“He's only twenty-three, they say,” remarked Grace, a trifle maliciously. “Perhaps she'll adopt him.”
Annabel was the only child of Captain Elkanah Daniels, who owned the finest house in town. She was the belle of Trumet, and had been for a good many years.
Keziah laughed.
“Well,” she said, “anyhow I've got to go. Maybe I'll like Boston first rate, you can't tell. Or maybe I won't. Ah, hum! 'twouldn't be the first thing I've had to do that I didn't like.”
Her friend looked at her.
“Aunt,” she said, “I want to make a proposal to you, and you mustn't be cross about it.”
“A proposal! Sakes alive! What'll I say? 'This is so sudden!' That's what Becky Ryder, up to the west part of the town, said when Jim Baker, the tin peddler, happened to ask her if she'd ever thought of gettin' married. 'O James! this is so sudden!' says Becky. Jim said afterwards that the suddenest thing about it was the way he cleared out of that house. And he never called there afterwards.”
Grace smiled, but quickly grew grave.
“Now, auntie,” she said, “please listen. I'm in earnest. It seems to me that you might do quite well at dressmaking here in town, if you had a little—well, ready money to help you at the start. I've got a few hundred dollars in the bank, presents from uncle, and my father's insurance money. I should love to lend it to you, and I know uncle would—”
Mrs. Coffin interrupted her.