"I don't know. It came into my head. But she knows better."

"It was rather cruel; not that she deserves any mercy. She caught so at the
idea."

"Oh yes, I saw that. She'll humbug herself with it, and you'll see that
before night there'll be two theories of Putney's escapade. I think the
last will be the popular one. It will jump with the general opinion of
Putney's ability to carry anything out. And Mrs. Munger will do all she can
to support it."

Mrs. Bolton brought in the coffee-pot, and Annie hesitated a moment, with
her hand on it, before pouring out a cup.

"I don't like it," she said.

"I know you don't. But you can say that it wasn't Putney who hoaxed Mrs.
Munger, but Dr. Morrell."

"Oh, you didn't either of you hoax her."

"Well, then, there's no harm done."

"I'm not so sure."

"And you won't give me any coffee?"

"Oh yes, I'll give you some _coffee_," said Annie, with a sigh of
baffled scrupulosity that made them both laugh.

He broke out again after he had begun to drink his coffee.

"Well?" she demanded, from her own lapse into silence.

"Oh, nothing! Only Putney. He wants Brother Peck, as he calls him, to unite
all the religious elements of Hatboro' in a church of his own, and send
out missionaries to the heathen of South Hatboro' to preach a practical
Christianity. He makes South Hatboro' stand for all that's worldly and
depraved."