There was, too, the question of the lot on Lafayette Street, between Zion Church on the one hand, and the Y.M.C.A. on the other.  Both had tried to buy it; and both had been refused with contumely.  Instead, that nice old lady ran up extra-sized bill-boards.  Every time the Zionist brethren looked out of their side windows of a Sunday, they had ample opportunity to learn considerable about the art of advertising on bill-boards.  And if a circus happened to be coming to Hyndsville, they could count on every child in their Sunday school missing his lesson, unless the text, by a fortunate chance, happened to touch upon the prophet Daniel.

And when the Y.M.C.A. people looked out of their side windows, Sophronisba’s alluring bill-boards besought them to smoke only certain cigarettes and to be sure to look for the trademark on their playing-cards.  Naturally, this made the Y.M.C.A. secretaries very, very happy.

A weather-beaten picket fence protected the lot upon the street front; the bill-boards formed the side attractions; and in the center front was the monument, a stone of stumbling and offense.  It was a neat, plain granite obelisk, which bore this inscription: 

This Stone is Erected
By the Affection
of
Sophronisba Hynds Scarlett
To Commemorate the Many Virtues
of
The Most Perfect Gentleman in Hyndsville
Her Bloodhound
NIPPER

“There should have been an open season for Sophronisba,” Alicia said with conviction.  Then she put her head down and laughed.

The judge looked at her over his glasses, doubtfully.  With a slight edge to his voice he referred to the several prosecutions “for wanton and wilful trespassings” upon the closed, barbed-wire lane behind Hynds House.  As the strip in question was not a public thoroughfare, and Mrs. Scarlett had rock-ribbed titles covering it, she could close it; and she did, greatly to the inconvenience of her immediate neighbors, particularly Doctor Richard Geddes.

“There is something to be said for Mrs. Scarlett’s methods,” said the judge dryly.  “The Lafayette Street bill-boards are the best-paying ones in Hyndsville.  As to closing the lane, Miss Smith, let me remind you that Doctor Geddes, although an estimable man and a very able physician, is not at all backward in coming forward in a quarrel.  He greatly angered my late client.”

“Nevertheless, that barbed wire comes down.  He may use the lane whenever he wants to,” I decided.

The judge bowed.  “And now,” he said, politely, “let us take up the case of Mr. Nicholas Jelnik, if you please.  It was Mrs. Scarlett’s wish that you should be fully informed concerning Mr. Jelnik’s antecedents, that you might be on your guard.”