ar, the day after will do as well."

"Now, pa, you know you said----"

"Oh, Miss Jemima," broke in Elsie, "I shall think you don't want us to
come!"

"And I," said the widow, "shall be mortally offended if Mr. Rhodes runs
away the very first time I have the pleasure of visiting his house."

"Of course, of course!" said the stout man. "My daughter, Mimy, is a
great business woman--girl, I mean--but on an occasion like this even
business must wait. Ladies, I go home to dream of the honor to-morrow
will bring."

"Well, pa, if we're going at all, I think we'd better start," cried the
spinster; "we are keeping the horses in the cold."

She made her farewells very brief and carried off her parent in triumph,
darting a last defiant look at the widow as she passed.

The moment they were gone Elsie went into convulsions of laughter, and
clapping her pretty white hands like a child, cried out:

"She'll poison you, Mary Harrington, I know she will."

"My dear, I'll eat luncheon before I go."

Even Elizabeth was forced to laugh at the absurd scene. Elsie mimicked
the spinster, and turned the affair in so many ridiculous ways that it
afforded general amusement for the rest of the evening.

The whole party did drive over to Mr. Rhodes's house the next day, and
Miss Jemima was tormented out of her very senses; while Mr. Rhodes was
made to appear ridiculous as only a pompous old widower, with a keen
appetite for flattery, can be made look.

The question of the picnic came up again, but Elizabeth settled that
matter by refusing to have any share in it. She was in no spirits for
such amusement, and had decided to refuse all invitations during Mr.
Mellen's absence.

From that day Miss Jemima always felt a liking for Mrs. Mellen, who had
so quietly come to her rescue, and she was the only one of the party to
whom the claret would not have proved a fatal dose if the spinster's
sharp glances or secret wishes could have had their due effect.

From some caprice Mrs. Harrington prolonged her stay at Piney Cove for
an entire week, and all this time she protested against either of the
gentlemen who had accompanied her there returning without her. Elsie, in
her careless, childish way, seconded the widow, so these two men dropped
into such easy relations with the family that it seemed difficult to
assign any period to their visit. Nothing could be quieter than Mr.
North's mode of life during his sojourn at the house. If he joined in