"Really," she sobbed, "it's too delicious. Poor
Mr. and Mrs. Snider! Do you think people woo with improper
warmth--at that age, Miss Kimpsey?"
"I don't know anything about it," Miss Kimpsey declared,
with literal truth. "I suppose such things justify
themselves somehow, especially when it's a clergyman.
And of course you know about your mother's idea of coming
over here to settle?"
"No!" said Elfrida, arrested. "She hasn't mentioned it.
Do they talk of it seriously?"
"I don't know about _seriously_. Mr. Bell doesn't seem
as if he could make up his mind. He's so fond of Sparta
you know. But Mrs. Bell is just wild to come. She thinks,
of course, of having you to live with them again; and
then she says that on their present income--you will
excuse my referring to your parents' reduced circumstances,
Miss Bell?"
"Please go on."
"Your mother considers that Mr. Bell's means would go
further in England than in America. She asked me to make
inquiries; and I must say, judging from the price of
umbrellas and woollen goods, I think they would."
Elfrida was silent for a moment, looking steadfastly at
the possibility Miss Kimpsey had developed. "What a
complication!" she said, half to herself; and then,
observing Miss Kimpsey's look of astonishment: "I had no
idea of that," she repeated; "I wonder that they have
not mentioned it.
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