"It's fifteen years, come fall, since he got his sentence," stated
the spinster. "His time must be 'most up."

Lydia Orr had seated herself in an old-fashioned chair, its tall
carved back turned to the open windows.

"Did you--lose much in the bank failure, Miss Daggett?" she inquired,
after a slight pause, during which the promoter of Famous People was
loosening the strings of her black silk bag.

"About two hundred dollars I'd saved up," replied Miss Daggett. "By
now it would be a lot more--with the interest."

"Yes, of course," assented their hostess; "one should always think of
interest in connection with savings."

She appeared to be gazing rather attentively at the leather-bound
prospectus Miss Daggett had withdrawn from her bag.

"That looks like something interesting, Miss Daggett," she
volunteered.

"This volume I'm holdin' in my hand," began that lady,
professionally, "is one of the most remarkable works ever issued by
the press of any country. It is the life history of one thousand men
and women of world-wide fame and reputation, in letters, art, science
_an'_ public life. No library nor parlor table is complete without
this authoritative work of general information _an'_ reference. It is
a com-plete library in itself, and--"