ilian came in and made himself neat, as usual, then the guests.

Cynthia was very quiet. Twice Miss Winn answered a question for her. She
scarcely ate anything. Then she said wearily:

"I am so tired and sleepy. Can't I go to bed?"

CHAPTER IV

UNWELCOME

Miss Winn and her charge went down to the ship the next morning with
Chilian Leverett. Elizabeth inspected the rooms. She was not meddlesome,
nor over-curious generally, but with a feeling of possessorship and
responsibility in the house, she wanted to know how far she could trust
the newcomers. The beds were well made, but closets and drawers were
rather awry. She did begrudge the best chamber, and wondered whether it
would not be possible to change them about presently. True, they seldom
had guests.

Then a new load of boxes came, with two trunks, and several more pieces
of furniture. The latter were left standing in the hall. The garret had
been a sort of fetich with Elizabeth. There were dried herbs hanging to
the rafters in their muslin bags, so as not to make a litter and mostly
for the fragrance. There was not a cobweb anywhere. On one side of the
sloping roof were ranged their own trunks and chests, two of cedar, in
which woollen clothes and blankets passed the summer, securely hidden
from moths. In one gable were miscellaneous household articles, a few
chairs good enough to be repaired, a more than century-old cherry table,
spinning-wheels, a bedstead piled high with a feather bed, and
numberless pillows, for Elizabeth thought it her duty to make a new pair
every year, as they kept a flock of geese that spent their days in a
small cove on South River.

The interloper boxes could make a row down the cleared side. That left
the centre, the highest part, clear for drying clothes, which probably
would not be needed until winter. But careful Elizabeth planned ahead
for every emergency. True, the emergency did not always fit the plans,
but it gave her tense spirit a rest.

The Salem air was fragrant, with all manner of sweet springtime
odors--the ship was not. Things that had been stored in the hold came up
with a certain old smell and a little mustiness. First, Cynthia held her
nose and made a wry face. But it was delightful to run about and
exchange greetings with the sailors, who seemed merry enough over their
work.

"Well, missy," said the captain, catching her in his arms as she ran,
"how do you like living on dry land? You haven't lost your