When Quincy reached the Pettengill house, Mrs. Maxwell informed him that
Miss Pettengill was in the parlor alone. After greeting Alice, Quincy
asked, "But where is Miss Very?"
"I told her I should not need her services until after I had seen you,"
she replied. "I have a question to ask you Mr. Sawyer, and I know you
will give me a truthful answer. What led your aunt to invite me to come
and visit her?"
Quincy knew that Alice had been considering the matter, and this one
simple question, to which she expected a truthful answer, was the
crucial test.
He did not hesitate in replying. If he did, he knew the result would be
fatal to his hopes.
"Only the promptings of her own good nature. She is one of the
warmest-hearted women in the world," continued Quincy. "I will tell you
just how it happened. I told her I had found an assistant to help you in
your work, and that the next thing was to fix upon a place for a summer
residence. I asked her opinion, and after considering the advantages and
disadvantages of a score of places, she finally settled upon Nantucket
as being the most desirable.
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