Banks failed in '73, and “Miss Lucia has lost everything,” said Wimberton gossip.
The Solley house was alternately rented and empty, the Gore house was sold, Miss Lucia went up to the Institute, and gossip in Wimberton woke again.
“Of course the Institute is not like other places, but then—”
“Miss Lucia was such a lady.”
“But it's a charity, after all.”
“Very sensible of Miss Lucia, I'm sure.”
“She was engaged to old Institute Solley's son once, but it ended with a bump.”
“Then Miss Lucia goes to the Institute who might have gone to the Solley house.”
“Oh, that is what one doesn't know.”
“Miss Lucia a beneficiary! But isn't that rather embarrassing?”