"What was it?" said the sister Lize.

"'Kicked him downstairs,'" the narrator quoted.

"Y!" the two whispered.

"Good enough for him." It was the verdict of the little
shopkeeper, sharply spoken, as she went on with her work.

"So I say,"--this from the other three, who were now quite serious.

"He'd better not come back here," said the sister Lize.

"He never will, probably."

"Who employed the widow?"

"Nobody knows," said the sister Serene. "Before she left town she
had a check cashed, an' it come from Riley Brooke. Some think
Martha Vaughn herself knows all about it. Sh-h-h! there goes
Sidney Trove."

"Ain't he splendid looking?" said she with the beads.

Ruth Tole had opened the door, and they were now observing the
street and those who were passing in it.

"One of these days there'll be some tall love-making up there at
the Widow Vaughn's," said she that was called Lize.