p persuade the woman to take a needed rest. "You heard that landlady
tellin' how 't they'd all be home to breakfast. Well, then, she knows.
She's lived here a power o' time and we've only just come. Say, Helena,
let's make a pot of coffee and set the table. I can do it right on them
coals, after the fire burns down a mite. If I can't there, 'twon't be
the first cook stove I've tackled in my life, and I know one thing if I
don't any more: that is, when those searchers and Dolly an' Jim do come
they'll be so tearing hungry they could nigh eat ten-penny nails. Come
on. Let's get supper for 'em. You boss the job, Mrs. Ford, and then
it'll be done right. I saw a lot of chickens in a back room, as I come
through, all fixed to fry. Well now, you both know I can fry chicken to
the queen's taste, and I'll just lay myself out this time!"

Her energy and cheerfulness were not to be resisted. Mrs. Ford
followed the two girls inside and with a little shiver, from her
exposure outside, drew a chair to the hearth and bent to its warmth.
Then, as if she had been in her own home, Alfaretta whisked about,
dragging small tables from the dining room into this larger one,
ordering Helena to do this and that, and all with a haste that was
almost as cheering as the fire.

"Now, Helena, here's the dish-closet. You set the table. My! Ain't
these the heaviest plates and cups you ever saw? Ma Babcock'd
admire to get some like 'em; our children break such a lot of things.
But Mis' Calvert wouldn't think she could drink tea out of such. She
wants her 'n to be thin as thin! and she's got one set, 't belonged to
her grandmother--great-grandma, I guess it was--come over from England
or somewhere--that she won't let no hands except her own touch to wash.
I wish you could see Aunt Betty wash dishes! 'Twould set you laughing,
fit to split, first off. It did me till I begun to see the other side
of it, seems if. First, she must have a little porcelain tub, like a
baby's wash-tub, sort of--then a tiny mop, doll's mop, I called it, and
towels--Why, her best table napkins aren't finer than them towels be.
And dainty! My heart! 'Tis the prettiest picture in the world when that
'ristocratic old lady washes her heirloom-china! But this--your hands'd
get tired enough if you had to do much of this. Hurry up! Don't you know
how to set a table yet, great girl like you? Well, do the best you can.
I'm going into that kitchen to cook. I can't wait for this fire to get