she?"

Ann Eliza looked at him with rising bewilderment. "No, I
guess not," she answered; her instinctive hospitality prompting her
to add: "Won't you set down jest the same?"

Mr. Ramy sat down on the stool beside the counter, and Ann
Eliza returned to her place behind it.

"I can't leave the store," she explained.

"Well, I guess we're very well here." Ann Eliza had become
suddenly aware that Mr. Ramy was looking at her with
unusual intentness. Involuntarily her hand strayed to the thin
streaks of hair on her temples, and thence descended to straighten
the brooch beneath her collar.

"You're looking very well to-day, Miss Bunner," said Mr. Ramy,
following her gesture with a smile.

"Oh," said Ann Eliza nervously. "I'm always well in health,"
she added.

"I guess you're healthier than your sister, even if you are
less sizeable."

"Oh, I don't know. Evelina's a mite nervous sometimes, but
she ain't a bit sickly."

"She eats heartier than you do; but that don't mean nothing,"