Bertie did not wait to be questioned. “It’s that lady that always smiles and calls everybody ‘dear,’” he said, “and she came to see you both—grandmother and Mirry.”
“Mrs. Wiley!” ejaculated Miriam, her cheeks flushing hotly. “I wish she had less leisure to bestow upon us—enough to do at home to keep her there.”
“Ah, well, child, we must try to have patience! I dare say she means to be very kind,” sighed the old lady, hastily washing her hands and taking off the large work-apron worn to protect her neat calico dress. “I hope she won’t stay long, though, or I shall not be able to get these potatoes and turnips ready in time for dinner.”
“Never mind that, grandma,” returned Miriam; “I can manage it all if you will excuse me to her; but I cannot and will not leave my baking to see her for even a moment.”
Bangs had given his sister a detailed account of his yesterday’s interview with Miriam, arousing in her breast fierce anger against the girl. “How dared she treat advances from my brother in that style!” she exclaimed, grinding her teeth. “She shall be well paid for it, the impudent hussy! I hope you are cured now of the desire to make her your wife; but get the property if you can. I’ll do all in my power to help you.”
“And with such an ally I can hardly fail,” he responded, with grim satisfaction.
So this was the secret object of her call.
She had at first wished to see Miriam; but before Mrs. Heath came to her she decided that events had shaped themselves in the very best manner for the carrying out of her schemes; the old lady was likely to be just now in the state of mind most favorable to her designs upon her; gentle-tempered and loath to see the feelings of another wounded, she would naturally feel anxious to make amends for Miriam’s rudeness to Avery; and with a mind full of their recent loss, she would open her heart in response to well-simulated sympathy.
The event proved Mrs. Wiley’s shrewdness and penetration; the guileless old lady straightway fell into her trap. But of course the wily woman approached her object in a roundabout way, and while she listened to a circumstantial account of the robbery, given in response to her earnest request, there was a second arrival.
Miriam, glancing from the window, saw the holder of the mortgage drive up to the gate in his farm wagon.