`` It must have been a relief to Leslie . But she never said anything . From the day of her marriage she was just what she is now -- cold and proud , and keeping everyone but me at a distance . I wo n't BE kept at a distance , believe ME ! I 've just stuck to Leslie as close as I knew how in spite of everything . '' `` She told me you were the best friend she had , '' said Anne . `` Did she ? '' exclaimed Miss Cornelia delightedly . `` Well , I 'm real thankful to hear it . Sometimes I 've wondered if she really did want me around at all -- she never let me think so . You must have thawed her out more than you think , or she would n't have said that much itself to you . Oh , that poor , heart-broken girl ! I never see Dick Moore but I want to run a knife clean through him . '' Miss Cornelia wiped her eyes again and having relieved her feelings by her blood-thirsty wish , took up her tale . `` Well , Leslie was left over there alone . Dick had put in the crop before he went , and old Abner looked after it . The summer went by and the Four Sisters did n't come back . The Nova Scotia Moores investigated , and found she had got to Havana and discharged her cargo and took on another and left for home ; and that was all they ever found out about her . By degrees people began to talk of Dick Moore as one that was dead . Almost everyone believed that he was , though no one felt certain , for men have turned up here at the harbor after they 'd been gone for years .
XXXXX never thought he was dead -- and she was right .
Abner Anne Cornelia Dick Havana Leslie Moore Moores left years