d heard a great deal of the
beauty of this strange girl. Prospect people had been talking of
nothing else for a week, and Miss Hannah was filled with a harmless
curiosity concerning her. She always liked to look at pretty people,
she said; they did her as much good as her flowers.

"Good afternoon, Miss Hannah," said Jacob Delancey. "Busy with your
flowers, as usual, I see."

"Oh, yes," said Miss Hannah, managing to stare with unobtrusive
delight at the girl while she talked. "The frost will soon be coming
now, you know; so I want to live among them as much as I can while
they're here."

"That's right," assented Jacob, who made a profession of cordial
agreement with everybody and would have said the same words in the
same tone had Miss Hannah announced a predilection for living in the
cellar. "Well, Miss Hannah, it's flowers I'm after myself just now.
We're having a bit of a party at our house tonight, for the young
folks, and my wife told me to call and ask you if you could let us
have a few for decoration."

"Of course," said Miss Hannah, "you can have these. I meant them for
Millie, but I can cut the west bed for her."

She opened the gate and carried the asters over to the buggy. Miss
Delancey took them with a smile that made Miss Hannah remember the
date forever.

"Lovely day," commented Jacob genially.

"Yes," said Miss Hannah dreamily. "It reminds me of the day Ralph went
away twenty years ago. It doesn't seem so long. Don't you think he'll
be coming back soon, Jacob?"

"Oh, sure," said Jacob, who thought the very opposite.

"I have a feeling that he's coming very soon," said Miss Hannah
brightly. "It will be a great day for me, won't it, Jacob? I've been
poor all my life, but when Ralph comes back everything will be so
different. He will be a rich man and he will give me everything I've
always wanted. He said he would. A fine house and a carriage and a
silk dress. Oh, and we will travel and see the world. You don't know
how I look forward to it all. I've got it all planned out, all I'm
going to do and have. And I believe he will be here very soon. A man
ought to be able to make a fortune in twenty years, don't you think,
Jacob?"

"Oh, sure," said Jacob. But he said it a little uncomfortably. He did
not like the job of throwing cold water, but it seemed to him that he
ought not to encourage Miss Hannah's hopes. "Of course, you shouldn't
think too much about it, Miss Hannah. He mightn't ever come bac