"If you please, Captain Hunniwell," she said, "I would rather you
did not tell any one about my having lived in Middleford and my
affairs there. I have told very few people in Orham and I think on
the whole it is better not to. What is the use of having one's
personal history discussed by strangers?"
She was evidently a trifle embarrassed and confused as she said
this, for she blushed just a little. Captain Sam decided that the
blush was becoming. Also, as he walked back to the bank, he
reflected that Jed Winslow's tenant was likely to have her personal
history and affairs discussed whether she wished it or not. Young
women as attractive as she were bound to be discussed, especially
in a community the size of Orham. And, besides, whoever else she
may have told, she certainly had told him that Middleford had
formerly been her home and he had told Maud and Jed. Of course
they would say nothing if he asked them, but perhaps they had told
it already. And why should Mrs. Armstrong care, anyway?
"Let folks talk," he said that evening, in conversation with his
daughter. "Let 'em talk, that's my motto. When they're lyin'
about me I know they ain't lyin' about anybody else, that's some
comfort. But women folks, I cal'late, feel different."
Maud was interested and a little suspicious.
"You don't suppose, Pa," she said, "that this Mrs.
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