erruption.

"Will you wait, Arethusa? Till I finish!"

Arethusa might have retorted, and very properly, that nothing had been
really begun as yet, by jumping into a middle without preamble. But
then, Miss Eliza had her own most individual way of doing everything,
even to telling of the contents of important letters.

"When I have finished, you may read his letter for yourself. His new
wife," she crowded a quantity of scorn into those two words, "wants you
to come visit them. He says she does. They both do. She has sent ..."

Arethusa sprang, starry-eyed, from her hassock. Her hands flew,
clasped, up to her heart to hold its beating down.

"To Europe? Oh, Aunt 'Liza!"

"Will you _wait_!! I must say! To Europe, indeed! He's in America!"

And then Arethusa gave such a shriek of joy that it echoed through and
through the house. Mandy, in the kitchen, looked inquiringly at Blish
as it penetrated there. Miss Asenath smiled; Miss Letitia's crochet
needle slipped clear out of the stitch she was just taking: and Miss
Eliza put her hands over her ears.

"_Arethusa!!_ If you don't sit down!..."

So Arethusa subsided to the hassock, still quivering. Miss Asenath gave
her a reassuring pat and her frail hand was grabbed and held tight.
Such composure as could be managed came easier with something to
squeeze.

Miss Eliza continued her tale.

"Yes, his new wife, thank heaven, is an American, and I reckon she
wants to live at home." Then to herself, parenthetically, "I was always
afraid he'd marry one of those frog-eating foreigners he's been
trotting around with so long, and I must say I'm mightily surprised
that he didn't."

She paused a moment and looked at Arethusa over her glasses as if
Arethusa were the one to blame for this situation. Although the girl
did not dare open her mouth in face of such an expression, she gave a
little jump of impatience. It did seem as if Miss Eliza might finish
telling It, and tell It straight, in some sort of order, if she were
going to tell It at all.

"They want you to come visit them," repeated Miss Eliza, after her
parenthesis and the little pause, "and your father's sent the money, as
he says, for your 'immediate needs.' Over one hundred dollars it is. He
says his wife gave it to him. She must be mighty well-off. 'Immediate
needs,' indeed! I can buy your whole winter wardrobe with that money!"

Then once more did Arethusa rush recklessly in where angels would have
feared to trea