"Yes," said Mrs. Lathrop, rubbing her eyes.
"He's gone; I come over to tell you."
"What—" said Mrs. Lathrop.
"I wouldn't care if my ears was as big as a elephant's now."
"Why—" asked Mrs. Lathrop.
"Mrs. Lathrop, you know as I took them bonds straight after father died an' locked 'em up an' I ain't never unlocked 'em since?"
Mrs. Lathrop assented with a single rapt nod.
"Well, when I explained to Mr. Weskin as I'd got to have money an' how was the best way to sell a bond, he just looked at me, an' what do you think he said—what do you think he said, Mrs. Lathrop?"
Mrs. Lathrop hung far out over the window-sill—her gaze was the gaze of the ever earnest and interested.
Susan stood below. Her face was aglow with the joy of the affluent—her very voice might have been for once entitled as silvery.