putting things to rights," as
she called it, while Phoebe took her book to the west window and was
soon lost in certain modern theories concerning the Baconian authorship
of Shakespeare's works.

"Is these duds yourn, Mr. Droop?" asked Rebecca, sharply, pointing to a
motley collection of goods piled in one corner of the main room.

"Yes," Droop replied, coming quickly to her side. "Them's some of the
inventions I'm carryin' along."

He stooped and gathered up a number of boxes and bundles in his arms.
Then he stood up and looked about him as though seeking a safe place for
their deposit.

"That's all right," said Rebecca. "Ye can put 'em right back, Mr. Droop.
I jest wanted to see whether the' was much dust back in there."

Droop replaced his goods with a sigh of relief. One box he retained,
however, and, placing it upon the table, proceeded to unpack it.

Rebecca now turned her attention to her own belongings. Lifting one of
her precious flower-pots carefully, she looked all about for a more
suitable location for her plants.

"Phoebe," she exclaimed at length, "where ever can I set my slips?
They ought to be in the sun there by the east window, but it'll dirt up
the coverin' of the settle."

Phoebe looked up from her book.

"Why don't ye spread out that newspaper you brought with you?" she said.

Rebecca shook her head.

"No," she replied, "I couldn't do thet. The's a lot o' fine recipes in
there--I never could make my sweet pickle as good as thet recipe in the
New York paper thet Molly sent me."

Phoebe laid down her book and walked over to her sister's side.

"Oh, the' must be some part of it you can use, Rebecca," she said. "Land
sakes!" she continued, laughing. "Why, it's the whole of the _New York
World_ for a Sunday--pictures an' all! Here--take this advertisin' piece
an' spread it out--so."

She tore off a portion of the voluminous paper and carefully spread it
out on one of the eastern settles.

"Whatever did you bring those slips with you for?" she asked.

Rebecca deposited the flower-pots carefully in the sun and slapped her
hands across each other to remove the dust on them.

"One o' them is off my best honeysuckle thet come from a slip thet Sam
Mellick brought from Japan in 1894. This geranium come off a plant thet
was given me by Arabella Slade, 'fore she died in 1896, an' she cut it
off'n a geranium thet come from a lot thet Joe Chandler's father raised
from slips cut off of some plan