“Very peculiar,” she said, suggestively.
“Most odd, particularly when they have been married such a short time. I wonder what the reason can be.”
“Health,” said the doctor’s wife.
“The woman looks well enough.”
“Quite robust.”
“Most odd,” observed the vicaress.
“My dear, there is no need to look far for an explanation. You see, Mrs. Strong did not consult James; a matter of diplomacy. The inference is inevitable.”
Both ladies tittered. Mrs. Mince helped herself to another muffin, and wiped her fingers on a very crumpled handkerchief.
“Dear! dear!” she observed; “I often wonder what we are coming to in these fast and atheistical days. Life will become a terrible problem for Christian women like ourselves in the future. If there were only more men like Jacob in the country. That sermon was really a masterpiece.”
“A most moving appeal.”