Miss Port sat down, her elbows on the table, and her chin in her hands.  “It must be something serious,” she thought.  “The ladies of this town are not in the habit of staying out late unless it is to nurse bad cases, or to sit up with corpses.”  And then the idea struck her that probably there might be something the matter that she had not thought of.  She had caused lots of mischief in her day, and it might easily be that she had forgotten some of it.  But the more she thought about the matter, the more firmly she resolved not to go down and speak to the women.  She would like to send for a constable and have them cleared out of the house, but she knew that none of the three constables in town would dare to use force with such ladies as Mrs. Faulkner and the members of the Dorcas Society.

So she sat and waited, and listened, and grew very nervous, but was more obstinate now than ever, for she was beginning to be very fearful of what those women might have to say to her.  She could “talk down one woman, but not a pack of ’em.”  Thus time passed on, with occasional reports from the servant until the latter fell asleep, and came up-stairs no more.  There were sounds of footsteps in the street, and Miss Port put out her light, and went to the front shutters.  Three women were coming in.  They entered the house, and in a few minutes afterward three women went out.  Miss Port stood up in the middle of the floor, and was almost inclined to tear her hair.

“They’re goin’ to stay all night!” she exclaimed.  “I really believe they ‘re goin’ to stay all night!” For a moment she thought of rushing down-stairs and confronting the impertinent visitors, but she stopped; she was afraid.  She did not know what they might say to her, and she went to the banisters and listened.  They were talking; always in a low voice.  It seemed to her that these people could talk forever.  Then she began to think of her front door, which was open; but, of course, nobody could come while those creatures were in the parlor.  But if she missed anything she’d have them brought up in court if it took every cent she had in the world and constables from some other town.  She slipped to the back stairs, and softly called the servant, but there was no answer.  She was afraid to go down, for the back door of the parlor commanded all the other rooms on that floor.  Now she felt more terribly lonely and more nervous.  If she had had a pistol she would have fired it through the floor.  Then those women would run away, and she would fasten up the house.  But there they sat, chatter, chatter, chatter, till it nearly drove her mad.  She wished now she had gone down at first.

After a time, and not a very long time, there were some steps in the street and in the yard, and more women came into the house, but, worse than that, the others stayed.  Family duties were over now, and those impudent creatures could be content to stay the rest of the evening.