"And married," cried the girl in surprise, "I never thought of my mother as so young. I pictured her as much older." "Old, nonsense! Your mother was my age. She was hardly grown at the time of her death." "Where did my father meet her? I know that she lived down South. Serena is always talking about the old home." "He met her here in South Ridgefield. He had come here from New England and started his mill. It was small in those days, but prosperous. Social affairs had little attraction for your father. That made him very interesting to us girls. I suppose too we did not forget that he was making lots of money and could give the girl of his choice everything she desired. He had been here four or five years when the marriage took place. Its announcement caused much excitement among us young people. We had given your father up as a hopeless old bachelor. Think of it, in a week, your mother snatched the best catch from under the noses of the South Ridgefield girls." Mrs. Henderson laughed gaily. "Elinor did that very thing." "My mother must have been very beautiful?" "She was, every one admitted that, but she had the advantage in another way. She came from Virginia after her father's death to settle some business affairs with your father." Again Mrs. Henderson laughed. "The girls used to say that he took Elinor in full settlement of all indebtedness. After the marriage he built this house and you were born," she pointed upwards, "in that big corner room on the second floor." "Please go on, Hennie," begged the girl, after a pause in which the older woman's thoughts wandered in the past. "I was thinking of the good times I've had in this house. Your mother used to give delightful dances." "Dances, _here_!" Virginia's astonishment was evident. "Certainly, I have danced here many times until three o'clock in the morning and thought nothing of it." "You danced, too?" It was as if the girl were shocked. "Of course I danced. Do you think I was a wall flower who could lure no partners to myself?" Mrs. Henderson demanded with spirit. "Remember, I had been married only a year. There were grand dinners, too." She went on more calmly. "How we enjoyed Serena's cooking and afterwards many is the gay crowd this porch sheltered in those days." "It is hard to imagine, Hennie." The girl shook her head soberly. "Daddy and I are so quiet. We sit here in the evenings and I talk until he falls asleep. Then I watch the fire-flies until he wakes up and we go to bed. The thought of him dancing is very strange."