erly, "not since--"

She fell silent, thinking of the dreadful winter after the bank
failure, when scarlet fever raged among the impoverished homes.

"There's been some talk, off and on, of opening a store there,"
chimed in Lois Daggett, setting down her cup with a clash; "but I
guess nobody'd patronize it. Folks don't forget so easy."

"But it's a good substantial building," Lydia went on, her eyes
resting on Mrs. Daggett's broad, rosy face, which still wore that
unwonted look of pain and sadness. "It seems a pity not to change
the--the associations. The library and reading room could be on the
first floor; and on the second, perhaps, a town hall, where--"

"For the land sake!" ejaculated Lois Daggett; "you cer'nly have got
an imagination, Miss Orr. I haven't heard that town hall idea spoken
of since Andrew Bolton's time. He was always talking about town
improvements; wanted a town hall and courses of lectures, and a
fountain playing in a park and a fire-engine, and the land knows
what. He was a great hand to talk, Andrew Bolton was. And you see how
he turned out!"

"And mebbe he'd have done all those nice things for Brookville, Lois,
if his speculations had turned out different," said Mrs. Daggett,
charitably. "I always thought Andrew Bolton _meant_ all right. Of
course he had to invest our savings; banks always do, Henry says."

"I don't know anything about _investing_, and don't want to,
either--not the kind he did, anyhow," retorted Lois Daggett.

She arose as she spoke, brushing the crumbs of sponge cake from her
skirt.

"I got to get that order right in," she said: "five copies--or was it
six, you said?"

"I think I could use six," murmured Lydia.

"And all leather-bound! Well, now, I know you won't ever be sorry.
It's one of those works any intelligent person would be proud to
own."

"I'm sure it is," said the girl gently.

She turned to Mrs. Daggett.

"Can't you stay awhile longer? I--I should like--"

"Oh, I guess Abby'd better come right along with me," put in Lois
briskly ... "and that reminds me, do you want to pay something down
on that order? As a general thing, where I take a big order--"

"Of course--I'd forgotten; I always prefer to pay in advance."

The girl opened the tall desk and producing a roll of bills told off
the price of her order into Miss Daggett's hand.

"I should think you'd be almost afraid to keep so much ready money by
you, with all those men workin' outside," she