redients for a mammoth fruit cake
were marshalled on the kitchen table; when chairs and other furniture
were gathered in clusters, as if discussing the general uproar; when
poor old Lilly Foot had been driven forth with a sharp reproof and a
cold breakfast, and forlorn kitty, hid away in a dark corner, where
only her green eyes were visible, mewed disconsolate, a loud knock was
heard at the door.

"I do wonder who is going to hinder me now?" fretted Recta, as lifting
her dripping hands from her scrubbing suds, and drying them upon her
apron she obeyed the summons.

At the first glance at the intruder she recognized Daddy, and turning
pale and then red by turns, she sank speedily into a chair.

How changed were both since they last met. She was then a blooming,
brown haired, rather coquettishly dressed country girl, and he black
haired, dapper and gay. Now he beheld her in faded calico, sallow,
wrinkled and grey; and she looked upon a white haired, shrivelled up,
little old man.

Both were for the moment, silent and disappointed, but Daddy was the
first to recover his presence of mind. "'Tween you and me, don't you
know me, Recta?"

"Well, I reckon I do, Philip," said Recta instinctively covered her
face with her apron.

A smile of delight broke over Daddy's features, and his first
disappointment was forgotten. "That's jest as you used to sarve me,
Recta; now I'm agoin fur tu sarve you one of my old tricks," and, by
an adroit movement to which he encountered a very slight resistance,
Recta's features were again visible.

There was a deep red spot on either cheek, and she looked rather
foolish, but it was not long before the old lovers were living over
again their youthful hours.

Oblivious of the flight of time, the mid-day sun shone in upon them,
still absorbed in each other. It would be impossible to say how long
this state of things might have continued had not Daddy inadvertantly
called Recta's attention to her household duties.

"'Tween you and me, I want fur tu git married afore night," he was
saying, when Recta suddenly sprang to her feet in dire dismay.

"Why Philip," she exclaimed, "how can I get married and all this work
on hand?"

"I'm kinder thinkin we ken hev the job did, and then I ken help you
fur to do the work."

Recta, demurred, but overwhelmed with persuasions, she finally
consented to confer with her sister, living near by, and the result
was, they were married before night, which ful