re were two
apartments on the right. She afterwards learned that they were parlor
and library. On the left was one spacious room designed either for a
sitting-room or a bedroom.

At the end of the hall was the dining-room, running two-thirds of the
way across the house. To Beth's surprise, she found the table unset,
and no one within. She feared she had missed luncheon. Chancing,
however, to look out through an open door, she immediately gave a
little cry of delight, for she beheld Mr. and Mrs. Davenport and Marian
seated at a table on the roomy piazza that ran between the dining-room
and the kitchen.

Beth seized Gustus by the hand and drew him towards the family party.
Fritz bounded and yelped at their heels. His cries attracted the
attention of the occupants of the piazza.

"Why, Elizabeth Davenport, what----"

"Oh, papa, this is Gustus, and I want you to let him work for us. This
wonderful, wonderful dog is his, and if Gustus works for us, I can have
Fritz to play with."

Beth stopped an instant for breath, which gave some of the others a
chance to speak.

"Mamma, aren't his rags disgraceful?" whispered Marian to her mother.

"James, what shall we do?"

Mr. Davenport addressed the boy. "Are you looking for work?"

Gustus hung his head, but managed to say:

"Yes, massa, an' little missy 'lowed yo'd hire me and Fritz."

"Oh, papa, please, please hire them. Fritz is such a very wonderful
dog."

Whereupon Indianna Scott, who was acting as waitress, spoke up:

"Don't yo' b'lieve dat, missy. Dat dog am nothin' but a no 'count
fice."

Beth had never heard a dog called a fice. She feared it might be
something very terrible. Afterwards she learned that it was a Southern
provincialism for a common dog.

"Do you know the boy, Indianna?"

"I know of him, massa. His paw am dead, an' his maw has a dozen or so
of chilun, an' dey are so pooh dat the maw can't get clothes 'nuff to
cover dem. Dey say as how dis boy am always braggin' of his dog, and
dat the dog am no 'count."

Gustus lost his hang-dog appearance. His eyes snapped.

"Dat ain't true. Fritz kin do all I say, only he's bashful."

Fritz did not appear very bashful, but was capering around Beth.
However, her heart was won, and she cried:

"Anyway, Gustus, you and I love Fritz, don't we? Dear papa, please,
please keep them."

"What can you do, Gustus?" he asked slowly.

"I--I kin brush flies," cried he exultantly.

"The boy m