at
would soon bring him to his destination only two miles away.

Miss Elizabeth French lived at the old homestead. She was a maiden lady
and had lived alone ever since the death of her father. Once a year she
made a bargain with the man who tilled the farm on shares and
occasionally asked him a few questions relative to the crops.

Further than that she had little to do with the outside world. One
consequence was that her house and its surroundings showed the urgent
need of a caring hand. Stones were missing from the chimney, and
shingles from the roof. The frame was out of repair and there were only
traces left of former coats of paint. Of the picket fence which had once
bounded her possessions in front, not even a post remained. Years
before, the slats had begun to decay, until the dilapidation became an
eyesore to even Miss Elizabeth herself. But when the cow-boys in search
of their charges that always pastured along the sides of the road,
rattled their sticks over its surface, it became a nuisance she could no
longer stand. So one morning after having been awakened unusually early
by her noisy tormentors, she had every vestige removed, and the
post-holes filled, leaving the yard as open and unprotected as the
street itself.

It may have been the need of some one to help her put her outside world
to rights, and her knowledge of Jem's peculiar talents, that inspired
the unexpected invitation. However that might be, she stood at the
window watching as Jem, red-faced and dusty from his walk, came up the
path.

"So ye've come, hev ye?" said she as she let him in and relieved him of
his satchel. "Ye look kind o' tuckered out. S'pose the folks must all be
well, or ye wouldn't hev come. Yer father ain't doin' nothin' yet, I
take it, 'cept shettin' himself up, same as ever, and leavin' his family
to shift for themselves? Hungry too, ain't ye? That 'minds me."

But first she took him to a little room he was to occupy, that he might
bathe his hands and face. The apartment was neat and cosey, for however
slack she may have been with the outside of her mansion, Miss French was
a good housekeeper. And by the time he had washed and looked over a
little pile of books that lay upon the old-fashioned bureau, his aunt
was calling him down to dinner.

"Well, Jem," said Miss Elizabeth, as they sat facing each other at the
little table, "it seems good to see somebody a-sittin' here an' eatin'
besides myself. Hope ye won't git lone