The Yates Pride | Page 4

and seldom expressed an opinion.

"Well, that might have been," agreed Abby, "although Eudora always
had the name of having a beautiful disposition."
"I have always found," said Mrs. Joseph Glynn, with an air of wisdom,
"that it is the beautiful dispositions which are the most set the minute
they get a start the wrong way. It is the always-flying-out people who
are the easiest to get on with in the long run."
"Well," said Abby, "maybe that is so, but folks might get worn all to a
frazzle by the flying-out ones before the long run. I'd rather take my
chances with a woman like Eudora. She always seems just so, just as
calm and sweet. When the Ames's barn, that was next to hers, burned
down and the wind was her way, she just walked in and out of her
house, carrying the things she valued most, and she looked like a
picture--somehow she had got all dressed fit to make calls--and there
wasn't a muscle of her face that seemed to move. Eudora Yates is to my
mind the most beautiful woman in this town, old or young, I don't care
who she is."
"I suppose," said Julia Esterbrook, "that she has a lot of money."
"I wonder if she has," said Mrs. John Bates.
The others stared at her. "What makes you think she hasn't?" Mrs.
Glynn inquired, sharply.
"Nothing," said Mrs. Bates, and closed her thin lips. She would say no
more, but the others had suspicions, because her husband, John Bates,
was a wealthy business man.
"I can't believe she has lost her money," said Mrs. Glynn. "She
wouldn't have been such a fool as to do what she has if she hadn't
money."
"What has she done?" asked Mrs. Bates, eagerly.
"What has she done?" asked Abby, and Mrs. Lee looked up inquiringly.

The faces of Mrs. Glynn, her daughter, and her sister became important,
full of sly and triumphant knowledge.
"Haven't you heard?" asked Mrs. Glynn.
"Yes, haven't you?" asked Ethel.
"Haven't any of you heard?" asked Julia Esterbrook.
"No," admitted Abby, rather feebly. "I don't know as I have."
"Do you mean about Eudora's going so often to the Lancaster girls' to
tea?" asked Mrs. John Bates, with a slight bridle of possible knowledge.
"I heard of that," said Mrs. Lee, not to be outdone.
"Land, no," replied Mrs. Glynn. "Didn't she always go there? It isn't
that. It is the most unheard-of thing she had done; but no woman,
unless she had plenty of money to bring it up, would have done it."
"To bring what up?" asked Abby, sharply. Her eyes looked as small
and bright as needles.
Julia regarded her with intense satisfaction. "What do women generally
bring up?" said she.
"I don't know of anything they bring up, whether they have it or not,
except a baby," retorted Abby, sharply.
Julia wilted a little; but her sister, Mrs. Glynn, was not perturbed. She
launched her thunderbolt of news at once, aware that the critical
moment had come, when the quarry of suspicion had left the bushes.
"She has adopted a baby," said she, and paused like a woman who had
fired a gun, half scared herself and shrinking from the report.
Ethel seconded her mother. "Yes," said she, "Miss Eudora has adopted
a baby, and she has a baby-carriage, and she wheels it out any time she
takes a notion." Ethel's speech was of the nature of an after-climax. The

baby-carriage weakened the situation.
The other women seized upon the idea of the carriage to cover their
surprise and prevent too much gloating on the part of Mrs. Glynn, Ethel,
and Julia.
"Is it a new carriage?" inquired Mrs. Lee.
"No, it looks like one that came over in the ark," retorted Mrs. Glynn.
Then she repeated: "She has adopted a baby," but this time there was
no effect of an explosion. However, the treble chorus rose high, "Where
did she get the baby? Was it a boy or a girl? Why did she adopt it? Did
it cry much?" and other queries, none of which Mrs. Glynn, Ethel, and
Julia could answer very decidedly except the last. They all announced
that the adopted baby was never heard to cry at all.
"Must be a very good child," said Abby.
"Must be a very healthy child," said Mrs. Lee, who had had experience
with crying babies.
"Well, she has it, anyhow," said Mrs. Glynn.
Right upon the announcement came proof. The beautiful door of the
old colonial mansion opposite was thrown open, and clumsy and
cautious motion was evident. Presently a tall, slender woman came
down the path between the box borders, pushing a baby-carriage. It was
undoubtedly a very old carriage. It must have dated back to the fifties,