u step in?"

Minty said no word, but stared at the new-comer fixedly. The house door
opened directly into the kitchen.

"We don't use front doors much in this part of the world," observed
Thinkright, as he ushered in the guest.

"Will you step into the front room, Miss Lacey?" asked Mrs. Lem, with a
grand air, "or would you prefer to go directly upstairs to your
chamber?"

There was an atmosphere of the world about Sylvia which Mrs. Lem
recognized at once from long experience with summer people; and secure
in her pompadour, the psyche knot, and the shine of her best gown, she
wished to show this young girl that her sophistication was shared even
in a rural district. To be sure, the extraordinary telegram from
Thinkright had left the family free to believe that it was a personage
whom he was bringing home with him--probably some important friend of
Judge Trent; and to have their varied guesses met by the fact of a
white-faced girl in mourning was disappointing. Nevertheless, to Mrs.
Lem's suspicious eyes Sylvia had a cold, proud air, which caused the
housekeeper to glory in her toilet and be grateful for her knowledge of
the world. It should be Greek meeting Greek.

"Oh, she'll go to her room," said Thinkright. "Cap'n Lem and I will
bring her trunk and satchel right up. Supper's nearly ready, I suppose,
Mrs. Lem?"

"Whenever you are," returned that lady elegantly. "I will accompany
you, Miss Lacey."

Minty, though she said no word, prepared to follow, apparently not able
to remove her round gaze from the visitor.

"You may make the toast, Minty," said her mother warningly, and the
child took a reluctant step backward.

Sylvia followed the brilliantine up a narrow staircase.

"You're from Boston, I presume, Miss Lacey?"

"Yes, just now," returned Sylvia.

"Not your home, then?"

"No."

"There. Walk in. This is your chamber."

Mrs. Lem threw open the door of a blue-papered room whose ceiling
sloped at one side, while on the other were two windows curtained in
dimity.

"I didn't expect to see a room of this size," said Sylvia.

"Oh, it's quite a copious house," returned Mrs. Lem leniently, "for a
country place. It took me some while to get used to these slopin' kind
o' rooms. I ain't from these parts. I lived to Clarksville before I was
married. There, you can loop them curtains back more if you want to."

"They're very pretty," commented the girl.

"Yes. Of course they ain't point de spray, but th