"Miss Eleanor came back a great deal better than she was when she left!" exclaimed Willy, indignantly. "She'll tell you, if you ask her, that that visit to New York did her a great deal of good!"
"No, she won't!" said Miss Shott, "for she don't speak to me. It's been two years since I had anything to do with her!"
Willy knew all about the quarrel between the Thorpedyke ladies and Nancy, and wished to change the subject.
"Don't you want to go and look at the new part of the house?" she said. "Perhaps you'd like to see the things we've bought in New York, and it's cold here!"
To this invitation and the subsequent remark Miss Shott paid no attention. She did not intend to give Willy the pleasure of showing her over the house, and it was not at all necessary, for she had seen nearly everything in it.
During the absence of Mrs. Cliff she had made many visits to the house, and, as she was acquainted with the woman who had been left in charge, she had examined every room, from ground to roof, and had scrutinized and criticised the carpets as they had been laid and the furniture as it had been put in place.
She saw that Willy was beginning to shiver a little, and was well satisfied that she should feel cold. It would help take the conceit out of her. As for herself, she wore a warm cloak and did not mind a cold room.
"I'm told," she said, "that Mrs. Cliff's putting up a new stable. What was the matter with the old one?"
"It wasn't big enough," said Willy.
"It holds two horses, don't it, and what could anybody want more than that, I'd like to know!"