Cecilia Adler took half an hour to get to the neighborhood near Aunt Goldsmith's house. She gave an older woman fifty cents to ask about her.
She learned that news of Aunt Goldsmith stealing cigarettes and liquor from her employer and spreading rumors about the employer's son had already spread like wildfire.
The woman told her that Aunt Goldsmith would get pointed at the moment she stepped outside, and that she hadn't seen her family all day.
Cecilia couldn't have been more delighted.
But then she started to worry. 'They haven't come out all day. Could it be they couldn't stand the gossip and... did something drastic together?' She had only intended to teach Aunt Goldsmith a harsh lesson, not to drive them to their deaths. She said, "Since Aunt Goldsmith hasn't come out, do you think she couldn't handle the gossip and... ended her own life?"
"Haha, you've got quite an imagination. I just saw smoke coming from their chimney."
Cecilia relaxed considerably upon hearing that.
