behaved so very badly. Mother spoiled them, I reckon."

"Why, that's too bad," put in kind Miss Oleander. "I used to see them
playing in their yard and I was much attracted by them. I don't see how
such sweet-looking children could be so very naughty."

"Nonsense!" cried Miss Chisholm. "My cousin taught little Polly Waller
and she says she was the most tractable child she has ever had in her
class. The boy was too young for school, but I happened to hear his
kindergarten teacher discussing the family with my cousin and she said
Peter was a love of a boy and clever beyond anything. He is a born
leader, so she said."

"They are sneaky," asserted Mrs. Claiborne. "I have heard of many
sneaky underhand things they have done. Poor Chester Hunt, I don't envy
him the job of guardian."

"Neither do I," said Josie to herself.

"He has had a great deal of trouble with servants lately," said Miss
Hite-Smith. "I hear he is not trying to keep up the whole house but it
takes several servants to maintain any kind of cleanliness in such a
huge house. He is advertising for white maids, so I hear. It seems the
colored ones think the place is haunted."

"He is advertising for white maids!" Josie repeated to herself.

CHAPTER XI
JOSIE ENGAGES AN ASSISTANT

Josie regretted her job. Life was becoming complicated, what with
trying to organize a force of canvassers for household necessities and
jewel novelties when every moment of her waking hours must be spent
trying to find out the true inwardness of the affair concerning Peter
and Polly and their demented mother. Her boss was trusting her, so she
must make good. And had she not, as Josie O'Gorman, highly recommended
Miss Sally Blossom? It was doubly up to her to deliver the goods. So
she thought as she sat in her little hall bedroom and went over in her
mind all she had learned that day.

There was a tap on her door. It was Miss Chisholm coming to call.

"I thought you might be lonesome," she said. "The guests of this house
are not very friendly to 'outsiders,' as they designate everybody who
hasn't been living at Miss Denton's since the flood. I liked the way
you shut up Judge Tuttle about your family name. The folks here talk
all the time about who's who. Sometimes I try to switch them over to
what's what but I can't keep them long from their beloved genealogical
dope."

"I didn't mean to shut him up," laughed Josie. "I was rattled to beat
the band."

Josie looked keenl