the lady in question and had been hugely tickled over the
reference to her in Faith's letter. "She will find that she will
not be able to cheat the Methodist parson out of HIS salary with
bad yarn."

"The worst of it is, there's not much hope of things getting any
better," said Miss Cornelia gloomily. "As long as Mr. Meredith
was going to see Rosemary West I did hope the manse would soon
have a proper mistress. But that is all off. I suppose she
wouldn't have him on account of the children--at least, everybody
seems to think so."

"I do not believe that he ever asked her," said Susan, who could
not conceive of any one refusing a minister.

"Well, nobody knows anything about THAT. But one thing is
certain, he doesn't go there any longer. And Rosemary didn't
look well all the spring. I hope her visit to Kingsport will do
her good. She's been gone for a month and will stay another
month, I understand. I can't remember when Rosemary was away
from home before. She and Ellen could never bear to be parted.
But I understand Ellen insisted on her going this time. And
meanwhile Ellen and Norman Douglas are warming up the old soup."

"Is that really so?" asked Anne, laughing. "I heard a rumour of
it, but I hardly believed it."

"Believe it! You may believe it all right, Anne, dearie. Nobody
is in ignorance of it. Norman Douglas never left anybody in
doubt as to his intentions in regard to anything. He always did