The sisters left behind gazed at each other forlornly.
"She certainly is an unprepossessing child," murmured Miss Maria, "but
don't you think, under the circumstances, that we ought to ask her to
pay us a visit?"
Miss Clark the elder contemplated her knitting for a noticeable interval
before she answered.
"I don't see any 'ought' about it," she replied at last, "but I think it
would be kind to do so."
Meanwhile Mr. Clark, stepping into the telegraph office, met Mr. Hapgood
coming out. That worthy looked somewhat startled at the encounter, but
pulled himself together and said cheerfully "Just been sending off a
wire about our matter."
When the operator read Mr. Clark's telegram a few minutes later he said
to himself wonderingly, "Emily Leonard sure is the popular lady!"
Mr. Clark was not at all pleased with his sister's proposal that they
invite Mary Smith to make them a visit.
"It will look to Hapgood as if we thought his story true," he objected,
when they suggested the plan the next morning. "I don't believe it is
true, even if our Emily did marry a Smith, according to Stanley."
"I don't believe it is, either," answered Miss Maria dreamily. "A great
many people marry Smiths."
"They have to; how are they to do anything else?" inquired the old
gentleman testily. "There is such a lot of them you can't escape them.
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