t the relief of delay from the aunts. "Come in
and sit down. Who are you, and why wouldn't your Grandmother like you to
come?"

The strange girl laughed a mirthless laugh.

"Me? Oh, I'm Mirandy. Nobody ever calls me anything but Mirandy. My pa
left ma when I was a baby an' never come back, an' ma died, and I live
with Grandma Heath. An' Grandma's mad 'cause David didn't marry Hannah
Heath. She wanted him to an' she did everything she could to make him pay
'tention to Hannah, give her fine silk frocks, two of 'em, and a real pink
parasol, but David he never seemed to know the parasol was pink at all,
fer he'd never offer to hold it over Hannah even when Grandma made him
walk with her home from church ahead of us. So when it come out that David
was really going to marry, and wouldn't take Hannah, Grandma got as mad as
could be and said we never any of us should step over his door sill. But
I've stepped, I have, and Grandma can't help herself."

"And who is Hannah Heath?" questioned the dazed young bride. It appeared
there was more than a sister to be taken into account.

"Hannah? Oh, Hannah is my cousin, Uncle Jim's oldest daughter, and she's
getting on toward thirty somewhere. She has whitey-yellow hair and light
blue eyes and is tall and real pretty. She held her head high fer a good
many years waitin' fer David, and I guess she feels she made a mistake
now. I noticed she bowed real sweet to Hermon Worcester last Sunday and
let him hold her parasol all the way to Grandma's gate. Hannah was mad as
hops when she heard that you had gold hair and blue eyes, for it did seem
hard to be beaten by a girl of the same kind? but you haven't, have you?
Your hair is almost black and your eyes are brownie-brown. You're years
younger than Hannah, too. My! Won't she be astonished when she sees you!
But I don't understand how it got around about your having gold hair. It
was a man that stopped at your father's house once told it----"

"It was my sister!" said Marcia, and then blushed crimson to think how
near she had come to revealing the truth which must not be known.

"Your sister? Have you got a sister with gold hair?"

"Yes, he must have seen her," said Marcia confusedly. She was not used to
evasion.

"How funny!" said Miranda. "Well, I'm glad he did, for it made Hannah so
jealous it was funny. But I guess she'll get a set-back when she sees how
young you are. You're not as pretty as I thought you would be, but I
believe I l