l in a box 'n' they 'll lay a whole hive alone
by themselves in no time. Mrs. Macy said she thought some of sendin' for
one or two queens 'n' settin' 'em up in business in bushel baskets, but
when she went home 'n' looked the baskets over 'n' thought what work
it'd be to clean the honey out of 'em each fall she give up the idea.
She's going to set out a orange tree in a flower pot instead. It says in
the 'Ladies' Home Diary' as they grow very nicely so."

"But who--" interrupted Mrs. Lathrop, wrinkling up her face somewhat
over the long strain on her eager attentiveness.

"But I thought you said you seen him," said her friend, with a second
recurrence of her surprised expression; "did n't you see him when you
see him drivin' in? He was holdin' the reins at the big end o' the whip,
I should suppose. I can't well see how you saw everythin' else without
seein' him. He was some better dressed 'n' usual but it just shows what
bein' left a widower does for a man. It seems to somehow put new spirit
in 'em 'n' sets 'em to wearin' ties again. Why, do you know when he come
to go he actually asked me to ride a piece with him 'n' show him which
finger-post to turn in to, an' I will say as, where I would n't of
dreamed o' ridin' with him a week ago, I went to-day an' really enjoyed
it. Yes, I did."

"Was it--" cried Mrs. Lathrop, with a sudden gleam of intuition.

Susan looked surprised for the third time.

"Why, of course," she said, "who else could it be?" Then she left her
position near the door, came over nearer to her friend, took a chair and
began to untie her bonnet.

"I don't know as I 'm surprised over your bein' surprised, Mrs.
Lathrop," she continued in a slightly milder tone after a brief pause
for vocal renovation. "I will confess as I was really nothin' but
surprised myself. I supposed as a matter o' course that to-day he was in
Meadville buryin' her, 'n' when I first see him the funeral was so
strong in my mind as I thought he'd druv over to maybe borrow father's
black bow for his front door. I made my mind right up to tell him
straight to his face as he couldn't have it, for I told you once as I
was keepin' that bow for you, Mrs. Lathrop, an' when I promise anybody
anythin' I keep my word, whether it's a receipt or a bow for their own
funeral, an' when I saw old man Ely it didn't take me no two minutes to
keep my word the same as ever,--'n' father's black bow too. But laws, he
was n't after no bow!--I very quic