"Oh, very well."
"And happy?" (She ventured on it.)
"Could I be well if I weren't happy? How's Mrs. Gardner?"
The thought of happiness called up a vision of the perpetually radiant bride.
"Oh, Mrs. Gardner, she's as happy as the day is long. Much too happy, she says, to go about paying calls."
"I haven't called much, have I?" said Anne, hoping that her friend would draw the suggested inference.
"No, you haven't. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."
"Why I any more than Mrs. Gardner? But I am."
Mrs. Eliott perceived her blunder. "Well, I forgive you, as long as you're happy."
Anne kissed her more tenderly than usual as they said good-bye, so tenderly that Mrs. Eliott wondered "Is she?"