'I believe she was the first to ask him to break off. I met her a week ago, and she looked very jolly, as if something good had happened to her. I suppose she's glad to be free again.'
'How queer it all is, Lyddy! Now you might mention things like this in your letters. If there's anything else of the same kind happens, remember you tell me.'
'I don't see how there can be. Unless they begin over again.'
'Well, mind you tell me if they do—and if they don't.'
On the second day of Lydia's visit, they heard from The Chestnuts that Bessie Bunce was dead. She had died suddenly, and just when she seemed to be in better health than for years.
Thyrza, speaking of the event with Lydia, said gravely:
'I can't feel sorry. It's a good thing to die like that, with no pain and no looking forward.'
'Oh, do you think so, Thyrza? There's something dreadful in the suddenness to me.'
'To me it's just the opposite. I'm afraid of death. I don't think I could sit by anybody that was dying. I hope, I hope I may die in that way!'
Lydia was shocked, and wondered grieving.