"They tell me you and your grandfather live at Montgomery. It's a charming town, one of the most interesting in the state."
"Yes, Mr. Bassett. My grandfather taught in the college there."
"I have often heard of Professor Kelton, of course. He's a citizen our state is proud of. Mrs. Bassett says you're going to college this fall—to Wellesley, is it? Mrs. Bassett has an idea that Marian ought to have a college education. What do you think about it?"
He smiled kindly, and there was kindness in his deep voice.
"I think girls should go who want to go," answered Sylvia, her hands on the pickets of the gate.
"You speak like a politician," laughed Bassett. "That's exactly what I think; and I haven't seen that Marian is dying for a college career."
"She has plenty of time to think of it," Sylvia replied. "I'm ever so much older"; and this seemed to dispose of that matter.
"You are staying here some time?"
"Another week. It seems that we've hardly been here a day."
"You are fortunate in having Mrs. Owen for a friend. She is a very unusual woman."