she was dressing,
and knew that Hannah had returned. Her father was in the dining-room
when she entered. He usually took an earlier train, but this morning
he had felt utterly unable to rise. Maria noticed, with a sudden
qualm of fear, how ill and old and worn-out he looked, but Harry
himself spoke first with concern for her.

"Papa's poor little girl!" he said, kissing her. "She looks tired
out. Did you sleep, darling?"

"Yes, after a while. Are you sick, papa?"

"No, dear. Why?"

"Because you did not go on the other train."

"No, dear, I am all right, just a little tired," replied Harry. Then
he added, looking solicitously at Maria, "Are you sure you feel able
to go to school to-day?--because you need not, you know."

"I am all right," said Maria.

She and her father had seated themselves at the table. Harry looked
at his watch.

"We shall neither of us go if we don't get our breakfast before
long," he said.

Then Hannah came in, with a lowering look, bringing the coffee-pot
and the chops and rolls.

"Where is Annie?" asked Harry.

"I don't know," replied Hannah, with a toss of her head and a
compression of her lips. She was a large, solid woman, with a cast in
her eyes. She had never been married.

"You don't know?" said Harry, helping Maria to a chop and a roll,
while Hannah poured the coffee.

"No," said Hannah again, and this time her face was fairly malicious.
"I don't know how long I can stand such doin's, and that's the
truth," she said.

Hannah had come originally from New England, and had principles, in
which she took pride, perhaps the more because they had never in one
sense been assailed. Annie was a Hungarian, and considered by Hannah
to have no principles. She was also pretty, in a rough, half-finished
sort of fashion, and had no cast in her eyes. Hannah privately
considered that as against her.

Harry began sipping his coffee, which Hannah had set down with such
impetus that she spilled a good deal in the saucer, and he looked
uneasily at her.

"What do you mean, Hannah?" he asked.

"I mean that I am not used to being throwed in with girls who stays
out all night, and nobody knows where they be, and that's the truth,"
said Hannah, with emphasis.

"Do you mean to say that Annie--"

"Yes, I do. She wa'n't in, and they do say she's married, and--"

"Hush, Hannah, we'll talk about this another time," Harry said, with
a glance at Maria.

Just then a step was heard in the kitche