Mrs. Bartow nodded, and Aunt Debby, after withdrawing within herself for a moment, came out again and said:
"Yes, I knew Tim and Ben Gregory in Spencer. Ben was the best of the two, but he wa'n't none too likely. He had six boys, and Tim had six gals."
"What were their names?" asked Jessie, and Aunt Debby replied:
"There was Zeruah, and Lyddy, and Charlotty——"
"That'll do!" cried Jessie, her delight dancing in her eyes. "What was their father, and where are the girls now?"
"Their father was a tin peddler, and what he didn't get that way folks said he used to steal, though they never proved it ag'in him. Charlotty and I was 'bout of an age."
"I knew she was older than she pretended," thought Mrs. Bartow, and in her joy at having probably discovered her dear friend's genealogy, she took two biscuits instead of one.
"She worked in Lester factory a spell, and then, after she was quite along in years, say thirty or more, she married somebody who was a storekeeper, and went somewhere, and I believe I've heard that she finally moved to New York."
"Can't you think of her husband's name," persisted Jessie, and Aunt Debby replied:
"Twan't very far from Reed, but it's so long ago, and I've been through so much since, that I can't justly remember."