at is my darling girl! And now put away your wheel and come and sit
down here, and let us have a pleasant talk after all this solemn
nonsense. And when Joe comes in--Where the mischief is that fellow, and
why don't he come with the cones, I wonder? Anyhow, when he does come I
will send him down in the cellar for some nuts and apples, and we will
have a little feast."

Gem sat back her wheel, and came and took her seat on a stool at the old
lady's feet.

"Gem," said Mrs. Winterose, passing her hand through the girl's dark
curls, "my two daughters have been horrifying us by telling of some
awful events that happened on certain long past Hallow Eves. But they
have said nothing of the pleasant things that have happened on later
Hallow Eves! They haven't said a word of that Hallow Eve when me and my
Libby was a sitting in our cabin without provisions, and a wondering
where the money to buy them was to come from, and how long the agent
would let us live there, seeing as we had no right, after my old man,
who was the overseer, died, when in walks the agent himself, and offers
of us a home rent free here, with the use of the garden, the orchard,
and the wood, with a small salary besides, if so be we would come here
and live with Tabby, and help keep rats and thieves and rust and mould
out of the old house. You may depend, Gem, as we jumped at the offer,
and came here the very next day."

"That was all the kindness of my child! It didn't need nobody but me to
do all that. But, my sweet angel, she wanted to provide for you and
Libby, and to make us all comfortable and happy together," said Miss
Tabby.

"Yes, I know. Heaven bless her, wherever she is! And that was a happy
Hallow Eve. But the next one was even happier, Gem."

"Yes, dear grandma, I know," smiled the girl.

"Yes, for just one year from that time, when Hallow Eve came around
again, I got up early in the morning, as I used to do _then_ as well as
now, and I came down into this very room, and went through to that back
door and into the back room, and opened the back porch door to let in
the morning air, and there on the porch with the sun shining bright on
the scarlet seed-pods of the rose vines all over the shed, there, like a
cradle, stood a large wicker basket, with a two year old baby
comfortably tucked up into it, and fast asleep."

"That was I," said the maiden.

"Yes, Gem, it was you. But just think of my astonishment when I found
you there! I stared at