even the silent Lida
Bowman, wife of Dick, came from her fastness and for once in a year met
her old friends who knew her in the town's early days before she went to
South Harvey to share the red pottage of the Sons of Esau!

But her friends had little from Mrs. Bowman more than a smile--a cracked
and weather-beaten smile from a broken woman of nearly forty, who was a
wife at fifteen, a mother at seventeen, and who had borne six children
and buried two in a dozen years.

"There's Violet," ventured Mrs. Bowman to Mrs. Dexter. "I haven't seen
her since her marriage."

To a question Mrs. Bowman replied reluctantly, "Oh--as for Denny Hogan,
he is a good enough man, I guess!"

After a pause, Mrs. Bowman thought it wise to add under the wails of the
orchestra: "Poor Violet--good hearted girl's ever lived; so kind to her
ma; and what with all that talk when she was in Van Dorn's office and
all the talk about the old man Sands and her in the Company store, I
just guess Vi got dead tired of it all and took Denny and run to cover
with him."

Violet Hogan in a black satin,--a cheap black satin, and a black hat--a
cheap black hat with a red rose--a most absurdly cheap red rose in it,
walked about the place picking things over in a rather supercilious way,
and no one noticed her. Mrs. Fenn gave Violet an eyebrow, a beautifully
penciled eyebrow on a white marble forehead, above beaming brown eyes
that were closed just slightly at the moment. And Mrs. Van Dorn who had
kept track of the girl, you may be sure, went over to her and holding
out her hand said: "Congratulations, Violet,--I'm so glad to hear--" But
Mrs. Denny Hogan having an eyebrow to spare as the gift of Mrs. Fenn
passed it on to Mrs. Van Dorn who said, "Oh--" very gently and went to
sit on a settee beside Mrs. Brotherton, the mother of the moon-faced Mr.
Brotherton and Mrs. Ahab Wright, who always seemed to seek the shade.
And then and there, Mrs. Van Dorn had to listen to this solo from Mrs.
Brotherton:

"George says Judge Van Dorn is running for Judge again: really, Laura, I
hope he'll win. George says he will. George says Henry Fenn is the only
trouble Mr. Van Dorn will have, though I don't see as Henry could do
much. Though George says he will. George says Henry is cranky and mean
about the Judge someway and George says Henry is drinking like a fish
this spring and his legs is hollow, he holds so much; though he must
have been joking for I have heard of hollow