She was longing to be alone, to think quietly over what had happened, and it was difficult to concentrate her attention on pink and yellow calico, and cut out colored royal families, and foreign birds, with a good grace.

Happily Mrs.Alwynn, though always requiring attention, was quite content with the half of what she required; and, with the "Buffalo Girls" and the "Danube River" tinkling on the table, conversation was somewhat superfluous.
In the afternoon Dare came, but he was waylaid in the hall by Mr.
Alwynn, and taken into the study before he could commit himself in Mrs.
Alwynn's presence.

Mrs.Thursby and Mabel also called to condole, and a little later Mrs.Smith of Greenacre, who had heard the news of the accident from the doctor.

Altogether it was a delightful afternoon for Mrs.Alwynn, who assumed for the time an air of superiority over Mrs.
Thursby to which that lady's well-known chronic ill-health seldom allowed her to lay claim.
Mrs.Alwynn and Mrs.Thursby had remained friends since they had both arrived together as brides at Slumberleigh, in spite of a difference of opinion, which had at one time strained friendly relations to a painful degree, as to the propriety of wearing the hair over the top of the ear.

The hair question settled, a temporary difficulty, extending over a few years, had sprung up in its place, respecting what Mrs.Thursby called "family." Mrs.Alwynn's family was not her strong point, nor was its position strengthened by her assertion (unsupported by Mrs.
Markham), that she was directly descended from Queen Elizabeth.
Consequently, it was trying to Mrs.Thursby--who, as every one knows, was one of the brainless Copleys of Copley--that Mrs.Alwynn, who in the lottery of marriage had drawn an honorable, should take precedence of herself.