here and
attend to Mike's clothes, and see that he is comfortable, instead of
giving up the little time you do work to that minister, and everybody
knows that the reason you have taken him to board is that you want to set
yourself up above the rest of the congregation."

"Good laws, Miss Panney!" exclaimed Phoebe, "I don't see as how anybody
can think that!"

"Well, I do," replied the old lady, "and plenty of other people besides.
But as you won't go out to Cobhurst to attend to your own duty, I want
you to go there to attend to something for me. I was going myself, but I
start for the seashore to-morrow, and have not time. I want to know how
that poor Mr. Ralph is getting along. Molly Tooney has left, and his
sister is away, and of course those two Drane women are temporary
boarders and take no care of him or his clothes. To be sure, there is a
woman there, but she is that English-French creature who gives all her
time to fancy dishes, and I suppose never made a bed or washed a shirt in
her life."

"That's so, Miss Panney," said Phoebe, eagerly, "an' I reckon it's a lot
of slops he has to eat now. 'Tain't like the good wholesome meals I gave
him when I cooked thar. An' as fur washin', if there's any of that done,
I reckon Mike does it."

"I should not wonder," said the old lady. "And, Phoebe, I want you to go
out there this afternoon, and look over Mr. Haverley's linen, and see
what ought to be washed or mended, and take general notice of how things
are going on. I shall see his sister, and I want to report the state of
affairs at her home. For all I know, those Dranes and their cook may pack
up and clear out to-morrow if the notion takes them. Then you must meet
me at the station at nine o'clock to-morrow morning, and tell me what you
find out. If things are going all wrong, Mr. Haverley will never write to
his sister to disturb her mind. Start for Cobhurst as soon as you can,
and I will pay your carriage hire--no, I will not do that, for I want
you to make a good long stay, and it will cost too much to keep a hack
waiting. You can walk just as well as not, and it will do you good. And
while you are there, Phoebe, you might take notice of Miss Drane. If she
has finished the work she was doing for the doctor, and is just sitting
about idly or strolling around the place, it is likely they will soon
leave, for if the young woman does not work they cannot afford to stay
there. And that is a thing Miss Miriam ought to