"He isn't," said Mrs. Dinsmore, "he's a thorough gentleman and has no vices; there isn't a finer young man the country round. But he isn't pious; so of course she considers him a reprobate."
"I have heard my mother speak of Mrs. Travilla as a lovely Christian lady and an intimate friend of Aunt Eva," said Mildred, willing to introduce a new topic.
"Yes; and I always feel that she is making comparisons, unfavorable to me of course, between Mr. Dinsmore's first wife and myself. So I can hardly be expected to be very fond of her."
"But isn't it possible that you may be mistaken, Aunt Isabel?"
"I'm not given to fancies," was the ungracious rejoinder.
Then there was a short silence broken presently by a query from Mildred.
"Has Mrs. Travilla any daughters?"
"No; only a son; and he's away in Europe. The families—ours and theirs—have always been intimate, Edward Travilla and Horace inseparable companions, and they went to Europe together."
"It seems odd I should have been here so long without meeting Mrs. Travilla."