“Yes.”
“Then, what would have become of Aunty Rose?” queried Carolyn May.
“Oh, Mrs. Kennedy hadn’t gone to keep house for Mr. Stagg then,” replied Mrs. Gormley. “He tried sev’ral triflin’ critters there at the Stagg place before she took hold.”
Carolyn May looked at Mrs. Gormley encouragingly. She was very much interested in Uncle Joe and Miss Amanda Parlow’s love affair.
“Why didn’t they get married—like my papa and mamma?” she asked.
“Oh, goodness knows!” exclaimed Mrs. Gormley. “Some says ’twas his fault and some says ’twas hern. And mebbe ’twas a third party’s that I might mention, at that,” added Mrs. Gormley, pursing up her lips in a very knowing way.
Here was another mysterious “party”! Carolyn May wondered if this “party” could be related to the “certain party” who seemed so familiar to both of the “dressmaking ladies.”
“You couldn’t get nothin’ out of either Mr. Stagg or Mandy about it, I don’t believe. They’re both as tight-mouthed as clams,” pursued Mrs. Gormley. “But one day,” she said, growing confidential, “it was in camp-meeting time—one day somebody seen Joe Stagg drivin’ out with another girl—Charlotte Lenny, that was. She was married to a man over in Springdale long ago. Mr. Stagg took Charlotte to Faith Camp Meeting.
“Then, the very next week, Mandy went with Evan Peckham to a barn dance at Crockett’s, and nobody ain’t ever seen your uncle and Mandy Parlow speak since, much less ever walk together.
“Now stand up, child, and let’s see if this frock fits. I declare, your uncle is a-fittin’ you out right nice.”