anger to her neighbors.

"Proud to know you, ma'am. Proud to know you, miss. Proud to know you,
little miss. It is most seasonable weather for the season," said the
stranger, bowing elaborately and smiling broadly on each of her new
acquaintances--who all returned her greetings with quiet courtesy--and
then seating herself in the armchair which had apparently been left vacant
for her.

Both the sisters saw at once that the romance of Miss Sibby was not
founded on fact, and that this woman could not have been the mother of the
sea waif, Roland Bayard.

She chattered away incessantly about her voyage from San Francisco, her
seasickness, the kindness of the young mate Bayard to her, and his great
service in bringing her on to such a friendly house, and her intention to
pay Miss Sibby very handsomely for the accommodation she had afforded
her.

This latter clause, however, aroused Miss Sibby's ire. To talk of paying
her! And in the presence of her genteel neighbors, too!

"No, ma'am!" exclaimed the old lady. "No, ma'am, you don't pay me nothing!
Not if I know it, sez I! You're welkim, ma'am, sez I, to the very best in
the house, as long as you choose to honor me with your company. But you
don't pay for it! No, ma'am! No! Sybilla Bayard is poor enough, the Lord
knows, sez I! And she has fallen far enough from her high estate, sez I!
She who was descended from the great Duke of England; but she don't sell
her hospitality, sez I! Not the descendant from the Duke of England don't,
sez I!"

Poor Miss Sibby! Poor, simple old body! She was very much laughed at on
account of her boasted ancestor, the "Duke of England." Yet her mistake
was not so great as it seemed, for it was only the slight mistake of using
the definite article "the" for the indefinite article "a," nor were her
claims quite so ridiculous as they appeared to be, as will soon be
proved.

"I beg your pardon, ma'am, I'm sure. I didn't mean no offense whatever!
But--are you--descended from the Duke of England?" inquired the strange
guest, opening her eyes wide with astonishment.

"I am," replied Miss Sibby, with great dignity. "And I'll prove it. My
father was a Bayard, and his mother was a Barbar, and her
great-great-grandfather was Henry Howard, third son of Thomas, Duke of
England. These two ladies can testify to that, I reckon."

The stranger turned wondering eyes upon the two sisters.

Miss Grandiere answered by saying:

"Miss Bayard means a duke of