"It seems that he had heard of the beauty of Sally Dunkelberg. But a bee had stung her nose just before he came and she was a sight to behold."
The ladies laughed.
"It's lucky," said Mrs. Wright. "Doesn't Horace Dunkelberg know about him?"
"I suppose he does, but the man is money crazy."
I couldn't help hearing it, for I was working in the room in which they talked. Well, really, it doesn't matter much now. They are all gone.
"Who is young Latour?" I asked when Mrs. Jenison had left us.
"A rake and dissolute young man whose father is very rich and lives in a great mansion over in Jefferson County," Mrs. Wright answered.
I wondered then if there had been a purpose in that drop of honey from the cup of the Silent Woman.
I remember that the Senator, who returned to Canton that evening on the Watertown stage, laughed heartily when, as we were sitting by the fireside, Mrs. Wright told of the call of the Binkses.
"The good lady enjoys a singular plurality," he remarked.