“I wasn’t thinking about it. I want to bring up two little Gracchi.”
But after the bright bevy had clustered around him, an older woman approached. Her severe little bonnet was black above hair almost as snowy as his, and the girls made way for her.
“Do you remember me, Mr. Rich?”
“I’ve been glancing at you from time to time, Susan. I hope that my weak words have been blessed to you in your very becoming old age.”
“Ambrose, Kate is going to bring you to dinner immediately. But where is Winifred’s girl?”
Jean emerged from the bevy, dropped a curtsy, and rose still holding the edges of her organdie.
“Do you like it, Mrs. Hogg?”
“Very much, my dear.”
“I wouldn’t sell this dress for a million dollars, because your loving gift to my big brother is in it. I’m the only one left, Aunt Susan. Please try to like me.”
Thus presently it came to pass that when Kate Coggeshall’s surrey once more made its way up through the apple orchard, it bore Mainutung and Naynokahsee.