“I’m perfectly certain that I oughtn’t to tell you anything about it,” said Vera, “but, then, I often do things that I oughtn’t to do.”

“I should be the last person to suggest that you should do anything that you ought not to do to⁠—” began Mrs. Bebberly Cumble impressively.

“And I am always swayed by the last person who speaks to me,” admitted Vera, “so I’ll do what I ought not to do and tell you.”

Mrs. Bebberley Cumble thrust a very pardonable sense of exasperation into the background of her mind and demanded impatiently:

“What is there in Betsy Mullen’s cottage that you are making such a fuss about?”