I don't see what Flora Maxwell is thinkin' of." Mrs.Maxwell greeted her friends at the door with a dignified bustle, showed them into her bedroom to lay aside their bonnets; then she introduced them to Mrs.Field and Lois in the parlor.
"There!" said she; "now I've got to let you entertain each other a few minutes.

I've got something to see to.

Flora she's stepped out, an' I guess she's forgot how late 'tis." After Mrs.Maxwell had left the room, the guests sat around with a kind of solemn primness as if they were in meeting; they seemed almost hostile.

The elder of the new-comers took out her knitting, and fell to work.

She was a tall, pale, severely wrinkled woman, and a ruffled trimming on her dress gave her high shoulders a curiously girlish air.