-morrow; we ought to get
an answer."

Stott meantime had been figuring on the time of Shirley's probable
arrival. If the cablegram had been received in Paris the previous
evening it would be too late to catch the French boat. The North
German Lloyd steamer was the next to leave and it touched at
Cherbourg. She would undoubtedly come on that. In a week at most
she would be here. Then it became a question as to who should go
to meet her at the dock. The judge could not go, that was certain.
It would be too much of an ordeal. Mrs. Rossmore did not know the
lower part of the city well, and had no experience in meeting
ocean steamships. There was only one way out--would Stott go? Of
course he would and he would bring Shirley back with him to
Massapequa. So during the next few days while Stott and the judge
toiled preparing their case, which often necessitated brief trips
to the city, Mrs. Rossmore, seconded with sulky indifference by
Eudoxia, was kept busy getting a room ready for her daughter's
arrival.

Eudoxia, who came originally from County Cork, was an Irish lady
with a thick brogue and a husky temper. She was amiable enough so
long as things went to her satisfaction, but when they did not
suit her she was a termagant. She was neither beautiful nor
graceful, she was not young nor was she very clean. Her usual
condition was dishevelled, her face was all askew, and when she
dressed up she looked like a valentine. Her greatest weakness was
a propensity for smashing dishes, and when reprimanded she would
threaten to take her traps and skidoo. This news of the arrival of
a daughter failed to fill her with enthusiasm. Firstly, it meant
more work; secondly she had not bargained for it. When she took
the place it was on the understanding that the family consisted
only of an elderly gentleman and his wife, that there was
practically no work, good wages, plenty to eat, with the privilege
of an evening out when she pleased. Instead of this millennium she
soon found Stott installed as a permanent guest and now a daughter
was to be foisted on her. No wonder hard working girls were
getting sick and tired of housework!

As already hinted there was no unhealthy curiosity among
Massapequans regarding their new neighbors from the city but some
of the more prominent people of the place considered it their duty
to seek at least a bowing acquaintance with the Rossmores by
paying them a formal visit. So the day following the conversat