She drove home through the village slowly, hoping for a chance of a further interchange of conjectures and impressions; but she saw no one she had not already talked with till she met Dr. Morrell, driving out of the avenue from his house. She promptly set her phaeton across the road so that he could not get by, if he were rude enough to wish it. "Doctor," she called out, "what _do_ you think of this extraordinary letter of Mr. Northwick's?" Dr. Morrell's boyish eyes twinkled. "You mean that letter in the _Events_? Do you think Northwick wrote it?" "Why, don't _you_, doctor?" she questioned back, with a note of personal grievance in her voice. "I'm not very well acquainted with his style. Then, you think he _did_ write it? Of course, there are always various opinions. But I understood you thought he was burned in that accident last winter." "Now, _doctor_!" said Mrs. Munger, with the pout which Putney said always made him want to kill her. "You're just trying to tease me; I know you are. I'm going to drive right in and see Mrs. Morrell. _She_ will tell me what you think." "I don't believe you can see her," said the doctor. "She isn't at all well." "Oh, I'm sorry for that. I don't understand what excuse she has, though, with a physician for her husband. You must turn hom[oe]opathy. Dr. Morrell, do you think it's true that Jack Wilmington will offer himself to Sue Northwick, now that it's come to the worst with her? Wouldn't it be romantic?" "Very," said the doctor. He craned his head out of the buggy, as if to see whether he could safely drive into the ditch, and pass Mrs. Munger. He said politely, as he started, "Don't disturb yourself! I can get by." She sent a wail of reproach after him, and then continued toward South Hatboro'. As she passed the lodge at the gate of the Northwick avenue, where the sisters now lived, she noted that the shades were closely drawn. They were always drawn on the side toward the street, but Mrs. Munger thought it interesting that she had never noticed it before, and in the dearth of material she made the most of it, both for her own emotion, and for the sensation of others when she reached South Hatboro'.