r him?"

The fruitful topic of debate and discussion here started, lasted the
ladies for some time. Talk and business got full under weigh. Scissors
and speeches, clipping and chattering, knitting and the interminable
yarn of small talk. The affairs, sickness and health, of every family
in the neighbourhood, with a large discussion of character and
prospects by the way; going back to former history and antecedents, and
forward to future probable consequences and results. Nuts of society;
sweet confections of conversation; of various and changing flavour;
suiting all palates, and warranted never to cloy. Then there were farm
prospects and doings also, with household matters; very interesting to
the good ladies, who all had life interest in them; and the hours moved
on prosperously. Here a rocking-chair tipped gently back and forward,
in harmony with the quiet business enjoyment of its occupant; and there
a pair of heels, stretched out to the farthest limit of their
corresponding members, with toes squarely elevated in the air,
testified to the restful condition of another individual of the party.
See a pair of toes in the air and the heels as nearly as possible
straight under them, one tucked up on the other, and you may be sure
the person they belong to feels comfortable--physically. And Mrs.
Starling in a corner, in her quiet state and black-silk gown, was as
contented as an old hen that sees all her chickens prosperously
scratching for themselves. And the June afternoon breathed in at the
window and upon all those busy talkers; and nobody knew that it was
June. So things went, until Diana left them to put the finishing
touches of readiness to the tea-table. Her going was noticed by some of
the assembly, and taken as a preparatory note of the coming
entertainment; always sure to be worth having and coming for in Mrs.
Starling's house. Needles and tongues took a fresh stir.

"Mis' Starling, are we goin' to hev' the minister?" somebody asked.

"I don't know as anybody has told him, Mis' Mansfield."

"Won't seem like a meetin', ef we don't hev' him."

"He's gone down to Elmfield," said Miss Gunn. "He went down along in
the forenoon some time. Gone to see his cousin, I s'pose."

"They've got their young soldier home to Elmfield," said Miss Barry. "I
s'pect they're dreadful sot up about it."

"They don't want _that_," said Mrs. Boddington. "The Knowltons always
did carry their heads pretty well up, in the best o' tim