“What shall we do, Elizabeth?”
“We shan’t do anything right away. We’re here and we can live even if people won’t buy our things. Our trees are engaged and we’ll set them out. We—”
“Oh, let us go away!” cried Herbert. “We should never be happy, we should never see anything but scowling faces.”
“We shouldn’t make ourselves happy by going away,” said Elizabeth. “The day would come when we’d regret it. And at any rate we shan’t go unless things get worse. I shan’t be driven away whether the story is true or untrue.”
“Do you think that there’s a chance that it might not be true?” faltered Herbert.
“I don’t believe it yet,” said Elizabeth stoutly.
“Why not, Elizabeth?”
“I don’t know exactly. I just don’t believe it. I should have difficulty believing such a thing about any living man whom I had respected, and I’ll believe it still less about a man who is dead. Moreover, we owe it to ourselves to follow it to its remotest conclusion, Herbert. The possession of ancestors who are a credit is no small possession. But it’s like good health, we don’t value it till it’s gone.”
“Do you think we could make investigations and prove it untrue?”
“It might be possible.” Elizabeth was pleased. Herbert did not often make original suggestions.