absurd, of course."

"So I told Phelps. I said that the way in which these country people
exaggerated such things was too funny for anything. Why, we heard that
your cousin had died--that is, _I_ heard it was a cousin; Phelps heard
it was an uncle. An uncle was what you heard, wasn't it, Phelps?"

"Yes," said Phelps. It was his second contribution to the conversation.

"So," went on Mrs. Black, "we didn't know which it was."

She paused, smilingly expectant. Again Captain Dan started to speak, and
again a look from his wife caused him to change his mind. Before he had
quite recovered, Mrs. Black, who may have noticed the look, had turned
to him.

"Wasn't it funny!" she gushed. "I don't wonder you laugh. Here was I
saying it was a cousin and Phelps declaring it was an uncle. It was
so odd and SO like this funny little town. Do tell us; which was it,
really, Captain Dott?"

Daniel, staggering before this point blank attack, hesitated. "Why," he
stammered, "it was--it was--" He looked appealingly at Serena.

"Why don't you answer Mrs. Black?" inquired his wife, rather sharply.

"It was my Aunt Laviny," said the captain.

Mrs. Black nodded and smiled.

"Oh! your aunt!" she exclaimed. "There! isn't that funny! And SO
characteristic of Trumet. Neither an uncle nor a cousin, but an aunt.
What did you say her name was?"

"Laviny?"

"Yes, I know. Laviny--what an odd name! I don't think I ever heard it
before. Was the rest of it as odd as that?"

Serena, who had been fidgeting in her chair, cut in here.

"It wasn't Laviny at all," she said. "That is only Daniel's way of
pronouncing it. It is what he used to call her when he was a child. A--a
sort of pet name, you know."

"Why, Serena! how you talk! She never had any pet name, far's I ever
heard. You might as well give a pet name to the Queen of Sheba. She--"

"Hush! it doesn't make any difference. Her name, Mrs. Black, was
Lavinia. She was Mrs. Lavinia Dott, and her husband was James Dott,
Daniel's father's brother. I shouldn't wonder if you knew her. She has
spent most of her time in Europe lately, but her home, her American
home, was where you live, in Scarford."

This statement caused a marked sensation. Mrs. Black gasped audibly, and
leaned back in her chair. B. Phelps evinced his first sign of interest.

"What!" he exclaimed. "Mrs. Lavinia Dott, of Scarford? You don't say!
Why, of course we knew her; that is, we knew who she was. Everybody in
Scarford d