“I suppose you all know what I mean?” said Mrs. Wheeler, still smiling.  “I suppose Mrs. Maxwell has not kept the glad tidings to herself.”  In spite of her smiling face, there was a slight doubt and hesitancy in her manner.

Mrs. Maxwell’s old face suddenly paled, and at the same time grew alert.  Her black eyes, on Mrs. Wheeler’s face, were sharply bright.

“Mebbe I have, an’ mebbe I ain’t,” said she, and she smiled too.

“Well,” said the minister’s wife, “I told Flora that her mother must be a brave woman to invite company to tea the afternoon her daughter was married, and I thought we all ought to appreciate it.”

The other women gasped.  Mrs. Maxwell’s face was yellow-white in its framework of curls; there was a curious noise in her throat, like a premonitory click of a clock before striking.

“Well,” said she, “Flora ‘d had this day set for the weddin’ for six months.  When her uncle died, we talked a little about puttin’ of it off, but she thought ’twas a bad sign.  So it seemed best for her to get married without any fuss at all about it.  An’ I thought if I had a little company to tea, it would do as well as a weddin’.”

Mrs. Maxwell’s old black eyes travelled slowly and unflinchingly around the company, resting on each in turn as if she had with each a bout of single combat.  The other women’s eyes were full of scared questionings as they met hers.

“They got off in the three-o’clock train,” remarked the minister’s wife, trying to speak easily.

“That was the one they’d talked of,” said Mrs. Maxwell calmly.  “Now I guess I shall have to leave you ladies to entertain each other a few minutes.”

When Mrs. Maxwell had left the room, the ladies stared at each other.

“Do you s’pose she didn’t know about it?” whispered Mrs. Lowe.

“I don’t know,” whispered the minister’s wife.  “I was very much afraid she didn’t at first.  I began to feel very nervous.  I knew Mr. Wheeler would have been much distressed if he had suspected anything clandestine.”

“Did she have a new dress?” asked Mrs. Robbins.

“No,” replied the minister’s wife; “and that was one thing that made me suspicious.  She wore her old blue one, but George Freeman wore a nice new suit.”

“I heard,” said Mrs. Lowe, “that Flora had all her under-clothes made before old Mr. Maxwell died, an’ she hadn’t got any of her dresses.  I had it pretty straight.  She told my Flora.”

“I had heard that the wedding was postponed on account of Mr. Maxwell’s death, and so I was a little surprised when Mr. Wheeler came to me and said they were in the parlor to be married,” said the minister’s wife; “but I put on my dress as quick as I could, and went in to witness it.”

“How did Flora appear?” asked Mrs. Lowe.