"She told me as
confidently as could be that he is still in love with her."
"Ada," said I, "Elizabeth Talbert must be daft! Does she think that all
the men in the world are in love with her--at her age? First Mrs.
Temple making such a rumpus, and now this--"
"At first I thought just as you do," Ada said, helplessly. "Of course
there can't be anything in it--and yet--I'm sure I don't understand the
situation at all. You know Harry left quite unexpectedly--soon after
Elizabeth came; he didn't write for a week--and then to her, and
Peggy's only had one short note from him--"
I can see through a hole in a millstone as well as any one, and a light
dawned on me.
"You can depend upon it, Ada," I said, "Aunt Elizabeth has been making
trouble! I don't know what she's been up to, but she's been up to
something! I wondered why she had been having such a contented look
lately--and now I know."
"Oh, mother, I can't believe that!" Ada protested. "I thought Elizabeth
was a little vain and silly, and, though everything is so
incomprehensible, I don't believe for a moment that Aunt Elizabeth
would do anything to hurt Peggy."
My Ada is a truly good woman--so good that it is almost impossible for
her to believe ill of any one, and she was profoundly shocked at what I
suggested.
"I don't think in the beginning Elizabeth intended to hurt Peggy," I
answered her, gently, "but when you've lived as long in the world as I
have you'll realize to what lengths a woman will go to show the world
she's still young.
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