"Of course," said Mr. Rossitur, haughtily, as he went on with his walk, "I do not expect, any more than you, to live in the back woods the life we have been leading here. That is at an end."
"Is it a very wild country?" asked Mrs. Rossitur of the doctor.
"No wild beasts, my dear, if that is your meaning and I do not suppose there are even many snakes left by this time."
"No, but, dear uncle, I mean, is it in all unsettled state?"
"No, my dear, not at all perfectly quiet."
"Ah! but do not play with me," exclaimed poor Mrs. Rossitur, between laughing and crying; "I mean, is it far from any town, and not among neighbours?"
"Far enough to be out of the way of morning calls," said the doctor; "and when your neighbours come to see you, they will expect tea by four o'clock. There are not a great many near by, but they don't mind coming from five or six miles off."
Mrs. Rossitur looked chilled, and horrified. To her he had described a very wild country indeed. Fleda would have laughed if it had not been for her aunt's face; but that settled down into a doubtful anxious look that pained her. It pained the old doctor too.
"Come," said he, touching her pretty chin with his fore-finger "what are you thinking of? folks may be good folks, and yet have tea at four o'clock, mayn't they?"
"When do they have dinner!" said Mrs. Rossitur.