ly deeply distressing to her that any
one should cherish such a thought for a moment; and she begged them so
earnestly, almost with tears in her eyes, not to mention it again, and
said so much about it, reverting to the theme invariably when the
conversation chanced to turn upon some other topic, as though it quite
weighed upon her mind, that at length her companions inwardly wondered
what had given rise to the belief in their minds, and yet, as one old
lady said, looking sagaciously over her spectacles, "that belief waxed
stronger and stronger."

Time passed on--days merged themselves into weeks, and weeks to
months, and the harmony and quietude of Aberdeen was fully restored.
The "Widow Layton," (for thus, from that time, was she invariably
styled,) after all due preliminaries, had taken quiet possession of
the little vine-clad cot; and although she was not as "neighborly" as
she might have been, and never communicative as to her previous
history, still might the feeling of pique with which they at first
received such a rebuff to their curiosity, have been a very evanescent
one in the minds of the villagers, had it not chanced that Aberdeen
was blessed (?) with two prim sister-spinsters, (was it they or Aunt
Nora, who formed the exception to the general rule? I leave it for
thee, dear reader, to decide, since with that early-instilled
reverence before mentioned, I cannot consider my humble opinion
infallible,) whose hearts, according to their _own_ impression on the
subject, quite overflowed with charity and benevolence, which
manifested itself in the somewhat singular method of making every one
around them uncomfortable, and in the happy faculty which they
possessed in an eminent degree, of imparting injurious doubts and
covert insinuations as to the manners and habits of their neighbors,
who else might have journeyed peacefully adown the vale of life in
perfect good faith with all the world; moreover, they hated a mystery,
did these two sister-spinsters, from their own innate frankness and
openness of disposition, they said, and considered themselves so much
in duty bound to ferret out the solution of any thing which bore the
semblance to an enigma, that they gave themselves no rest, poor,
self-sacrificing creatures, until they had obtained their object. And
well were they rewarded for this indefatigable zeal, for they had the
satisfaction of knowing that they had found out more family secrets,
destroyed more once-