she had," said Sally, firmly, "she would have kept this dress. You
are sure there was nobody else living with Content's aunt at the time
she died?"

"Nobody except the servants, and they were an old man and his wife."

"Then whose dress was this?"

"I don't know, Sally."

"You don't know, and I don't. It is very strange."

"I suppose," said Edward Patterson, helpless before the feminine
problem, "that--Eudora got it in some way."

"In some way," repeated Sally. "That is always a man's way out of a
mystery when there is a mystery. There is a mystery. There is a mystery
which worries me. I have not told you all yet, Edward."

"What more is there, dear?"

"I--asked Content whose dress this was, and she said--Oh, Edward, I do
so despise mysteries."

"What did she say, Sally?"

"She said it was her big sister Solly's dress."

"Her what?"

"Her big sister Solly's dress. Edward, has Content ever had a sister?
Has she a sister now?"

"No, she never had a sister, and she has none now," declared the rector,
emphatically. "I knew all her family. What in the world ails the child?"

"She said her big sister Solly, Edward, and the very name is so inane.
If she hasn't any big sister Solly, what are we going to do?"

"Why, the child must simply lie," said the rector.

"But, Edward, I don't think she knows she lies. You may laugh, but I
think she is quite sure that she has a big sister Solly, and that this
is her dress. I have not told you the whole. After she came home from
school to-day she went up to her room, and she left the door open, and
pretty soon I heard her talking. At first I thought perhaps Lily or
Amelia was up there, although I had not seen either of them come in
with Content. Then after a while, when I had occasion to go up-stairs,
I looked in her room, and she was quite alone, although I had heard her
talking as I went up-stairs. Then I said: 'Content, I thought somebody
was in your room. I heard you talking.'

"And she said, looking right into my eyes: 'Yes, ma'am, I was talking.'

"'But there is nobody here,' I said.

"'Yes, ma'am,' she said. 'There isn't anybody here now, but my big
sister Solly was here, and she is gone. You heard me talking to my big
sister Solly.' I felt faint, Edward, and you know it takes a good deal
to overcome me. I just sat down in Content's wicker rocking-chair. I
looked at her and she looked at me. Her eyes were just as clear and
blue, and her forehead looked like t