tongue
she cleansed the spoon of the dripping cream, and, stirring the apple
sauce vigourously, passed the bowl to Cameron. For a single moment
Cameron held the bowl, uncertain whether to refuse or not, but before he
could make up his mind Mandy caught it from his hands.

"Oh, Ma!" she exclaimed in a horrified tone.

"What's the matter?" exclaimed her mother. "A little cream won't hurt."

But Mandy set the bowl at the far end of the table and passed another to
Cameron, who accepted it with resolute determination and continued his
breakfast.

But Perkins, followed by Webster and Tim, rose from the table and passed
out into the yard, whence his voice could be heard in explosions of
laughter. Cameron in the meantime was making heroic attempts to cover
up the sound by loud-voiced conversation with Haley, and, rendered
desperate by the exigencies of the situation, went so far as to venture
a word of praise to Mrs. Haley upon the excellence and abundance of her
cooking.

"She ain't got no chance," said her husband. "She's got too much to do
and it's awful hard to get help. Of course, there's Mandy."

"Of course, there's Mandy," echoed his wife. "I guess you'd just better
say, 'There's Mandy.' She's the whole thing is Mandy. What I'd do
without her goodness only knows."

But Mandy was no longer present to enjoy her mother's enconiums. Her
voice could be heard in the yard making fierce response to Perkins'
jesting remarks. As Cameron was passing out from the kitchen he heard
her bitter declaration: "I don't care, it was real mean of you, and I'll
pay you for it yet, Mr. Perkins--before a stranger, too." Mandy's voice
suggested tears.

"Oh, pshaw, Mandy!" remonstrated Perkins, "it was all a joke, and who
cares for him anyway, unless it's yourself?"

But Mandy, catching sight of Cameron, fled with fiery face behind the
kitchen, leaving Perkins gazing after her with an apologetic grin upon
his countenance.

"She's rather hot under the collar," he confided to Cameron, "but she
needn't get so, I didn't mean nothin'."

Cameron ignored him. He was conscious mainly of a resolute determination
that at all costs he must not yield to his almost uncontrollable desire
to wipe off the apologetic smile with a well directed blow. Mr. Denman's
parting advice was in his mind and he was devoting all his powers to
the business of adjusting himself to his present environment. But to
his fastidious nature the experiences of the mornin