encountered Mrs. Blake unexpectedly some little way from the town.
She was just turning down a lane where one of her _protegees_, a little
lame seamstress, lived, when Zack suddenly bounded round the corner and
jumped on her, with one of his delighted barks, and the next moment she
saw a lady in black walking very quickly towards her. She wore a large
shady hat that completely hid her face, but there was no mistaking that
graceful figure. Mrs. Blake had a peculiar walk: it was rapid, decided,
and had a light skimming movement, that reminded Audrey of some bird
flying very near the ground; and she had a singular habit as she walked
of turning her head from side to side, as though scanning distant
objects, which deepened this resemblance.

'What a charming surprise!' she exclaimed, quickening her pace until it
became a little run; 'who would have thought of meeting you, my dear
Miss Ross, in this out-of-the-way corner? Some errand of mercy has
brought you, of course,' with a glance at Audrey's basket. 'That dainty
little white cloth reminds me of Red Riding Hood; I would wager anything
that under it there are new-laid eggs and butter. Down, Zack! you are
sniffing at it just as though you were that wicked wolf himself.'

'I am going to see Rhoda Williams,' returned Audrey; 'she is lame, poor
girl! and has miserable health besides, but she works beautifully.
Geraldine and I employ her as much as possible. I suppose you and Zack
have been having a walk.

'My dear Miss Ross,' with extreme gravity, 'I am not taking an ordinary
constitutional--I have come out in the hope of preserving my reason. I
have been enacting a new version of Hood's "Song of the Shirt"; for the
last two days it has been "Stitch, stitch, stitch,"--how do the words
run on?--until I was on the brink of delirium. An hour ago I said to
Mollie: "If you have any love for your mother, carry away that basket
and hide it; do not let me see it again for twenty-four hours--nature is
exhausted;" and then I put on my hat, and, at the risk of spoiling my
complexion, came out into this blessed sunshine.'

Audrey laughed; there was something so droll, so mirth-provoking in Mrs.
Blake's tone. Any other woman would have said, in a matter-of-fact way:
'I was tired of work, and so I put on my bonnet;' but Mrs. Blake liked
to drape her sentences effectively.

'It is very fortunate that we have met,' returned Audrey, when she had
finished her laugh, 'for I want to ask you