“Oh, she comes every day to ask about you,” she said. “And Doctor Bayliss comes too. He's been real kind.”
“Bayliss!” I exclaimed. “Is he with—Does he come here?”
“Yes, he comes real often, mostly about the time she does. He hasn't been here for two days now, though. Hosy, do you suppose he has spoken to her about—about what he spoke to you?”
“I don't know,” I answered, curtly. Then I changed the subject.
“Has she said anything to you about coming back to Mayberry?” I asked. “Have you told her how we feel toward her?”
Hephzy's manner changed. “Yes,” she said, reluctantly, “I've told her. I've told her everything.”
“Not everything? Hephzy, you haven't told her—”
“No, no. Of course I didn't tell her THAT. You know I wouldn't, Hosy. But I told her that her money havin' turned out to be our money didn't make a mite of difference. I told her how much we come to think of her and how we wanted her to come with us and be the same as she had always been. I begged her to come. I said everything I could say.”
“And she said?”
“She said no, Hosy. She wouldn't consider it at all. She asked me not to talk about it. It was settled, she said. She must go her way and we ours and we must forget her. She was more grateful than she could tell—she most cried when she said that—but she won't come back and if I asked her again she declared she should have to go away for good.”