"Be you going to the West Indies, too, Fleda?"
"No, Mrs. Douglass."
"Then why don't you stay here?"
"I want to be with my aunt while I can," said Fleda.
"And then do you calculate to stop in New York?"
"For a while," said Fleda, colouring.
"Oh, go 'long!" said Mrs. Douglass; "I know all about it. Now, do you s'pose you're agoing to be any happier among all those great folks than you would be if you staid among little folks?" she added, tartly; while Catherine looked with a kind of incredulous admiration at the future lady of Carleton.
"I don't suppose that greatness has anything to do with happiness, Mrs. Douglass," said Fleda, gently.
So gently, and so calmly sweet the face was that said it, that
Mrs. Douglass's mood was overcome.
"Well, you aint agoing to forget Queechy?" she said, shaking
Fleda's hand with a hearty grasp.