he had declared to
Mrs. Bucknor they had eaten at a hotel on the way was purely
imaginary. Crackers and cheese from a country store they had passed on
their journey and a spray of black-heart cherries he had pulled from a
tree by the wayside was all he and his mistress had eaten since the
evening before at supper.

That supper! Would he ever forget it? From the back porch steps he
had heard the insults flung at Miss Ann by her hostess. Of course
everybody who was anybody, or who had ever belonged to anybody, knew
that Mrs. Elizabeth Throckmorton, known as Cousin Betty, was not
really a member of the family but had merely married into it.
According to Uncle Billy's geography she was not even an American, let
alone a Kentuckian, since she had come from some foreign parts vaguely
spoken of as New England. He and Miss Ann never had liked to visit
there, but stopped on rare occasions when they felt that being an
outsider her feelings might be hurt when she heard they had been in
her neighborhood, had passed by her farm without paying their respects
in the shape of a short visit.

The encounter between the two ladies had been short and sharp, while
the Throckmorton family sat in frightened silence. Miss Ann and Uncle
Billy had been there only two days but from the beginning of the visit
Uncle Billy had felt that things were not going so smoothly as he had
hoped. Things had not been running very well for the chronic visitors
in several of the places visited during the last year but there had
been no open break or rudeness until that evening at the
Throckmortons'. It was a little unfortunate that they had come in on
the family without warning, just as the oldest grandchildren were
recovering from measles and the youngest daughter, Lucy, had made up
her mind to have a June wedding. The measles had necessitated an extra
house cleaning and fumigation of the nursery and the young sufferers
had been put in the guest chamber to sleep, while the June wedding
meant many visits to Louisville for trousseau and much conversation on
the subject of who should not be invited and what kind of refreshments
must be served.

A more unpropitious moment for paying a visit could not have been
chosen. It was plain to see that the Throckmortons were not aware of
the honor conferred upon them. The guest chamber having been converted
into a convalescent hospital, Miss Ann must share room and bed with
the reluctant Lucy. Bureau drawers were cleared