r him when he
comes in to dinner?"

"Not crow, dear,--cackle," suggested Mrs. Raymond, mildly; "it's the
other sex that does the crowing."

"Very possibly I have betrayed a trust," laughed Mrs. Stannard, coming
to the rescue in the interests of harmony. "It was my mistake in
referring to it. _Do_ tell me about Mrs. Truscott; you know I never met
her."

"What is there to tell except that she _is_ Mrs. Truscott," half
laughed, half pouted Mrs. Turner, who never quite forgave the fact that
her queendom, real or imaginary, had been invaded by that very lady a
year before, to the temporary loss of her throne. As Grace Pelham, Mrs.
Truscott had won all hearts at Sandy. "She is undeniably pretty and
lady-like; but what else can any one say of her? Stylish? no. Now, Mrs.
Raymond, you need not try and say _you_ think her stylish, because only
last year at Prescott you wouldn't admit it. And as to her winning Mr.
Truscott as she did, it is simply incomprehensible. What men see in some
women is beyond _me_. She is neither deep, nor intellectual, nor
particularly well read that _I_ ever saw or heard of, and how she's a
match for him, as people say, I can't see. He's just head over heels in
love with her,--at least he was,--and she was simply wrapped up in
him,--at least she is. You ought to have seen the letter she wrote Mrs.
Page a few months ago; all about her happiness and Jack,--just as if
there never had been another man in the world worth looking at. She'd
have been just as rapturous over Mr. Glenham if she'd married him as she
promised to do, I haven't a doubt, or Ray. _He_ was ready to bow down
and worship her at one time; and she encouraged him not a little before
we left Sandy, too."

"Don't you believe _that_," interposed Mrs. Raymond. "They were warm
friends, I know, but Ray was never her lover."

"You always will contradict me, Nellie," protested Mrs. Turner; "but if
you could not see what every one else saw you were simply blind. I
wonder she doesn't sometimes regret not marrying Glenham, though. They
say he has gone abroad and has more money than he can ever spend."

"More than he ever could if he's as close as he was in Arizona,"
interposed Mrs. Raymond.

"But did you not know that Captain Truscott's ventures were coming out
wonderfully well?" asked Mrs. Stannard, eager to give a pleasanter tone
to the talk. "I heard not only that was true, but that an uncle had
left him a good deal of money. One thing is c