wouldn’t be much surprised if you knew what her life has been. It’s been a tragedy—a tragedy!” repeated Miss Cornelia emphatically.
“I wish you would tell me all about her—that is, if you can do so without betraying any confidence.”
“Lord, dearie, everybody in Four Winds knows poor Leslie’s story. It’s no secret—the outside, that is. Nobody knows the inside but Leslie herself, and she doesn’t take folks into her confidence. I’m about the best friend she has on earth, I reckon, and she’s never uttered a word of complaint to me. Have you ever seen Dick Moore?”
“No.”
“Well, I may as well begin at the beginning and tell you everything straight through, so you’ll understand it. As I said, Leslie’s father was Frank West. He was clever and shiftless—just like a man. Oh, he had heaps of brains—and much good they did him! He started to go to college, and he went for two years, and then his health broke down. The Wests were all inclined to be consumptive. So Frank came home and started farming. He married Rose Elliott from over harbor. Rose was reckoned the beauty of Four Winds—Leslie takes her looks from her mother, but she has ten times the spirit and go that Rose had, and a far better figure. Now you know, Anne, I always take the ground that us women ought to stand by each other. We’ve got enough to endure at the hands of the men, the Lord knows, so
