If she had been a man, and versed in
profanity, she could have cursed Andrew Bush till his soul shuddered on
its journey through infinite space. Being a woman, she wished only a
quiet place to cry.
CHAPTER IV
AN EXPLANATION DEMANDED
Hazel's pride came to her rescue before she was half-way home.
Instinctively she had turned to that refuge, where she could lock
herself in her own room and cry her protest against it all. But she
had done no wrong, nothing of which to be ashamed, and when the first
shock of the news article wore off, she threw up her head and refused
to consider what the world at large might think. So she went back to
the office at one o'clock and took up her work. Long before evening
she sensed that others had read the _Gazette_. Not that any one
mentioned it, but sundry curious glances made her painfully aware of
the fact.
Mrs. Stout evidently was on the watch, for she appeared in the hall
almost as the front door closed behind Hazel.
"How de do, Miss Weir?" she greeted. "My, but you fell into quite a
bit of a fortune, ain't you?"
"I only know what the papers say," Hazel returned coldly.
"Just fancy! You didn't know nothing about it?" Mrs.
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