e towel with the blacksmith and his wife. He had seen
the roller towel hanging beside the sink, and judged from its appearance
that it had already been used nearly a week.

"I have been accustomed to wash in my own room," he ventured to say.

"You've been used to a great many things that you won't find here,"
replied Mrs. Bickford, grimly.

Kit thought it extremely likely.

"If you can't do as the rest of us do, you can get along without
washing," continued the lady.

"I will try and manage," answered Kit, bearing in mind that he expected
to leave the Bickford mansion forever the next morning.

"That new boy of yours is kind of uppish," remarked Mrs. Bickford, when
she returned to the sitting room.

"What's the matter now?"

"He wants to wash in his own room. He's too fine a gentleman to wash in
the kitchen."

"What did you tell him?"

Mrs. Bickford repeated her remark.

"Good for you, mother! We'll take down his pride a little."

"Is he goin' to work in them fine clo'es he brought with him?"

"He didn't bring any others."

"He'll spile 'em, and not have anything to wear to meetin'."

"Haven't we got a pair of overalls in the house--one that the last boy
used?"

"Yes; I'll get 'em right away."

"They'll be good for him to wear."

Before Kit got into bed, the door of his chamber was unceremoniously
opened, and Mrs. Bickford walked in, carrying a faded pair of overalls.

"You can put these on in the mornin'," she said. "They'll keep your
clo'es clean. They may be a mite long for you, but you can turn up the
legs at the bottom."

She left the room without waiting for an answer.

Kit surveyed the overalls with amusement.

"I wonder how I should look in them," he said to himself.

He drew them over his trousers, and regarded his figure as well as he
could in the little seven by nine glass that hung on the wall.

"There is Kit, the young blacksmith!" he said with a smile. "On the
whole, I don't think it improves my appearance. I'll take them off, and
leave them for the next boy."

"What did the boy say, mother?" asked Mr. Bickford, upon his wife's
return.

"He just took 'em; he didn't say anything."

"I s'pose he's never worn overalls before," said the blacksmith. "What
do you think he told me on the way over?"

"I don't know."

"He said he wasn't goin' to work for me at all. He didn't like the
blacksmith's trade."

"Well, of all things!"

"I just told him he hadn't no choice in the m