hem, and inquired for you."

"H'm!" said Mrs. Tree.

"I have no wish to rouse your animosity, Marcia," continued Miss Dane,
after another pause, "and I am well aware of your condition of hardened
unbelief; but we are not likely to meet again in this sphere, and since
you have sought me out in my retirement, I feel bound to tell you, that
I have received several visits of late from your husband, and that he is
more than ever concerned about your spiritual welfare. If you wish it, I
will repeat to you what he said."

The years fell away from Marcia Darracott like a cloak. She made two
quick steps forward, her little hands clenched, her tiny figure towering
like a flame.

"_You dare_--" she said, then stopped abruptly. The blaze died down, and
the twinkle came instead into her bright eyes. She laughed her little
rustling laugh, and turned to go. "Good-by, Jinny," she said; "you don't
mean to be funny, but you are. Ethan Tree is in heaven; but if you think
he would come back from the pit to see you--te hee! Good-by, Jinny
Dane!"

Mrs. Tree sat bolt upright again all the way home, and chuckled several
times.

"Now, that woman's jealousy is such," she said, aloud, "that, rather
than have me do for her niece, she'll leave her half her fortune and die
next week, just to spite me." (In point of fact, this prophecy came
almost literally to pass, not a week, but a month later.)

"Yes, Anthony, a very pleasant call, thank ye. Help me out; _the other
side_, old step-and-fetch-it! I believe you were a hundred years old
when I was born. Yes, that's all. Direxia Hawkes, give him a cup of
coffee; he's got chilled waiting in the cold. No, I'm warm enough; I had
something to warm me."

In spite of this last declaration, when little Mrs. Bliss came in half
an hour later to see the old lady, she found her with her feet on the
fender, sipping hot mulled wine, and declaring that the marrow was
frozen in her bones.

"I have been sitting in a tomb," she said, in answer to the visitor's
alarmed inquiries, "talking to a corpse. Did you ever see Virginia
Dane?"

Mrs. Bliss opened her blue eyes wide. "Oh, no, Mrs. Tree. I didn't know
that any one ever saw Miss Dane. I thought she was--"

"She is dead," said Mrs. Tree. "I have been talking with her corpse, I
tell you, and I don't like corpses. You are alive and warm, and I like
you. Tell me some scandal."

"Oh, Mrs. Tree!"

"Well, tell me about the baby, then. I suppose there's no