"Is it, really? I didn't know that."
"I'm sure Bowdoin Street sounds well enough."
"Well, yes, I've always rather liked the sound of it; but then, you know, I always saw and felt the spelling, when I saw it. What in the world was the pronunciation ever snipped off like that for? It ought to be pronounced just as it is spelled. I've a good mind to pronounce it so the next time I speak to Esther."
"No, I wouldn't do that; but you might think of her as Miss Bowdoin," answered Laura, dryly.
"Oh, Laura, what a head full of wisdom you've got! I don't see how I ever lived without you. But—see here, tell me what street Miss Bowdoin lives in."
Laura hesitated a moment; then answered, "McVane Street."
"Where is McVane Street, for pity's sake? I never heard of it,—one of those horrid South End streets, I suppose?"
"No, it is at the West End, beyond Cambridge Street, down by the Massachusetts Hospital."
"No, no, Laura Brooks, you don't mean that she lives down there by the wharves?"
"It isn't by the wharves," cried Laura, indignantly.