They were much excited about an atrocious murder that had
happened only a few doors away. Old Leonard Sweet, who had grown rich in
the contracting business, had been found dead in his kitchen. His
son-in-law--a dissipated young man whom Milly knew slightly--was
suspected of the crime. It was thought that the two had had a quarrel
about money, and the young man had shot his father-in-law. Milly
remembered old Sweet quite vividly. He used to sit on his stoop in his
stocking feet, even on Sundays when all the neighborhood was going by to
church,--very shocking to Milly's sense of propriety. And the boy had
hung around saloons. Now where was he?
"Well, daughter, can't you tell us what you did at Co-mo?" Horatio
urged....
No, decidedly, this sort of thing would not do for Milly!
VIII
MILLY'S CAMPAIGN
Almost at once Milly began the first important campaign of her life--to
move the household to a more advantageous neighborhood. One morning she
said casually at breakfast,--
"The Kemps are going to their new house when they come in from the
Lake.... Why can't we live some place where there are nice people?"
"What's the matter with this?" Horatio asked, crowding flannel cakes
into his mouth.
"Oh!" Milly exclaimed witheringly. "My friends are all moving away."
"You forget that your father has two years more of his lease of this
house," her grandmother remarked severely.
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