"Yes, he's got the third now. You see, people get tired of living in the same place. Then Ebenezer, who became very famous through writing a book (so he told me), went to live by himself, so they didn't want to be so grand. The back apartment at the top of the house you used once to inhabit,"—Debby put it as delicately as she could—"is vacant. The last family had the brokers in."
"Are the Belcovitches all well? I remember Fanny married and went to
Manchester before I left here."
"Oh yes, they are all well."
"What? Even Mrs. Belcovitch?"
"She still takes medicine, but she seems just as strong as ever."
"Becky married yet?"
"Oh no, but she has won two breach of promise cases."
"She must be getting old."
"She is a fine young woman, but the young men are afraid of her now."
"Then they don't sit on the stairs in the morning any more?"