eth's amusement. At her peremptory summons Mr. Gordon
came in from his garden to lend a hand, evidently under the impression
that Sarah Emily had never left, and was merely attending to her
customary duties. There was much running to and fro, and banging of
stove-pipes, and a great deal of talk and laughter, for Sarah Emily was
always in the gayest spirits if she happened to be at The Dale during
the absence of its mistress. Besides, she was a born commander, and
shouted orders to her two subordinates with the greatest enjoyment.

All went smoothly and swiftly until the work was almost accomplished,
when a delay occurred. Mr. Gordon was downstairs removing the
stove-pipes from the study. Above, Sarah Emily, mounted upon a chair,
was supporting the long black column that ran into the chimney, while
Elizabeth, down on her knees, was preventing another column from
descending into the room below.

"Now, you down there!" shouted Sarah Emily, "you carry out them pipes
to the barnyard, so's the sut won't fly onto them clothes on the line,
an' me an' Lizzie 'll hold these till you get back."

Mr. Gordon, obedient to the voice from above, took the pipes, and his
retreating footsteps could be heard along the passage leading to the
kitchen. While they waited his return Sarah Emily beguiled the time
with a story of how she circumvented that there Pete, who had
determined to sell the brindled cow to a butcher in Cheemaun. But she
showed him who was boss, so she did. Though married Sarah Emily still
kept up her show of cruel indifference, and never lost an opportunity
of telling how she trampled upon her husband. The neighbors, however,
knew that she waited upon Peter hand and foot, and that he was growing
fat and arrogant. So Elizabeth did not know just how much the
brindled-cow story was colored by the story-teller's imagination. She
responded with a tale of the city, such as Sarah Emily liked, full of
finely dressed ladies, and flower-bedecked drawing-rooms. Then Sarah
Emily recounted once again her experiences when she worked as maid for
Mrs. Oliver and first became acquainted with high life and Mrs. Jarvis.
This last circumstance she thankfully declared to be the beginning of
Lizzie's good luck.

But in spite of much entertaining talk, it soon began to be borne in
upon the minds of the two that both time and the stove-pipes were
hanging rather heavily on their hands. Elizabeth shifted her cramped
position and wo