Susan paused for a second.  Mrs. Lathrop chewed and waited.  In a minute the narrative flowed on.

“When every one else was through, Mrs. Sperrit said ’t if she could take ’Liza Em’ly home with her to help look after the little ones she’d be willin’ to keep ’em a fortnight more ‘n’ let the minister—­’n’ his wife—­have a real good rest in their own house.  Mrs. Maxwell spoke right up ‘n’ said she c’d have ’Liza Em’ly ‘n’ welcome, ‘n’ Mrs. Sweet said she c’d have Rachel Rebecca too.  But Mrs. Fisher crowded round in front ‘n’ said she nor no one couldn’t have John Bunyan not now ‘n’ not never, f’r he’d weeded ‘n’ mowed ‘n’ grafted ‘n’ busted his way right into her heart ‘n’ she was intendin’ to keep him right along ’f the minister’d give his consent.

“She said ‘t Mr. Fisher felt jus’ ’s she did too, ’cause he’d never been so happy ’s he’s been since he’s had John Bunyan to teach the fancy principles o’ plain things to.  Mr. Fisher come up jus’ ’s she got through, ‘n’ he said whatever she’d said he’d stand to, for although John Bunyan was nothin’ but a darn fool now, he had the makin’ of a man in him, ‘n’ he—­Mr. Fisher—­was jus’ the one to bring him out.

“The crowd was gettin’ so big ’t folks began to climb up on things to see over, ‘n’ the horse was some restless, so Mr. Kimball got up on the edge o’ the waterin’-trough an’ said, ’Three cheers for the minister, ‘n’ may he never know how glad the town is to see him back,’ ‘n’ then every one cheered, ‘n’ Mr. Kimball begin to shake, ‘n’ jus’ ’s the minister drove off he missed his hold ‘n’ fell into the waterin’-trough, ‘n’ I didn’t feel no kind o’ interest in lookin’ on at his fishin’ out, so I come away.”

“I hope—­” began Mrs. Lathrop.

“I do too,” rejoined her friend, “but there ain’t no danger.  It was the edge bein’ so slippery ’t let him fall in, ‘n’ I don’t wish to seem revengeful, but I mus’ say, Mrs. Lathrop, that if anythin’ could ‘a’ made a nice end to the minister’s vacation, it was the seein’ Mr. Kimball get soaked, f’r he ain’t had no kind o’ sufferin’ with it all ‘n’ has just everlastingly enjoyed kitin’ around the outside ‘n’ seein’ other folks in trouble.  ‘N’ I’ve no sympathy with such a nature when it does fall into a waterin’-trough, ‘n’ so I come home.”

Miss Clegg ceased speaking.

Mrs. Lathrop chewed her clover.

An International Love Comedy

A WOMAN’S WILL

By Anne Warner

Author of “Susan Clegg and Her Friend Mrs. Lathrop.”

It is a relief to take up a volume so absolutely free from stressfulness.  The love-making is passionate, the humor of much of the conversation is thoroughly delightful.  The book is as refreshing a bit of fiction as one often finds; there is not a dull page in it.—­Providence Journal.

It is bright, charming, and intense as it describes the wooing of a young American widow on the European Continent by a German musical genius.—­San Francisco Chronicle.