You have perhaps,
in happier and more careless hours, heard me speak of Mrs. Euphemia
M'Corkle, of Illinois?"
Hurlstone remembered indistinctly to have heard, even in his reserved
exclusiveness on the Excelsior, the current badinage of the passengers
concerning Senor Perkins' extravagant adulation of this unknown poetess.
As a part of the staple monotonous humor of the voyage, it had only
disgusted him. With a feeling that he was unconsciously sharing the
burlesque relief of the passengers, he said, with a polite attempt at
interest,
"Then the lady is--no more?"
"If that term can be applied to one whose work is immortal," corrected
Senor Perkins gently. "All that was finite of this gifted woman was
lately forwarded by Adams's Express Company from San Juan, to receive
sepulture among her kindred at Keokuk, Iowa."
"Did she say she was from that place?" asked Hurlstone, with half
automatic interest.
"The Consul says she gave that request to the priest."
"Then you were not with her when she died?" said Hurlstone absently.
"I was NEVER with her, neither then nor before," returned Senor Perkins
gravely. Seeing Hurlstone's momentary surprise, he went on, "The late
Mrs.
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