"
"There now; the boy is blind. Why, 'twas like a jewel. Such an eye I
never saw in a man's head, nor a woman's neither."
Staines told his wife about Phoebe and her brother, and spoke of her
with a certain admiration that raised Rosa's curiosity, and even that
sort of vague jealousy that fires at bare praise. "I should like to see
this phenomenon," said she. "You shall," said he. "I have to call on
Mrs. Manly. She lives near. I will drop you at the little shop, and come
back for you."
He did so, and that gave Rosa a quarter of an hour to make her
purchases. When he came back he found her conversing with Phoebe, as
if they were old friends, and Dick glaring at his wife with awe and
admiration. He could hardly get her away.
She was far more extravagant in her praises than Dr. Staines had been.
"What a good creature!" said she. "And how clever! To think of her
setting up a shop like that all by herself; for her Dick is only
seventeen."
Dr. Staines recommended the little shop wherever he went, and even
extended its operations. He asked Phoebe to get her own wheat ground
at home, and send the flour up in bushel bags. "These assassins, the
bakers," said he, "are putting copper into the flour now, as well as
alum.
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