th a smile she half listened to
something Lanigan Beam was saying to her.

"Yes," she thought; "that would settle the whole business. The widow is
the person I ought to drive away; then they would all go, and leave him
to me, as I had him before."

And now she listened a little, and talked a little, but still kept on
thinking. It was really a very good thing that her feeling towards Mrs.
Cristie had so suddenly changed, otherwise she might never have thought
of this admirable scheme.

XX

AN INGENUOUS MAID

Mrs. Cristie was unusually prompt that evening in going to the relief of
Ida Mayberry, but before she allowed that young woman to go down to her
supper she put a question to her.

"What do you mean, Ida," she said, "by talking about dissecting babies?
Whatever you may have done in that line, I do not think it is very nice
to bring it forward when you have charge of a child."

"Of course it wasn't nice," replied Ida, "and I should never have
thought of speaking of it if it had not been for that thing from
Lethbury. She makes me so angry that I don't know what I say. You ought
to hear Lanigan Beam talk about her. He has confided to me, although I
am not sure that he should have done it."

"Of course not," said Mrs. Cristie, very promptly; "he should not have
confided anything to you."

"Well," continued Ida, "he told me, but said he would not breathe it to
any one else, that the great object of his life at present was to rid
this neighborhood of Calthea Rose. He says she has been a plague to
this community ever since he has known her. She is always ready to make
mischief, and nobody can tell when or how she is going to do it. As for
himself, he vows she has made it impossible for him to live here; and as
he wishes to live here, he wants her to go."

"And how does he propose to make her go?" asked Mrs. Cristie.

"He wants her to marry Mr. Tippengray, which she is very willing to do,
and then he is quite sure that they will go away and travel, and stay
abroad for a long time. He knows that this will be the very thing that
she would want to do."

"And I suppose," said Mrs. Cristie, "that Mr. Beam told you all this in
order that you might be induced to help on the match between Mr.
Tippengray and Miss Rose."

"That was exactly his object," said Ida; "he said that everybody ought
to help in this good work."

"And then, I suppose, he would like to marry you," remarked Mrs.
Cristie.

"He hasn't sa