and they been delayed. I shouldn't hardly have
thought she'd have done that, though some say that new dressmaker over
there has all the styles straight from New York. What say?"

"I don't know as I've said anything yet," said Miss Prudence, with
ominous calm. "I don't know as I've had a chance. But it's true that
Miss Vesta Blyth don't intend to put on mourning."

"Well, I--"

For once, words seemed to fail Mrs. Weight, and she gaped upon her
hearers open-mouthed; but speech returned quickly.

"Girls, I would _not_ have believed it, not unless I had seen it with
these eyes. Even so, I supposed most likely there had been some delay. I
asked Mis' Tree as we were comin' out--she spoke pleasant to me for once
in her life, and I knew she must be thinkin' of her own end, and I
wanted to say something, so I says, 'Vesta ain't got her mournin' yet,
has she, Mis' Tree?'

"She looked at me jest her own way, her eyes kind o' sharpenin' up, and
says, 'Neither has the Emperor of Morocco! Isn't it a calamity?'

"I dono what she meant, unless 'twas to give me an idee what high
connections they had, though it ain't likely there's anything of that
sort; I never heerd of any furrin blood in either family: but I see
'twas no use tryin' to get anything out of her, so I come straight to
you. And here you tell me--what does it mean, Prudence Pardon? Are we in
a Christian country, I want to know, or are we not?"

Miss Prudence knit her brows behind her spectacles. "I don't know,
sometimes, whether we are in a Christian country or whether we ain't,"
she said, grimly. "Miss Phoebe Blyth didn't approve of mourning, on
religious grounds; and Miss Vesta feels it right to carry out her
sister's views. That's all there is to it, I expect; I expect it's their
business, too, and not other folks'."

"Miss Phoebe thought mournin' wa'n't a Christian custom," said Miss
Penny. "I've heard her say so; and that 'twas payin' too much respect to
the perishin' flesh. We don't feel that way, Sister an' me, but them was
her views, and she was a consistent, practical Christian, if ever I see
one. I don't think it strange, for my part, that Miss Vesta should wish
to do as was desired, though very likely her own feelin's may have ben
different. She would be a perfect pictur' in a bunnet and veil, though I
dono as she could look any prettier than what she did to-day."

"If I could have the dressin' of Vesta Blyth as she should be dressed,"
said Miss Pruden