“I s'pose he's worth considerable property?”

“Yes, I s'pose he is.”

“Well, I want to know. Somebody was speakin' about it the other day, an' they said they thought he did, an' I told 'em I didn't believe it. He never helped your sister's husband any, did he?”

Mrs. Field did not reply for a moment. Mrs. Babcock was leaning forward and smiling ingratiatingly, with keen eyes upon her face.

“I dun'no' as he did. But I guess Edward never expected he would much,” said she.

“Well, I told 'em I didn't believe he did. I declare! it seemed pretty tough, didn't it?”

“I dun'no'. I thought of it some along there when Edward was sick.”

“I declare, I should have thought you'd wrote to him about it.”

Mrs. Field said nothing.

“Didn't you ever?” Mrs. Babcock asked.