as the flowers I throw out of the vases, looking twice her
age--"

"I hope she's well out of earshot, Bates."

"And it's all the fault of that man!" said the butler passionately, his
eyes shining with anger and indignation and his usual careful diction
sacrificed to the greater need of plain speech. "It's him that has
done it with his sneerin' mockin' ways that would bring an angel to
tears--his penny-savin', snivelin' meanness that grudges her every cent
she spends, just as though he'd had a dollar to call his own before she
lifted him out of the gutter where he belongs. 'Twould have been
kinder if he had up in the beginning and struck her over the head and
been done with it instead of wearin' her down to skin and bones by his
naggin' and growlin' and snarlin'. And how do you think I've felt,
Miss Ocky, while I stood by all these years and watched it goin' on
unable to lift a finger to her help? 'Tis only once and again, when he
has her near to tears at the table, that I'm able to drop a plate or
joggle his elbow and him drinkin' coffee the while, and so distract his
attention."

He paused for breath. Ordinarily Miss Ocky would have been vastly
entertained by this sketch of Simon's attention being distracted, but
she was in no mood for amusement at the moment. Her eyes were hard,
and if she deliberately kept her comments pitched on a semi-humorous
note, it was more to pacify and soothe the old butler than anything
else.

"I gather you don't care for Mr. Varr," she said.

"Does any one, Miss Ocky?" he retorted more calmly.

"You used a curious expression a moment since," she said, ignoring a
question she deemed purely rhetorical. "You spoke of yourself as 'Miss
Lucy's man.' Just what did you mean, Bates? I know you don't use
words just because you like the sound of them."

"You don't miss anything, do you, Miss Ocky?"

His set face softened as he regarded her with a look almost of
affection. "No, you were never one to miss anything! I'll tell you
what I meant, though I've never breathed a word of it even to Miss
Lucy, bless her!"

"There are a lot of things you could tell me," said Miss Ocky, "and I
hope some day you will. Go ahead with this one, first."

"It dates back. I could make a long story of it, but I won't. You
might say it goes back to the time I took service with your father and
mother. I was in trouble, mortal trouble, when they took me in, Miss
Ocky, and they gave me a home and