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VII.
THE COMET AND THE FIXED STAR.

"I don't feel that I can part with Lisa now, just as she’s beginning to be a help to me," argued Mrs. Grubb, shortly after she had been welcomed and ensconced in a rocking-chair. "As Madame Goldmarker says, nobody else in the world would have given her a home these four years, and a good many wouldn’t have had her round the house."

"That is true," replied Mary, "and your husband must have been a very good man from all you tell me, Mrs. Grubb."

"Good enough, but totally uninteresting," said that lady laconically.

"Well, putting aside the question as to whether goodness ought to be totally uninteresting, you say that Lisa’s mother left Mr. Grubb three hundred dollars for her food and clothing, and that she has been ever since a willing servant, absolutely devoted to your interests."