es."

Mrs. Lathrop turned a little uneasily; Susan did not appear to notice
the indication of a possible impatience.

"It was all a great success," she went on calmly. "The minister's
discourse was very fine; only when he prayed for consolation we all
knowed he meant 'Liza Em'ly. All but the deacon, that is. I guess the
deacon was thinkin' more o' Gran'ma Mullins 'n any one else 't first;
Mrs. Jilkins told me he asked how old she was, comin' back in the
carriage."

"I allers thought--" said Mrs. Lathrop.

"So did a good many people. I don't know 's that was surprisin', either;
for it's a well-known fact 's they was fond o' each other forty or fifty
years back. She 's got a daguerre'type o' him 's is so old 't you can't
be very sure whether it 's him, after all. She says she ain't positive
herself, 'cause she had one o' her cousin 's shot himself by accident on
his way to the war, 'n' the wreath o' flowers stamped on the red velvet
inside was just the same in both cases. You have to go by the light 'n'
tip him a good while to say for sure whether he's got a collar on or
not, 'n' you could n't swear to his havin' on anythin' else if you was
to turn him round 'n' round till doomsday. She had that picture in a box
with her first hair 'n' Hiram's first tooth 'n' a nut 't she said the
deacon did a hole in with his knife when they was children together one
day. She showed 'em all to me one time when I was there; I did n't think
much o' the nut, I must say. But I will say as it seemed to make her
happy, so I jus' remarked 't it was surprisin' how foolish we got 's we
got old, 'n' let it go 't that. It was a while after 's he took her to
Meadville to the circus; it 's a well-known fact 's she was fool enough
to look upon bein' took to a circus 's next thing to bein' asked out 'n'
out. She come up to tell me all about it afterward."

"'N' yet--" said Mrs. Lathrop.

"It just shows the vanity o' feelin' sure o' mortal man," continued
Susan. "She was sure, 'n' Mrs. Allen was sure, 'n' the minister had
faith; 'n' then there was Mrs. Macy, too. There was a while when it
looked to me 's if swoopin' down 'n' then pinnin' flat c'd catch
anythin,' 't Mrs. Macy 'd have the deacon, she was so everlastingly on
hand. Why, I never walked by his house but I met her, 'n' that was far
too often to ever by any chance be called a' accident. But she was too
open; my own experience is 't bein' frank 'n' free is time throwed away
on men. If any