s. Martin's it was sad to see what poor bushy
fields, what thin and empty dwelling-places had been left by those who
had chosen this disappointing part of the northern country for their
home. We crossed the last field and came into a narrow rain-washed
road, and Mrs. Todd looked eager and expectant and said that we were
almost at our journey's end. "I do hope Mis' Martin 'll ask you into
her best room where she keeps all the Queen's pictures. Yes, I think
likely she will ask you; but 't ain't everybody she deems worthy to
visit 'em, I can tell you!" said Mrs. Todd warningly. "She 's been
collectin' 'em an' cuttin' 'em out o' newspapers an' magazines time out
o' mind, and if she heard of anybody sailin' for an English port she 'd
contrive to get a little money to 'em and ask to have the last likeness
there was. She 's most covered her best-room wall now; she keeps that
room shut up sacred as a meetin'-house! 'I won't say but I have my
favorites amongst 'em,' she told me t' other day, 'but they 're all
beautiful to me as they can be!' And she's made some kind o' pretty
little frames for 'em all--you know there's always a new fashion o'
frames comin' round; first 't was shell-work, and then 't was
pine-cones, and bead-work's had its day, and now she 's much concerned
with perforated cardboard worked with silk. I tell you that best
room's a sight to see! But you must n't look for anything elegant,"
continued Mrs. Todd, after a moment's reflection. "Mis' Martin's
always been in very poor, strugglin' circumstances. She had ambition
for her children, though they took right after their father an' had
little for themselves; she wa'n't over an' above well married, however
kind she may see fit to speak. She's been patient an' hard-workin' all
her life, and always high above makin' mean complaints of other folks.
I expect all this business about the Queen has buoyed her over many a
shoal place in life. Yes, you might say that Abby 'd been a slave, but
there ain't any slave but has some freedom."

IV.

Presently I saw a low gray house standing on a grassy bank close to the
road. The door was at the side, facing us, and a tangle of snowberry
bushes and cinnamon roses grew to the level of the window-sills. On
the doorstep stood a bent-shouldered, little old woman; there was an
air of welcome and of unmistakable dignity about her.

"She sees us coming," exclaimed Mrs. Todd in an excited whisper.
"There, I told her