"I assure you it was. I knew Cousin Thomas. Didn't Cousin Anne tell me
dozens of times in his presence, 'Betty, this is your cream-jug and
sugar-dish, because they match your teapot'?"

"I should think you had enough silver, Betty; still it was a shame Miss
Anne left that list unsigned," said Mrs. Roberts.

"If you knew Cousin Anne at all, Mrs. Roberts, you knew how hesitating
she was. She couldn't decide whether to leave the Canton china to Ellen
Marshall or to Tom's wife. She changed her mind any number of times, but
she was always clear about my cream-jug and sugar-dish. If Cousin Thomas
had had any decency, he would have considered her wishes. Think of my own
grandmother's things put up at public auction!"

"Most of Mr. Gilpin's money goes to the hospital, I suppose," remarked
Mrs. Roberts.

"Pretty much everything but the real estate in and around Friendship, and
the contents of the house, all of which will have to be sold and divided
among his first cousins or their heirs. The only bequests made besides the
money to the hospital are to Celia Fair and Allan Whittredge. Celia is to
have the spinet, and Allan that beautiful old ring, if ever it comes to
light again. I wish Cousin Thomas had left Celia some money. She was one
person for whom he had a little affection."

Maurice wished so too. He admired Miss Celia Fair, and felt it was too bad
she should get only an antiquated piano.

"Are the Fairs related to the Gilpins?" his mother asked. Not being a
native of Friendship, she had difficulty in mastering the intricacies of
its relationships.

It was ground upon which Miss Betty was entirely at home, however. "They
were kin to Cousin Thomas's wife," she explained. "Mrs. Fair's grandmother
was half-sister to Cousin Emma's mother, and raised Cousin Emma as her own
child. Of course it is not very near when it comes to Celia. The spinet
belonged to old Mrs. Johnson,--Celia's great-grandmother, you know,--whose
name was also Celia. Saint Cecilia, they used to call her, because she was
so good and played and sang so sweetly. It is right the spinet should go
to Celia, but that would not have influenced Cousin Thomas a minute if he
had not wished her to have it."

"And the ring has never been heard of?" Mrs. Roberts asked, as her visitor
paused for breath.

"I doubt if it ever comes to light. It is nearly three years now since it
disappeared," was the reply. Miss Betty looked up at the vines above her
head, and h