had
borne part of the expense of moving the Barnard house, so that there
should be nothing between her and the new building. But this, as they
said themselves, was mere surmise. Mr. Burke might fancy large grounds,
and he was certainly able to have them if he wanted them. Whatever
people said and thought about Mrs. Cliff and her money, it was generally
believed that she was in comfortable circumstances. Still, it had to be
admitted that she was getting on in years.

Now arose a very important question among the gossips of Plainton: who
was to be Mrs. Cliff's heir?

Everybody knew that Mrs. Cliff had but one blood relation living, and
that was Willy Croup, and no one who had given any thought whatever to
the subject believed that Willy Croup would be her heir. Her husband had
some distant relatives, but, as they had had nothing to do with Mrs.
Cliff during the days of her adversity, it was not likely that she would
now have anything to do with them. Especially, as any money she had to
leave did not come through her husband.

But, although the simple-minded Willy Croup was a person who would not
know how to take care of money if she had it, and although everybody
knew that if Mrs. Cliff made a will she would never think of leaving her
property to Willy, still, everybody who thought or talked about the
matter saw the appalling fact staring them in their faces--that if Mrs.
Cliff died without a will, Willy would inherit her possessions!

The more it was considered, the more did this unpleasant contingency
trouble the minds of certain of the female citizens of Plainton. Miss
Cushing, the principal dressmaker of the place, was greatly concerned
upon this subject, and as her parlor, where she generally sat at her
work, was a favorite resort of certain ladies, who sometimes had orders
to give, and always had a great deal to say, it was natural that those
good women who took most to heart Mrs. Cliff's heirless condition should
think of Miss Cushing whenever they were inclined to talk upon the
subject.

Miss Shott dropped in there one day with a very doleful countenance.
That very morning she had passed Mrs. Cliff's house on the other side of
the way, and had seen that poor widow standing in her front yard with
the most dejected and miserable countenance she had ever seen on a human
being.

"People might talk as much as they pleased about Mrs. Cliff being
troubled because she had spent too much money, that all might be, o