I had prepared. He stood
chewing the neb of his cap, and repeated in most irritating fashion:
"Aw, yes 'm" whenever I paused to plumb the depths of his intelligence;
but would only promise to do his best. As a matter of fact his "best"
is not at all bad.

Sar'-Ann informed me in his presence, when he showed a little
difficulty in understanding one of my requirements, that he was "gurt
and gawmless," whereat he blushed furiously, and most unnecessarily so
far as I was concerned, for the description was Greek to me. His
awkwardness disappears, I find, when my back is turned; and he is
really a very capable workman, and he and Sar'-Ann between them have
made my studio most presentable.

But I am anticipating.

Tuesday morning brought me a small budget of letters and several
parcels. I opened Madam Rusty's first, with some mischievous
anticipation of its contents. I knew the sort of thing I might expect:
the quasi-dignified remonstrance, the pained surprise, and the final
submission to the will of an inscrutable providence which had seen fit
to relieve me of my senses and her of a great responsibility.

I leaned back in my chair, put my feet upon thy fender, and prepared
for a good time. The precise, angular handwriting was as plain as the
estimable lady herself, and no difficulty in decipherment impeded my
progress.

"MY DEAR MISS HOLDEN," it ran,

"I have received your most extraordinary communication, which I have
perused with mingled feelings of astonishment, sorrow and dismay. I am
astonished that you should leave my house, where I am sure you have
been surrounded by every home comfort, without a single expression of
your intention to do so, or one word of explanation or farewell to
myself or your fellow-boarders. Conduct of this kind I have never
experienced before, and you must pardon me saying that next to an
actual elopement it seems to me the most indelicate thing a young
person in your position could do. And I am sorry because I feel sure
there is more behind all this than you have been willing to inform me
of, and I do think I have not deserved to be deceived, for I can
honestly say that I have endeavoured to act a mother's part towards
you; and as to any little differences we have had and complaints and so
on, I did not think you had an unforgiving spirit. Not that one
expects gratitude from one's boarders in the ordinary way, which being
human is unlikely, but there are exceptions, of which