But he never asked again. It seemed he was not that kind of a man.




CHAPTER VI

GOSSIP

The last and surest sign of spring's arrival in Green Valley is gossip.
The mornings may be ever so full of meadow larks, the woods moistly
sweet and carpeted with spring's frail and dainty blossoms, but no one
dreams of letting the furnace go out or their base burner get cold
until they see Fanny Foster flitting about town at all hours of the day
and behold the array of shiny armchairs standing so invitingly in front
of Uncle Tony's hardware store.

When these two great news agencies open up for business Green Valley
laughs and goes to Martin's drug store to buy moth balls and talks
about how it's going to paint its kitchen woodwork and paper its
upstairs hall and where it's buying its special garden seed.

Then the whole town wakes up and comes outdoors to work and talk.
There are fences to be mended and gardens to be planted and houses to
be cleaned and all the winter happenings to be gone over. All the
doctor cases have to be discussed critically and the winter invalids,
strong once again, come out to visit one another and compare notes.
Letters from special relatives and former Green Valley souls are passed
around and read and all new photographs and the winter's crop of fancy