med and responded at once:

"'Blessed is the man that hath his quiver full'--"

At this point Mrs. Caukins surreptitiously poked the admonitory end of
her sunshade between the Colonel's shoulder blades, and the Colonel,
comprehending, desisted from further quotation of scripture. It was not
his strong point. Once he had been known to quote, not only unblushingly
but triumphantly, during a touch-and-go discussion of the labor question
in the town hall:--"The ass, gentlemen, is worthy of his hire"; and in
so doing had covered Mrs. Caukins with confusion and made a transient
enemy of every wage-earner in the audience.

But his boys behaved--that was the point. What boys wouldn't when their
heart's desire was conveyed to them at the beginning of the sermon by a
secret-service-under-the-pew process wholly delightful to the young
human male? Who wouldn't be quiet for the sake of the peppermints, a
keen three-bladed knife, or a few gelatine fishes that squirmed on his
warm moist palm in as lively a manner as if just landed on the lake
shore? Their father had been a boy, and at fifty had a boy's heart
within him--this was the secret of his success.

Mrs. Caukins appeared at last, radiant in the consciousness of a new
chip hat and silk blouse. Dulcie and Doosie in white lawn did their
pains-taking mother credit in every respect. The Colonel gallantly
presented his wife with a small bunch of early roses--an attention which
called up a fine bit of color into her still pretty face. 'Lias helped
her into the three-seated wagon, then lifted in the twins; the boys
piled in afterwards; the Colonel took the reins. Mrs. Caukins waved her
sunshade vigorously at 'Lias and gave a long sigh of relief and
satisfaction.

"Well, we're off at last! I declare I miss Maggie every hour in the day.
I don't know what I should have done all these years without that girl!"

The mention of "Maggie" emphasizes one of the many changes in Flamsted
during the six years of Champney Googe's absence. Mrs. Caukins, urged by
her favorite, Aileen, and advised by Mrs. Googe and Father Honore, had
imported Margaret O'Dowd, the "Freckles" of the asylum, as mother's
helper six months after Aileen's arrival in Flamsted. For nearly six
years Maggie loyally seconded Mrs. Caukins in the care of her children
and her household. Slow, but sure and dependable, strong and willing,
she made herself invaluable in the stone house among the sheep pastures;
her stunted affec