Crofton,
I'm not so very much surprised!"
"Then you have seen her?" Betty smiled.
"I've just had a glimpse of her," admitted Miss Pendarth grudgingly, "as
she came out of church, a day or two ago, with your sister Dolly."
"She's extraordinarily pretty, isn't she?"
"Too theatrical for my taste. But still, yes, I suppose one must admit
that she will prove a very formidable rival to most of our young ladies.
I'm told she's a war widow--and she certainly behaves as if she were."
"I don't think it's fair to say that!" Betty crimsoned. She felt a close
kinship to all those women who had lost someone they loved in the War.
"You mean not fair to the war widows?"
"Yes, that is what I do mean. Only a few of them behave horridly--"
There was a pause. Betty was trying to bring herself to introduce the
subject which filled her mind. But Miss Pendarth was still full of the
new tenant of The Trellis House.
"I hear that Timmy's dog gave her a fearful fright."
Betty felt astonished, well used as she was to the other's almost uncanny
knowledge of all that went on in the village. Who could have told her
this particular bit of gossip?
"I wonder," went on the elder lady reflectively, "what made Mrs.
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