house, and a most peculiar one. It is
two-storeyed, but unusually narrow, and the only window in the upper
room is a fixture in the roof. It really is remarkable that in a place
like Windyridge so many of the windows cannot be opened, either because
they were so constructed at first, or because their owners have painted
and varnished them until they are glued fast.

The stones in the walls are loose in many places and the stone slabs on
the roof lie about at various angles, and seem to invite the thin, tall
chimney-stack--and why it should be so tall I have never been able to
surmise--to fall down and send them flying. It is a mean, rickety
house, not worth the cost of repair.

Inside, however, it is as clean and comfortable as any other in the
village. The floor is spotless, the deal tables are white as soap and
water can make them, the steel fender and fire-irons shine like
mirrors, and the short curtains at the window might always have come
straight from the laundry.

I did not know Roger had come home when I raised the latch and entered
the house, after the usual perfunctory knock, the other day, and I
apologised for my unceremonious entrance with some confusion.

Roger waved his hand loftily. "Quite all right, ma'am; quite all
right. Miss Terry, oblige me by getting the lady a chair."

The dog rose to its feet and with its nose and forepaws pushed a chair
from the wall in the direction of the fireplace.

"Thank you, Miss Terry," remarked the man, "I am much obliged to you.
Pray be seated, ma'am."

I was interested, in spite of myself. "Yours is a very remarkable dog,
Mr. Treffit," I said.

"Yes'm; very much so indeed. Miss Terry is the name I gave 'er,
because she is a 'mystery.' See? Ha! ha! Very good that, eh?
Mystery--Miss Terry. Miss Terry and me, ma'am, has appeared before the
nobility, clergy and gentry of a dozen counties."

I expressed polite astonishment and inquired for Mrs. Treffit.

"My wife, ma'am, is upstairs in the chamber. If you want her I will
send for her. Miss Terry, will you convey my respects to the missis,
and ask her to step this way?" The request was accompanied by a
significant gesture in the direction of the narrow staircase, and the
dog, with an inclination of the head which might have been intended for
a bow, bounded up the steps and returned with its mistress. Its
mistress? No, I withdraw the word--with its master's wife.

She coughed a good deal as she ca