"Oh, won't she be insulted?" exclaimed Felix, rather horrified.
"Naw," grinned Dan. "Peg chews tobacco like a man. She'd rather have it than your rubbishy peppermints, I can tell you. I'll run down to old Mrs. Sampson's and get a plug."
"Now, we must write the letter and take it and the presents to her right away, before it gets dark," said the Story Girl.
We adjourned to the granary to indite the important document, which the Story Girl was to compose.
"How shall I begin it?" she asked in perplexity. "It would never do to say, 'Dear Peg,' and 'Dear Miss Bowen' sounds too ridiculous."
"Besides, nobody knows whether she's Miss Bowen or not," said Felicity. "She went to Boston when she grew up, and some say she was married up there and her husband deserted her, and that's why she went crazy. If she's married she won't like being called Miss."
"Well, how am I to address her?" asked the Story Girl in despair.
Peter again came to the rescue with a practical suggestion.
"Begin it, 'Respected Madam,'" he said. "Ma has a letter a school trustee once writ to my Aunt Jane and that's how it begins."
"Respected Madam," wrote the Story Girl. "We want to ask a very great favour of you, and we hope you will kindly grant it if you can. Our favourite cat,
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