of her skirts, and her husband
then twisted himself out of his chair, clearing his throat
impressively. Mrs. Field stood up, and got down on her stiff knees
with an effort. Lois slid down from the sofa and went out of the
room. She stole through her mother's into her own bedroom, and locked
herself in as usual, then she lay down on her bed. She could hear the
low rumble of the minister's voice for some time; then it ceased. She
heard the chairs pushed back; then the minister's wife's voice in the
gracious crescendo of parting; then the closing of the front door.
Shortly afterward she heard a door open, and another voice, which she
recognized as Mrs. Maxwell's. The voice talked on and on; once in a
while she heard her mother's in brief reply. It grew dark; presently
she heard heavy shuffling steps on the stairs; something knocked
violently against the wall; the side door, which was near her room,
was opened. Lois got up and peered out of the window; her mother and
Mrs. Maxwell went slowly and painfully down the driveway, carrying a
bureau between them.

Chapter VI

Mrs. Maxwell had invited Mrs. Field and Lois to take tea with her the
next afternoon, and had hinted there might be other company. "There's
a good many I should like to ask," she had said, "but I ain't
situated so I can jest now, an' it's a dreadful puzzle to know who to
leave out without offendin' them. I'm goin' to have the minister an'
his wife anyhow, an' Lawyer Tuxbury an' his sister. I should ask
Flora, but if she comes the children have got to, an' I can't have
them anyhow; they're the worst-actin' young ones at the table I ever
saw in my life. There's two or three men I'm goin' to ask. Now you
an' Lois come real early, Esther."

Mrs. Field's ideas of early, when invited to spend the afternoon and
take tea, were primitive. Directly after the dinner dishes were put
away, about one o'clock, she spoke to Lois in the harsh, defiant tone
she now used toward her. "You'd better go an' get ready," said she.
"She wanted us to come early."

A stubborn look came into Lois's face. "I ain't going," said she, in
an undertone.

"What did you say?"

"I ain't going."

"Then you can stay to home, if you want to get your mother into
trouble an' make folks think we're guilty of somethin'."

Mrs. Field went into her bedroom to get ready. Presently Lois went
softly through on her way to her own. Jane Field stood before her
little mirror, brushed her gray