The Lilac Girl. Barbour Ralph Henry

Every one ought to know about his neighbors, eh?"

      "Yes, sir. After you've been here some time, though, you'll know all about them."

      "Yes, but the trouble is I don't want to wait that long. Now, for instance, who lives over there on my left; the square white house with the drab blinds?"

      "Miss Cousins, sir. She's a maiden lady and has a great deal of money. They say she owns some of the railroad. She plays the organ in church, and—"

      "Youngish, is she, with sort of wavy brown hair and—"

      "No, sir," Zephania tittered, "Miss Cousins is kind of old and has real gray hair."

      "Really? On my other side, then, who's my neighbor there? Or haven't I one?"

      "Oh, yes, sir," answered Zephania, eagerly. "That's the Walton house, and that's—"

      "The—what?" asked Wade, sitting up very suddenly in the green rep rocker.

      "The Walton house, sir."

      "Oh! Hum! And—er—who lives there, Zephania?"

      "Miss Walton and Miss Mullett."

      "What's this Miss—Miss Walton like? Is she rather stout with quite black hair, Zephania?"

      "Oh, no, Mr. Herring! I guess you saw Mrs. Sampson, the dressmaker. She lives over there across the common, in the little yellowish house with the vines; see?"

      "Yes, yes, I see. That's where Miss Sampson lives, eh? Well, well! But we were speaking about Miss Walton, weren't we?"