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[Illustration: (cover)]




[Illustration: (frontispiece)]




"SOME SAY"

NEIGHBOURS IN CYRUS


BY

LAURA E. RICHARDS

Author of "Captain January," "Melody," "Queen Hildegarde,"
"Five-Minute Stories," "When I Was Your Age,"
"Narcissa," "Marie," "Nautilus," etc.


TWELFTH THOUSAND

[Illustration]

BOSTON
DANA ESTES & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS




_Copyright, 1896_,

BY ESTES & LAURIAT

_All rights reserved_


Colonial Press:

C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

Electrotyped by Geo. C. Scott & Sons




"SOME SAY"




TO MY
Dear Sister,
FLORENCE HOWE HALL,
THIS VOLUME
IS AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED

       *       *       *       *       *




"SOME SAY."




Part I.


"And some say, she expects to get him married to Rose Ellen before the
year's out!"

"I want to know if she does!"

"Her sister married a minister, and her father was a deacon, so mebbe
she thinks she's got a master-key to the Kingdom. But I don't feel so
sure of her gettin' this minister for Rose Ellen. Some say he's so
wropped up in his garden truck that he don't know a gal from a
gooseberry bush. He! he!"

The shrill cackle was answered by a slow, unctuous chuckle, as of a
fat and wheezy person; then a door was closed, and silence fell.

The minister looked up apprehensively; his fair face was flushed, and
his mild, blue eyes looked