y bright that the voices of
my guests were not restful to me. I was almost irritated by one
shrill-voiced creature who insisted on going through every room, even to
our study. Her tone was dictatorial and severe. Still I might have
retained her had she not commented disagreeably on the dishes in the
kitchen sink.

One after another they followed her example. Every woman of them began
to make excuses and back away when she looked at that unwashed china.
Most of them perjured themselves with the statement that they had come
to see about a place for another girl.

After the initial lot they scattered along through the forenoon. Tom had
got up, meantime, and was leaning on the front window-sill watching
hungrily for the ice-man.

In the midst of this anguish the bell rang once more, timidly and with
evident hesitation, and a moment later I feebly opened the door to
admit--Ann!

She was neatly dressed, as when she had first come to us, and there were
other gratifying indications of reform.

"Sure an' I saw your advertisement," she began, humbly, "an' I thought
two such gintlemen as yerselves moight not be too hard on a daycent
woman who only takes a drop or two now an' then----"

I led her back to the kitchen and pointed to the sink. As we passed
through the dining-room she noticed the empty bottles on the table and
crossed herself. When she looked at the kitchen sink she exclaimed,
"Holy Mary!" But she did not desert us. Her charity was greater than
ours.

I went in to tell Tom of the renovation and general reform that was
about to begin. He had just succeeded in hailing the ice-man and was
feeling better. When I went back into the kitchen there was a
wash-boiler of water heating on the range.

Just then the postman whistled and brought a letter from the Little
Woman.

"I have decided to stay a week longer than I intended," she wrote. "It
is so pleasant here, and Ann, I am sure, is taking good care of you."

We had a confidential understanding with Ann that night. She remained
with us a year afterward, and during that time the sacred trust formed
by the three of us was not betrayed.

X.

_A "Flat" Failure._

In the Monte Cristo apartments it would seem that we had found harbor at
last. Days ran into weeks, weeks to months, and these became a year, at
length--the first we had passed under any one roof. Then there came a
change. The house was not so well built as it had appeared, and with the
beginn