She had seen Mrs. Scoville
coming, and was ready with her greeting. A dog from the big house
across the way would have been welcomed there. The eager little
seamstress had never forgotten her hour in the library with the
half-unconscious judge.
"Mrs. Scoville!" she exclaimed, fluttering and leading the way
into the best room; "how very kind you are to give me this chance
for making my apologies. You know we have met before."
"Have we?" Mrs. Scoville did not remember, but she smiled her best
smile and was gratified to note the look of admiration with which
Miss Weeks surveyed her more than tasty dress before she raised
her eyes to meet the smile to whose indefinable charm so many had
succumbed. "It is a long time since I lived here," Deborah
proceeded as soon as she saw that she had this woman, too, in her
net. "The friends I had then, I scarcely hope to have now; my
trouble was of the kind which isolates one completely. I am glad
to have you acknowledge an old acquaintance. It makes me feel less
lonely in my new life."
"Mrs. Scoville, I am only too happy." It was bravely said, for the
little woman was in a state of marked embarrassment. Could it be
that her visitor had not recognised her as the person who had
accosted her on that memorable morning she first entered Judge
Ostrander's forbidden gates?
"I have been told--" thus Deborah easily proceeded, "that for a
small house yours contains the most wonderful assortment of
interesting objects.
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