"Not directly. I expressed my thanks, etc., to Mrs. Norris when I next wrote."
Sara had resumed her chair and sewing; but at this she laid it in her lap, and looked curiously at her old friend, wondering what categorical fiend possessed her this morning. Miss Prue knitted two or three rounds in silence, then remarked, with elaborate carelessness,—
"You and Jasper have always been good friends?"
As she ended with the rising inflection, Sara answered,—
"Oh, yes, always," and picked up her sewing.
"I've about made up my mind," added Miss Prue, lowering her voice to a more confidential tone, "to make Jasper my heir. His mother has been for years my nearest of kin, and Jasper's a fine lad, honest and trustworthy. But I have some notions about woman's rights in property matters; and if I knew just the girl he would marry, I should leave it to both, share and share alike. I know whom he wants to marry," she finished decisively. "Is it Dolly Lee?" asked Sara, all interest.
"No, it isn't Dolly Lee," dryly; "it's Sara Olmstead."
The sewing dropped again.
"Miss Prue!"
"Well, it is, and you needn't speak as if I'd told a falsehood; for I know!"