“What was your grandfather’s name? I know many families on that road.”
“His name was John Baring. The house which he built in 1860 is still standing and in good condition and we live there. We--”
The stranger seemed to be indifferent to what Elizabeth had to say further.
“What name did you say?” she asked sharply.
The lady’s lips parted and a brilliant red appeared upon her cheeks.
“You would much better have stayed in the West!” said she sharply. “You made a great mistake to come back.”
Elizabeth stared. She had brought the woman’s order in from the wagon in a basket. Now, without taking out the articles, she lifted the basket and started toward the street.
“I didn’t mean that I wouldn’t buy your things this time, especially as I have ordered them!” came a loud protest.
Elizabeth made no answer. She went out of the gate and closed it carefully behind her.
Elizabeth’s hot anger gave place to a keener feeling of alarm.
Elizabeth now treated her customers with peremptory shortness and the method seemed to pay.
“If you buy, buy quickly, but it really doesn’t make any difference to me whether you buy or not.” Thus said Elizabeth’s bright blue eyes. It seemed that a new Elizabeth had come out from the rude woman’s gate.
But Herbert could not long be kept in ignorance. They turned and drove back, offering the remainder of their wares on the other side of the street. When they reached the house opposite that of the first purchaser, Elizabeth had approached the porch steps before she saw that the woman had crossed the street and sat with her neighbor. The neighbor rose as Elizabeth drew near.
“You ought not to come here,” she declared. “If people knew who you were no one would buy from you.” The voice was not angry; it was earnest and kindly. “Don’t you understand that?”
“Do you need any vegetables?” asked Elizabeth with burning cheeks. Whatever this strange mystery was, she was determined not to have it explained on the public street.
Elizabeth turned and went out. Herbert looked shrunken.
“Did the woman across the street speak to you like that?”
“Did mother ever say that anything dreadful had happened in our family?”
“She was a sad sort of woman. Could anything have worried her?”
“I never suspected anything.” When the words were out, Elizabeth remembered long periods of depression.