Davy could have the joy
that seemed to us all a burden. That's the way it is when the 'former
things have passed away,'"--the girl's tears fell among the
flowers,--"such things do not matter then; but here they do! Oh, they
matter most of all!"

Mrs. Jo G., her boarders gone and her body weary from the summer's
strain, gathered her neglected social charms together for Susan Jane's
funeral. There would be a reunion of all Quinton that day. There would
be a repast worthy the minister's donation. Eliza Jane Smith had offered
her services as housekeeper _pro tem_.

"An' a mercy, too!" snapped Mrs. Jo G., lapping a plaid shirt waist over
her scrawny chest. "Janet's 'bout as useful at such times as a flounder.
Lord save us! how I have fell away this season! We've cleared two
hundred dollars, an' about all my heft. Maud Grace!"

"Yes, Ma!" Maud Grace appeared, bleached out and thin, her eyes red from
weeping and her voice shaky.

"What in land's name is the matter with you?" Mrs. Jo G. paused to gaze
at the sodden face of the girl she had sacrificed much for during the
season.

"Susan Jane!" faltered Maud.

"You ain't mournin' fur her, are you?"

"No, ma'am. But I don't want t' go t' her buryin'. I ain't got no
appetite fur corpses, they always make me faint."

"Well, you're goin', faint or no faint! So look after the children, an'
get them ready. Land of love! I should think the sound of the stillness
up at the Light, after Susan Jane's clatter, would 'bout knock David
out. I will say fur him, that he's earned his reward. Do stop
snivellin', Maud Grace! You look as if you, 'stead of me, had frizzled
over the cook stove all summer! It's bad enough to think you didn't land
a beau, without lookin' as if you felt it! That Janet's goin's on hasn't
served her neither, but she ain't goin' t' gloat over you while you've
got a ma what can steer you straight. You get int' your best clothes and
perk up a bit; you can boss it over Janet. Her name is a soundin' cymbal
or soon will be! She's got her mother in her strong. It's sort o' wrung
out of me, since Janet's acted up so, though I had meant t' keep my own
knowledge."

"I don't know as she's done anything much, Ma; jest trapsed on the Hills
some an' turned her nose up at boarders mostly. Mr. Fitch said,"--a
weak color flushed Maud's face for an instant,--"Mr. Fitch said she felt
herself high an' mighty. But that ain't no crime." Mr. Fitch's name was
one with which to conju