er outside. He spoke in
gasps and we heard the pail clatter to the porch floor.

"I regretfully report----" he said, through the keyhole. "No milk. Wrong
sex. Sorry."

Ten of the eggs proving good, we placed two of them on a plate with
three biscuits and a bowl of mush, and Tish carried it out, placing it
on the floor of the porch, much as she would have set it out for the
dog.

"Here," she called. "And when you have finished you might go after that
accomplice of yours. He's probably asleep somewhere."

"Dear lady," said Mr. Culver, "I would, but I dare not. A fiery
creature, breathing fury from its nostrils, is abroad and----"

But Tish came in and slammed the door.

It was after supper that we missed Tish. She was nowhere in the house,
and the kitchen door, which had been bolted, was unlocked. Aggie wrung
her hands, but Myrtle was quite calm.

"I shouldn't worry about her," she said. "She's about as well able to
take care of herself as any woman I ever saw."

It was now quite dark, and our fears increased. But soon afterwards Tish
came in. She went to the stove and pouring out a cup of hot water, drank
it in silence. Then she said:

"I've been to the Knowleses'. The dratted idiots are all away, probably
to the schoolhouse, registering. The car's gone, and the house is
closed."

"And the policeman?" I asked.

"I didn't see him," said Tish. But she did not look at me. She fell to
pacing up and down the kitchen, deep in thought.

"What time is it, Lizzie?" she asked.

"Almost eight."

Here Tish gave what in another woman would have been a groan.

"It's raining," she observed, and fell to pacing again. At last she told
me to follow her outside, and I went, feeling that she had at last made
a decision. Her attitude throughout her period of cogitation had been
not unlike that of Napoleon before Waterloo. There were the same bent
head and clasped hands, the same melancholy mixed with determination.

Mr. Culver was sitting under his tree, with his coat collar turned up
around his neck. Tish stopped and surveyed him with gentle dignity.

"You may enter the house," she said. "The country will gain nothing by
your having pneumonia, although personally I am indifferent. And, after
thinking over your case, I have come to this decision." She paused, as
for oratorical effect. "I shall deliver you to your registration
precinct by nine o'clock," she said impressively, "and immediately after
that, I shall see that