r her,--that is as far
as appearances go, for of course I can't say anything positive about
it,--and she has nobody to inherit her money, and as far as anybody
knows she has never made a will!"

"Oh, she has never made a will," said Mrs. Wells, "because my John is in
the office, and if Mrs. Cliff had ever come there on such business, he
would know about it."

"But she ought to make a will," said Miss Cushing. "That's the long and
short of it; and she ought to have a friend who would tell her so. That
would be no more than a Christian duty which any one of us would owe to
another, if cases were changed."

"I don't look upon Mrs. Cliff as such a very old woman," said Miss
Inchman, "but I agree with you that this thing ought to be put before
her. Willy Croup will never do it, and really if some one of us don't, I
don't know who will."

"There's Mrs. Perley," said Mrs. Archibald.

"Oh, she'd never do!" struck in Miss Cushing. "Mrs. Perley is too timid.
She would throw it off on her husband, and if he talks to Mrs. Cliff
about a will, her money will all go to the church or to some charity. I
should say that one of us ought to take on herself this friendly duty.
Of course, it would not do to go to her and blurt out that we all
thought she would not live very long, and that she ought to make her
will; but conversation could be led to the matter, and when Mrs. Cliff
got to consider her own case, I haven't a doubt but that she would be
glad to have advice and help from an old friend."

All agreed that this was a very correct view of the case, but not one of
them volunteered to go and talk to Mrs. Cliff on the subject. This was
not from timidity, nor from an unwillingness to meddle in other people's
business, but from a desire on the part of each not to injure herself in
Mrs. Cliff's eyes by any action which might indicate that she had a
personal interest in the matter.

Miss Cushing voiced the opinion of the company when she said: "When a
person has no heirs, relatives ought to be considered first, but if
there are none of these, or if they aren't suitable, then friends should
come in. Of course, I mean the oldest and best friends of the party
without heirs."

No remark immediately followed this, for each lady was thinking that
she, probably more than any one else in Plainton, had a claim upon Mrs.
Cliff's attention if she were leaving her property to her friends, as
she certainly ought to do.

In years gone by Mrs.