Asenath was too proud to discuss the matter with a servant, but when she

saw the slices of cold chicken which Dixson was deliberately cutting up,

and the little pot of jelly which Pamelia placed upon the salver, she

forgot her dignity, and angrily demanded what they were doing.

"Miss Anna ordered lunch, and I'm a-gettin' it," was Dixson's reply.

"Yes, but such a lunch for a waiting woman; and going to send it up. I'd

like to know if she's too big a lady to come into the kitchen," and

Asenath's sharp shoulders jerked savagely.

"I must say, I think you very foolish indeed, to take a person about

whom you know nothing," she said to Anna, as soon as she saw her, but

Advertisement..

stopped short as Willie ran out from the adjoining room and stood

looking at her.

As well as she was capable of doing, Asenath had loved her brother John

when a baby; and when he became a prattling active child, like the one

standing before her, she had almost worshiped him, thinking there was

never a face so pretty or manner so engaging as his. There had come no

baby after him, and she remembered him so well, starting now with

surprise as she saw reflected in Willie's face the look she never had

forgotten.

"Who is he, Anna? Not her child, the waiting woman's, surely."

"Hush--sh," came warningly from Anna, as she glanced toward the open

door, and that brought Asenath back from her dream of the past.

It was the waiting woman's child. There was no look like John now. She

had been mistaken, and rather rudely pushing him away, she said: "I

think you might have consulted us, at least. What are we to do with a

child in this house? Here, here, young man," and Asenath started forward

just in time to frighten Willie and make him drop and break the goblet

he was trying to reach from the stand, "to dink," as he said.

Asenath's purple silk was deluged with the water, and her temper was

considerably ruffled as she exclaimed: "You see the mischief he has

done, and it was cut glass, too. I hope you'll deduct it from her

wages!"

"Asenath," and Anna's voice betrayed her astonishment that her sister

should speak so in Adah's presence.

She had hurried out at Asenath's alarm, but the latter did not at first

observe her, and when she did, she was actually startled into an apology

for her speech.

"I'm sorry Willie was so careless. I'll pay for the goblet cheerfully,"

Adah said, not to Asenath, but to Anna, who answered kindly: "No matter;

it was already cracked across the bottom--don't mind."

But Adah did mind; and once alone in her room, her tears fell in

torrents. She had heard the whole about Willie's mischief, heard of the

buds torn to pieces, and of the hole kicked in the carpet. She would

like to see that hole, and after Willie was asleep, she stole down to

the reception-room to see the damage for herself. She found the hole, or

what was intended for it, smiling as she examined the few loose threads;

and then she hunted for the stool, finding it under the curtain where

Eudora had placed it, and finding, too, that letter dropped by Jim. The

others were gone, appropriated by Mrs. Richards, who always watched for

the western mail and looked it over herself.




Most Popular