efore she retired, Letty, who had shown herself a very capable
attendant, said to her: "Wot's your name, miss? I allus likes to know
the names o' ladies I waits on.''

"My name," said the lady, "is Mrs Null."

CHAPTER IV.

The Autumn sun was shining very pleasantly when, about nine o'clock in
the morning, Mrs Null came out on the porch, and, standing at the top of
the steps, looked about her. She had on her hat with the red flowers,
and she wore a short jacket, into the pockets of which her hands were
thrust with an air which indicated satisfaction with the circumstances
surrounding her. The old dog, lying on the grass at the bottom of the
steps, looked up at her and flopped his tail upon the ground. Mrs Null
called to him in a cheerful tone and the dog arose, and, hesitatingly,
put his forefeet on the bottom step; then, when she held out her hand
and spoke to him again, he determined that, come what might, he would go
up those forbidden steps, and let her pat his head. This he did, and
after looking about him to assure himself that this was reality and not
a dog dream, he lay down upon the door-mat, and, with a sigh of relief,
composed himself to sleep. A black turkey gobbler, who looked as if he
had been charred in a fire, followed by five turkey hens, also
suggesting the idea that water had been thrown over them before anything
but their surfaces had been burned, came timidly around the house and
stopped before venturing upon the greensward in front of the porch;
then, seeing nobody but Mrs Null, they advanced with bobbing heads and
swaying bodies to look into the resources of this seldom explored
region. Plez, who was coming from the spring with a pail of water on his
head, saw the dog on the porch and the turkeys on the grass, and stopped
to regard the spectacle. He looked at them, and he looked at Mrs Null,
and a grin of amused interest spread itself over his face.

Mrs Null went down the steps and approached the boy. "Plez," said she,
"if your mistress, or anybody, should come here this morning, you must
run over to Pine Top Hill and call me. I'm going there to read."

"Don' you want me to go wid yer, and show you de way, Miss Null?" asked
Plez, preparing to set down his pail.

"Oh, no," said she, "I know the way." And with her hands still in her
pockets, from one of which protruded a rolled-up novel, she walked down
to the little stream which ran from the spring, crossed the plank and
took the path