much thought of among the Yankees, and nobody was in a position to
disprove that. Certainly when the feminine Carrolls visited in the
old place, their appearance carried out the theory of riches. They
were very well dressed, and they looked well fed, with that placid,
assured air which usually comes only from the sense of possession.

The feminine Carrolls had been speaking of this old aunt that spring
day as they sat idly in the little green-curtained temple beside the
pond. They had indulged in a few low, utterly gentle, and unmalicious
laughs of reminiscence at some of her eccentricities; then they had
agreed that she was a good old soul, and said no more of her, but
gazed with languorous delight at the spring scene misty with green
and rose and gold like the smoke of some celestial fire.

Through the emerald dazzle of the trailing willow-boughs could be
seen a small, blooming apple-tree, and a bush full of yellow flowers.
Miss Anna Carroll and Ina held books in their laps, but they never
looked in them. They were all very well dressed and they wore quite a
number of fine jewels on their hands and at their necks, particularly
Mrs. Carroll. Her stones, though only of the semi-precious kind, were
very beautiful, amethysts which had belonged to a many-times-removed
creole grandmother of hers, and the workmanship of whose fine setting
dated back to France, and there was a tradition of royal ownership.
Mrs. Carroll had a bracelet, a ring, a brooch, and a necklace. The
stones, although deeply tinted, showed pink now instead of purple. In
fact, they seemed to match the soft, rose-tinted India silk which she
wore.

"Amy's amethysts match colors like chamellons," said Ina. "Look how
pink they are."