e rap on the tin cup that answered the purpose of a bell
to summon one. Aunt Lois was still in her short bedgown and nightcap.

"Thou must wait upon thy uncle this morning," she began feebly. "I have
tried, but I cannot get about. There is a dizziness in my head every
time I stir, and strange pains go shooting about me. It is an ill time
to be laid by with the summer work pressing, and two people needing
constant care."

She looked very feeble, and there was an unwholesome red spot upon each
cheek. Her usually calm and steady voice was tremulous.

"But I feel better. The fever is gone," said Uncle James. "There will be
only two weeks more and then I can begin to get about. When there is no
head matters go loosely enough."

"But I am sure Andrew is capable. He hath been trained under thine own
eye. And Penn is steady and trusty."

"But a dozen young things cannot supply the master's place," he returned
testily. "And one almost feels as if the evil one hath gotten in his
handiwork as he did on Job."

Lois sighed. Rachel washed her uncle's face and hands and brought him
some breakfast.

"Shall I not bring thee some, too?"

"Nay, the thought goes against me. I will have some boneset tea steeped.
And presently I will get out to the kitchen. Perhaps I shall mend by
stirring about."

Grandmother sat under the tree or wandered about, babbling of old times
and asking questions that she forgot the next moment. There was a ham
boiling in the great kettle over the kitchen fire, and a big basket of
vegetables for the dinner. There were two neighboring men working, who
were to have their midday meal.

James Henry would have enjoyed Job's disputatious friends. There were
several knotty points in doctrine that he had gone over while lying
here, and he longed to argue them with someone. The days were very long
and tedious to him, for he had never been ill a whole week in his life.

Lois crept out to the living room, then to the great shady doorstep. How
fine and fresh and reviving the waft of summer air, with its breath of
new-mown hay, was to her fevered brow.

"Where is the child?" she asked.

"I called her twice. What with packing the butter and various duties she
hath quite gone out of my mind. Surely she sleeps like the young man in
the Apostles' time."

"Go summon her again. She must be broken of such an evil habit."

Rachel primed herself for some well-deserved severity. There was no one
in the room. She search