"You'd better come in, then we can talk," she invited.
Grandfather peered at her uncertainly.
"You are Manda Sassaman's sister?"
"Yes, her younger sister."
Thus assured, Grandfather walked into the small parlor and sat down upon the first chair. He did not perceive the dreariness of the room; he perceived only the pleasant odor of food.
"What time does my granddaughter come from her work?"
"She's not here, she's gone this long time," announced Mrs. Lebber. "First Manda went to get married. She is trying it for the third time, but I don't believe she will have luck. She—"
"Where is Ellen?"
"Well"—Mrs. Lebber folded her hands and began to rock slowly. "One Sunday Ellen she said she would go for a walk, and she didn't come and didn't come, and after dark she came driving in an automobile, and I didn't know what to make of it. She was down along the river where the rich ones live and she got in front of an automobile, another automobile, that is. It's very dangerous down there. Then I know a woman that lives down there and she got a place for Ellen." Mrs. Lebber gave the impression that she had been the chief agency in Ellen's finding a place and thus unintentionally counteracted the mysterious insinuations of the first part of her speech. "It's on Front Street, a very grand place."
A grand place was to Grandfather an unsafe place.