h she is a bit
noisy over it; she is good to us both in her way, and I am not
quarrelsome by nature, so, as I like to work in peace, I just stop my
ears and hum to myself, and if she scolds I mind it no more than I do
the buzzing of the blue-bottles on the glass."

"But the child Kit?" questioned Malcolm a little anxiously. Then a
queer little twisted smile came to Caleb's face.

"She is used to it, is Kit, and she don't take it to heart much. I have
heard her cheek Ma'am sometimes. Ma'am wouldn't hurt a hair of her
head, for all her bouncings and flinging of pots and kettles when she
is in a temper. It is the basement tries her, poor soul. She says she
has never been used to it. Her first husband was in the tin trade, and
they had a tidy little shop in the Borough."

"Oh, Mrs. Martin has been married before," observed Malcolm. He was
rather surprised at this piece of intelligence.

"Lord love you, yes, sir; and when she became Josh Leggett's widow she
just took up with me because she said she felt lonesome. She did it
with her eyes open as I often tell her, but she has never got over the
basement. It does not agree with her constitution, and it never will."

"I suppose Kit is Mrs. Martin's child?" asked Malcolm, as he digested
this information.

Then Caleb gave a dry little laugh.

"Bless you, no, sir. Kezia never had any family. That was always a sore
point with her. She said that was why she was so lonesome, and I
believe she married me mostly on Kit's account. Oh, she has a good
heart, has Ma'am," continued Caleb in his slow, ruminative way, "though
she would talk a dozen men stupid, one after another, and be as fresh
as paint herself." And with this graphic description of the second Mrs.
Martin, Caleb touched his old hat and slouched away.

CHAPTER VI

YEA-VERILY AND BABS

We will have a swashing and a martial outside.
--As You Like It.

The direct influence of good women is the greatest of
all forces under Divine Grace for making good men.
--KNOX LITTLE.

Never had that much-loved hymn "The Pilgrims of the Night" sounded so
flatly and discordantly in Anna's ears as when she listened to Caleb's
monotonous croak; but her sense of irritation changed to alarm when
Mrs. Martin suddenly shook her fist at the open door and vanished.
Malcolm, who promptly followed her, was just in time to see her shaking
the cobbler by his coat-colla