Sophie was not demonstrative. I answered it with—
"What queer people you sent me to stay with!"
"You make a mistake, Anna; think a moment; you're dreaming; I did not send you there at all."
"Well, what queer people I went to stay with!"
"How was Miss Axtell, when you came away?"
"Really, I don't know; better, I should think. But, Sophie, pray tell me how it is that I should never have heard of them before."
"Partly because they have been away during the three years that you have been in the habit of visiting us,—and partly because Mr. Axtell, and his sister, too, I think, have a very decided way of avoiding us. What induces Mr. Axtell to perform the office of sexton is more than any one in the congregation can divine."
"I intend to find out, Sophie."
"How?"
"In some way,—how, I cannot tell."