“I haven’t been anywhere,” repeated Lucy, throwing up her chin. “I’m telling the truth.”
Ellen eyed her shrewdly.
“Yes, I reckon you are,” she observed slowly. “I ain’t never caught you lyin’ yet.” Then as if an afterthought had occurred to her, she added: “Likely you’ve been thinkin’ ’bout the will I’ve been makin’.”
She saw Lucy open her lips, then close them.
“I’ve got it all done,” went on Ellen audaciously. “It’s drawn up, signed, an’ 161 sealed. In fact, I brought it home with me. Here it is.”
Tossing a large white envelope fastened with a splash of red wax upon the table, she peered at her niece.
“I’m goin’ to give it to you to keep,” continued she in a hectoring tone. “It’ll be like havin’ Pandora’s box around. You can’t open it, an’ you’ll have the continual fun of wonderin’ what’s inside.”
“I’d rather not take it.”
“But I want you to,” asserted Ellen. “I’m givin’ it to you to take care of. It’ll help to make life interestin’. Besides, who knows but you may be tempted to break it open some night an’ have a peep inside.”
Craftily the old woman watched the girl.