Thinking they would move on shortly, as the arbor was only a halting-place for people walking to the summit, I lay snug and waited. Presently the widow, among other commonplaces, began to discuss the young ladies at The Brook.
"By the by, Sarah," she said, "I don't see that your girls are doing much this season: I really must say you do not seem to manage well at all. You may be playing a very deep game, but I can discover no signs of it, and there is little that escapes me in such matters."
"Oh, Jane!" panted Mrs. F., "if you only knew the trouble of having two daughters 'out' at once!"
"As if I didn't know!" snuffed Mrs. Stunner.
"True, true," replied Sarah in a conciliatory tone. "But you seemed to have so little anxiety."
"Seemed!" echoed the Stunner contemptuously. "Of course I seemed, and the difficulty it required to seem! Do you think I was so witless as to let my manoeuvres be seen? I wonder at you, Sarah!"
"Well, well," said the other, yielding the point, "I know you have a talent for such things, and can manage well, but I don't know what to do."
"I—should—think—you—did—not," replied her sister, tapping the ground slowly with her foot.
"What have I done that you should speak like that, Jane?" asked the meek Sarah, bridling up.
"Tell me," answered Jane after an ominous silence that was quite thrilling, "where is Eva at this moment?"