"Why, I'm trying to persuade my old friend here to leave this place, change her occupation, come out to Colorado with me, and grow up. She's a case of arrested development."
"She wants me to keep boarders!" Miss Elder plaintively protested to Mrs. Pettigrew.
That lady was not impressed.
"It's quite a different matter out there, Mrs. Pettigrew," the doctor explained. "'Keeping boarders' in this country goes to the tune of 'Come Ye Disconsolate!' It's a doubtful refuge for women who are widows or would be better off if they were. Where I live it's a sure thing if well managed—it's a good business."
Mrs. Pettigrew wore an unconvinced aspect.
"What do you call 'a good business?'" she asked.
"The house I have in mind cleared a thousand a year when it was in right hands. That's not bad, over and above one's board and lodging. That house is in the market now. I've just had a letter from a friend about it. Orella could go out with me, and step right into Mrs. Annerly's shoes—she's just giving up."
"What'd she give up for?" Mrs. Pettigrew inquired suspiciously.
"Oh—she got married; they all do. There are three men to one woman in that town, you see."
"I didn't know there was such a place in the world—unless it was a man-of-war," remarked Susie, looking much interested.