“Do you think so?” said Mrs. Carpenter, with her head on one side. “I don’t know altogether that I should have said that. Dear Susie Fulton is very shrewd and likes to keep the peace in the family, but she would very much dislike the General getting to hear anything from outside sources, and it might be best to warn her privately. What do you think?”
“Well, you might drop in,” said Mrs. Manley. “I could drive you round there if you have bought all you want now. Perhaps I had better not come in. You would prefer to talk about it alone.”
“Perhaps that would be wise,” Mrs. Carpenter agreed. “I really think it is the kind thing to do. It would be such a pity if anything got round.”
She found Susie at home and tea being cleared away. “I have had some, my dear, thank you,” said Mrs. Carpenter. “Quite an excellent tea at dear Jenny Abel’s little sale, where I was buying for all I was worth. Such a poor lot of things. I am afraid they won’t have done very well; but then they don’t manage that place at all as it should be done. They ought to call a meeting and have the whole thing laid out and make a proper appeal. It is no good patching up with little affairs like that. No one wants to buy at all nowadays; we are all overdone with sales of work. Still, the things won’t be wasted. I just pass them on to the next. Your little Teresa is not back again with you yet, I suppose?”
“No, she is still with Evangeline,” said Susie. “They are staying on as long as the weather lasts. The Vachells and the Trotters are there, too, so they are quite a pleasant little party.”
They talked nicely in this way for some time and then Mrs. Carpenter said, lowering her voice mysteriously, “You didn’t gather, did you, that there was any little difficulty with Evangeline seeing so much of dear Amy Vachell? I am not quite sure that she is just the person whom I should choose to be very much with a young mother, who, of course, wants to see everything couleur de rose.”
“Dear me, no,” Susie replied in gentle astonishment. “Is there any difficulty about anything? I didn’t know. What makes you think so?”
“My dear, it was just an impression that was whispered to me by a little bird who knows them very well. I won’t tell you whom because it wouldn’t be fair, and of course there was nothing wrong anywhere, but just the idea that Evangeline and her hubby were inclined to drift a little in opposite directions and that Amy Vachell—who is so open-hearted and sincere and has such a high opinion of women and the place they should take in the home—may perhaps have unconsciously made a little mischief. Captain Hatton believes so very strongly in the dogmatic side of religion, doesn’t he? and he may suppose that Amy goes further with him in her opinions than she does. But that is all; just to put you on your guard. It was the merest trifle that I heard, but it would be such a pity if it went any further when you as a mother could put it all right, probably, in a moment with just a word.”
“Oh, I am sure there is nothing in it,” said Susie contentedly. “People make too much of Evan’s manner, and he means nothing; it is all on the surface. He is a most delightful fellow and Evangeline is wrapped up in him. But it was so kind of you to come and tell me. I often think people are not outspoken enough.”
She said nothing about Mrs. Carpenter’s visit until Teresa came home, and then she chose the next evening when Cyril was peacefully reading in an armchair. Teresa had put away a bundle of papers from Emma’s office, over which she had been toiling with evident fatigue and depression.