any dishes
were served. "Then I can have a chance to talk with you. Perhaps you are
hungry?" she added.

The woman looked about her as if dazed. Cora saw that she had a face of
rather uncommon type. Her deep-set gray eyes were faded to the very tint
of her gray hair, and her cheeks, though sunken, outlined features that
indicated refinement. Her clothes were very much worn, but comparatively
clean and of good material. She wore no hat, nor other head covering.

"Yes, I am hungry, I think," the woman said. "But I need not keep you from
your friends. If you will just have a cup of tea sent in here to me."

"Oh, they don't mind," Cora said, with a laugh. "My friends can be with me
any time." The other girls had gone to get rid of the grime of the fire,
as had the boys.

"Very well," said the woman. "You are so kind."

Cora scarcely heard this for she was out in the kitchen giving some
orders. She soon returned to the little room, and took a chair opposite
her guest.

"How did you come to be in the barn?" she asked.

"I went in--to rest," answered the woman wearily.

"Of course," Cora said, as if that were an explanation. "But I won't
ask you to talk any more until you have had your tea. There," as Nettie
placed a tray of refreshment beside her, "let me give you your tea first,
then you will feel more like talking." The tea was poured when Jack
entered. He looked at Cora questioningly.

"This woman was out in the storm," Cora truthfully explained without
making a clear statement, "and I insisted that she come in."

"Why, of course," assented the good-natured brother. "But say, Cora," and
he changed the subject tactfully. "Wasn't it a good thing mother was not
at home? She would have been scared to death."

"Oh, I know we always have to get mother off first," she replied. "When
we are arranging a trip I count on--happenings."

"This is your brother?" asked the woman, who seemed to have revived under
the influence of that cup of tea.

"Yes," Cora replied. "Have some of the ham. And some bread."

A particularly sharp flash of lightning blazed through the room. The storm
was not over yet. The three girls from the parlor threw the door of the
pantry open, and stood there with very white faces. Even Belle, the rosy
one, had gone pale again.

"Oh, do come in here," wailed Belle. "I am so frightened!"

"With all the others near you?" Cora asked, smiling. Then, seeing the
actual terror of her friends she did stand