erworth; pretty enough, but weak.
The very kind to draw lovers, but not to hold them. Yet every one pities
her, her smile is so heart-broken."

"With ghosts to trouble her and a lover to bemoan, she has surely some
excuse for that," said I.

"Yes, I don't deny it. But why has she a lover to bemoan? He seemed a
proper man and much beyond the ordinary. Why let him go as she did? Even
her sister admits that she loved him."

"I am not acquainted with the circumstances," I suggested.

"Well, there isn't much of a story to it. He is a young man from over
the mountains, well educated, and with something of a fortune of his
own. He came here to visit the Spears, I believe, and seeing Lucetta
leaning one day on the gate in front of her house, he fell in love with
her and began to pay her his attentions. That was before the lane got
its present bad name, but not before one or two men had vanished from
among us. William--that is her brother, you know--has always been
anxious to have his sisters marry, so he did not stand in the way, and
no more did Miss Knollys, but after two or three weeks of doubtful
courtship, the young man went away, and that was the end of it. And a
great pity, too, say I, for once clear of that house, Lucetta would grow
into another person. Sunshine and love are necessities to most women,
Miss Butterworth, especially to such as are weakly and timid."

I thought the qualification excellent.

"You are right," I assented, "and I should like to see the result of
them upon Lucetta." Then, with an attempt to still further sound this
woman's mind and with it the united mind of the whole village, I
remarked: "The young do not usually throw aside such prospects without
excellent reasons. Have you never thought that Lucetta was governed by
principle in discarding this very excellent young man?"

"Principle? What principle could she have had in letting a desirable
husband go?"

"She may have thought the match an undesirable one for him."

"For him? Well, I never thought of that. True, she may. They are known
to be poor, but poverty don't count in such old families as theirs. I
hardly think she would be influenced by any such consideration. Now, if
this had happened since the lane got its bad name and all this stir had
been made about the disappearance of certain folks within its precincts,
I might have given some weight to your suggestion--women are so queer.
But this happened long ago and at a time when the