"
* * * * * * *
"Didn't you tell Maude about your letter to her mother?" asked Alice.
"No, I told Florence, but thought Maude would appreciate the change
now, _if_ it took place, if she was ignorant of what influence had
been brought to bear on her father."
Aunt Ella continued the reading.
* * * * * * *
"Harry and I have been to Fernborough. Alice's brother sent us word
that Uncle Isaac Pettingill was dead and we went to the funeral. He
had no complaint. He was tired out, so Mrs. Maxwell told us, and went
to sleep. He left each of Mrs. Maxwell's boys five thousand dollars,
and the same amount to Quincy Adams Pettingill. The remainder of his
fortune, I don't know how much, is bequeathed to build a free
hospital in Fernborough.
"There's another good man dead--Deacon Mason,--and his wife has gone
to live with her daughter, Mrs. Pettingill. That funny little man,
Mr. Stiles, has gone there too.
"I saw Mrs. Hawkins, and she said: 'I mos' cried my eyes out when I
heerd 'bout that collision at sea, an' what it did. I can't see no
sense in them captains bein' so careless and reckless. Tell Miss
Alice I wish she'd come home and bring that boy. I want ter see ef he
looks like his father.'
"I came near forgetting what to me is the most important part of my
letter.
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