Page:The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg (1928).djvu/44

 here in Brinoë. We lived in the same community but, as you might say, in different worlds. Gertrude knew her better than I. Isn't that true, Gertrude?" She turned to wrest the attention of her companion away from the unsafe extravagant beauty of the valley and back into the room. From the irritation in her voice it was clear that she had known all along, despite even Miss Fosdick's perfected expression of deep interest, that her companion's thoughts were wandering. It was clear also, thought Winnery, that later, when the guests were gone, Miss Fosdick would pay for her inattention. She would pay dearly.

"Yes, Aunt Henrietta?" replied Miss Fosdick mildly.

Aunt Henrietta, thought Winnery. Then she must be the niece of Mrs. Weatherby.

But Mrs. Weatherby displayed no intention of allowing Miss Fosdick, however well she knew the story, to tell it. She rolled into it in sonorous but refined periods, embroidered by a great deal of explanation as to setting and background.

Fifteen years earlier Mrs. Weatherby had been the richest and the most important woman in Winnebago Falls, since her husband, the late Mr. Alonzo Weatherby, had been president of the Farmers' Bank and also held a monopoly on the new water works. Since then, Mrs. Weatherby indicated modestly, she had become vastly, incalculably richer due to the fact that Mr. Weatherby before