descended to us
groundlings.

"I don't always seem to know what art is," admitted Alicia,
dovelike.

The lady who "moved among us clothed in white samite" smiled
encouragingly.

"That is because you are really little more than a child," she said
kindly. "When you begin to _grow_, you will improve your mind."

Alicia puckered her brows. "Ah, but I'm Irish!" she said, seriously,
"and the Irish hate to have to improve their minds. I imagine it
takes an able-bodied mind to stand intensive cultivation," she
added, guilelessly.

Miss Hopkins smiled: it was a masterpiece, that smile!

"But why, may I ask, did you choose such a situation for the
statue?" she inquired critically. "Now, _I_ should never dream of
tucking it in such an out-of-the-way place!"

The pucker came back to Alicia's brow.

"Shouldn't you?" she wondered. "I shall make a point of mentioning
that to Mr. Nicholas Jelnik, if you don't mind. You see, he chose
that spot, and we rather like it, ourselves."

Miss Hopkins stopped dead short, and Mrs. Haile started in spite of
herself. Evidently, the situation was beyond them. Didn't we _know_?
How much had Judge Gatchell seen fit to tell us? Alicia had dropped
a bomb-shell that before night would detonate in every house in
Hyndsville. They haven't very much to talk about in small towns,
except one another, and when a plump mouse of gossip frisks about
whisking his tail, why, it is cat nature to pounce upon it.

"Mr. Jelnik!" said Miss Hopkins, with an accent. "Oh, I see.
Well--he is a neighbor, of course. Certainly if Mr. Jelnik selected
that particular spot for the statue--he of all people has the best
right to do so--and to have his wishes considered."

"Of course. He has lived abroad, and seen everything of art there is
to see," Alicia agreed, placidly. Which wasn't at all what Miss
Hopkins meant.

We could see those two women turning the thing over and over in
their minds--Nicholas Jelnik, last heir and descendant of Richard
Hynds, tactily (perhaps even gladly; for had they not just witnessed
the behavior of Doctor Richard Geddes?) accepting the interlopers in
the house of his fathers! Nicholas Jelnik selecting the site for the
statue Richard had brought home in pride, and Freeman had buried in
sorrow! Miss Hopkins's stare dismissed me, shifted to Alicia, and
discovered the cause of this shameless surrender of family pride.
Her lips tightened. With politely cold hopes that we should like
Hyndsv