Therefore she was careful, putting a guard upon her tongue and
almost keeping watch upon her secret thoughts. She never allowed
herself to lapse into reverie in their presence for fear the old
people might suspect that she had a past that would not endure open
discussion.
And, deliberately and with forethought, the intelligent girl went
about strengthening her position with the Balls and making her
identity as Ida May Bostwick unassailable. She had a retentive
memory. Nothing Aunt Prudence ever said in her hearing about Sarah
Honey, her ways when she was young, or what the old woman knew or
surmised about her dead niece's marriage and her life thereafter,
escaped the girl. She treasured it all.
When visitors were by--especially the neighboring women who likewise
remembered Sarah Honey--the masquerader often spoke in a way to
reduce to a minimum any suspicion that she was not the rightful Ida
May. Even a visit from Annabell Coffin--"she who was a Cuttle"--went
off without a remark being made which would yield a grain of doubt.
Mrs. Coffin had heard of Ida May while she visited "his folks" in
Boston, in a most roundabout way. She did say to the girl, however:
"Let's see, Ida May, didn't they tell me that you worked for a spell
in one of them great stores? I wish you could see 'em, Aunt Prue!
The Marshall & Denham department store on Washington Street covers
acres--_acres_! Was it there that you worked, Ida May?"
"No," replied Ida May calmly.
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