She may be dead for all I know . I do n't expect ever to have a chance to pay her out . But mark what I say , Theodosia , if I ever have , I will . '' Mrs. March snipped off her thread , as if she challenged the world . Mrs. Stapp felt uncomfortable over the unusual display of feeling she had evoked , and hastened to change the subject . In three weeks ' time Mrs. March was established in her new home , and the `` old Carroll house '' blossomed out into renewed splendour . Theodosia Stapp , who had dropped in to see it , was in a rapture of admiration . `` You have a lovely home now , Anna . I used to think it fine enough in the Carrolls ' time , but it was n't as grand as this . And that reminds me , I have something to tell you , but I do n't want you to get as excited as you did the last time I mentioned her name . You remember the last day I was to see you we were talking of Lou Carroll ? Well , next day I was downtown in a store , and who should sail in but Mrs. Joel Kent , from Oriental . You know Mrs. Joel -- Sarah Chapple that was ? She and her man keep a little hotel up at Oriental . They 're not very well off . She is a cousin of old Mrs. Carroll , but , lawful heart , the Carrolls did n't used to make much of the relationship ! Well , Mrs. Joel and I had a chat . She told me all her troubles -- she always has lots of them . Sarah was always of a grumbling turn , and she had a brand-new stock of them this time . What do you think , Anna March ?
Lou Carroll -- or Mrs. Baxter , I suppose I should say -- is up there at Joel Kent 's at Oriental , dying XXXXX consumption ; leastwise , Mrs. Joel says she is . ''
In as at for if into of off over to