"The first chance you get to what?" said Mrs. Neff, who appeared as suddenly as Cinderella's witch. And she looked a trifle witchy this morning without the rejuvenating spells of her maid. "I couldn't help overhearing, but my eyes aren't open. I didn't see anything."
Persis surprised Forbes and Mrs. Neff by her frankness.
"I was saying I would take a long walk with Mr. Forbes the first chance I get."
"Good work!" said Mrs. Neff, quite earnestly. "I was telling him what a love of a couple you two would make."
Persis turned on her in amazement. "You were telling Mr. Forbes that?"
"Yes, I was. When a woman gets as old as I feel of mornings, she has the right to be a matchmaker. You two go on and work out your own salvation and I'll keep Willie off the scent. If I could prevent Alice from marrying Stowe Webb, and you from marrying Willie, I'd retire on my laurels. I dote on conspiracies. That's where Alice gets her knack for plots."
This to her daughter, who sauntered in just in time to receive the facer and gasp:
"Why, mother, what do you mean?"
"Oh, I can smell a mouse even if I can't trap it right away. I know you telephone him and write him and all that. I used to when I was your age. Only, I fooled my mother and married the man I wanted to. If I'd married the one she wanted me to, I'd be one of the richest women on earth instead of a starving twice-widow with a pack of children to drive to market."
"Isn't she the most appalling mother a poor child ever had?" Alice gasped. "Sometimes I think I ought to take her over my knee and spank her."