ss Shott
had not called upon her the previous evening, but she had not expected
her, nor did she expect her now.

On her previous visit to Plainton, Mrs. Cliff had been shamefully
insulted by Miss Shott, who had accused her of extravagance, and, by
implication, of dishonesty, and in return, the indignant widow had
opened upon her such a volley of justifiable retaliation that Miss
Shott, in great wrath, had retired from the house, followed,
figuratively, by a small coin which she had brought as a present and
which had been hurled after her.

But Mrs. Cliff knew that her acrimonious neighbor could never be
depended upon to do anything which might be expected of her, and she was
not quite so much surprised as she was annoyed. Of course, she had known
she must meet Nancy Shott, and she had intended to do nothing which
would recall to the mind of any one that she remembered the disagreeable
incident referred to, but she had not expected that the meeting would be
in private.

She knew that Nancy would do something decidedly unpleasant. If she had
stayed away because she wanted a chance to re-open the previous quarrel,
that would be bad enough; but if she had determined to drop all
resentment and had come prepared to offer honey and sugar, and thus try
to make a rich friend out of one she had considered as a poor enemy,
that would be still more disagreeable. But by the time the visitor had
entered the parlor, Mrs. Cliff had made up her mind to meet her as if
nothing unpleasant had ever happened between them, and then to await the
course of events. She was not at all pleased with the visit, but,
notwithstanding this, she had great curiosity to know what Miss Shott
had to say about the change in her circumstances.

Nancy Shott was different from other people. She was capable of drawing
the most astounding inferences and of coming to the most soul-irritating
conclusions, even on subjects which could not be otherwise than pleasant
to ordinary people.

"How do you do?" said Miss Shott, offering her hand. "I am glad to see
you back, Mrs. Cliff."

Mrs. Cliff replied that she was quite well and was glad to be back.

"You are not looking as hale as you did," said the visitor, as she
seated herself; "you must have lost a good many pounds, but that was to
be expected. From what I have heard, South America must be about as
unhealthy a place as any part of the world, and then on top of that,
living in Paris with water to drink whi