" What was this dark history never came out, but its very
mystery always thrilled the visitor, and seemed to indicate plainly
the respectability of the hostess. An American family without a
genteel skeleton in its closet could scarcely add to that gossip
which keeps society from forgetting its members. Nor was it
altogether unnatural that presently Mrs. Roger Catron lent herself
to this sentimental deception, and began to think that she really
was a more exquisitely aggrieved woman than she had imagined. At
times, when this vague load of iniquity put upon her dead husband
assumed, through the mystery of her friends, the rumor of murder
and highway robbery, and even an attempt upon her own life, she
went to her room, a little frightened, and had "a good cry,"
reappearing more mournful and pathetic than ever, and corroborating
the suspicions of her friends. Indeed, one or two impulsive
gentlemen, fired by her pathetic eyelids, openly regretted that the
deceased had not been hanged, to which Mrs. Walker Catron responded
that, "Thank Heaven, they were spared at least that disgrace!" and
so sent conviction into the minds of her hearers.
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