"No: she is not at housekeeping, and she keeps the same old lady's maid she has had these twenty years. Good old Casey! She taught me a deal of pretty work when I was a little girl; and when I was married she gave me no end of good advice, besides a wonderful needle-book and pincushion. Did I ever show them to you?"
Agnes could have boxed her cousin's ears with a good will; but she put a strong constraint on herself, and said,—
"Now, Letty, don't be provoking. What do I care about old Casey? I want to know what brought Mrs. Street here; for of course she did not come to make a call."
"Why of course?"
"Oh, because she never would call on any one who lived in Myrtle Street. I tell Joe every day that we shall never have any society as long as we live down here out of the world."
"Now, I think Myrtle Street a very nice place," said Letty. "It is so open and airy, and the lots are so large. I would not change our garden for the grandest place on the Avenue."
"Sour grapes, Letty!"
"May-be so. It is at least a good thing to think one's own grapes sweeter than any other."
"But come, now, tell me: what did Mrs. Street come for?"
"They are about to add a children's department to the Home; and, knowing that I am fond of children, she and Mrs. Trescott put their heads together and invited me to take a share with them in the oversight of it."