wal, and she throws in the hired girl." (Benella
is hopelessly provincial in the matter of language: butler, chef, boots,
footman, scullery-maid, all come under the generic term of 'help.')

"I knew our week at this hotel was out to-morrow," she continued, "and
we've about used up this place, anyway, and the new village that I've
b'en to is the prettiest place we've seen yet; it's got an up-and-down
hill to it, just like home, and the house I've partly rented is opposite
a fair green, where there's a market every week, and Wednesday's the
day; and we'll save money, for I shan't cost you so much when we can
housekeep."

"Would you mind explaining a little more in detail," asked Salemina
quietly, "and telling me whether you have hired the house for yourself
or for us?"

"For us all," she replied genially--"you don't suppose I'd leave you?
I liked the looks of this cottage the first time I passed it, and I got
acquainted with the hired girl by going in the side yard and asking for
a drink. The next time I went I got acquainted with the lady, who's got
the most outlandish name that ever was wrote down, and here it is on a
paper; and to-day I asked her if she didn't want to rent her house for a
week to three quiet ladies without children and only one of them
married and him away. She said it wa'n't her own, and I asked her if she
couldn't sublet to desirable parties--I knew she was as poor as Job's
turkey by her looks; and she said it would suit her well enough, if she
had any place to go. I asked her if she wouldn't like to travel, and
she said no. Then I says, 'Wouldn't you like to go to visit some of your
folks?' And she said she s'posed she could stop a week with her son's
wife, just to oblige us. So I engaged a car to drive you down this
afternoon just to look at the place; and if you like it we can easy move
over to-morrow. The sun's so hot I asked the stableman if he hadn't got
a top buggy, or a surrey, or a carryall; but he never heard tell of any
of 'em; he didn't even know a shay. I forgot to tell you the lady is a
Protestant, and the hired girl's name is Bridget Thunder, and she's a
Roman Catholic, but she seems extra smart and neat. I was kind of in
hopes she wouldn't be, for I thought I should enjoy trainin' her, and
doin' that much for the country."

And so we drove over to this village of Knockcool (Knockcool, by the
way, means 'Hill of Sleep'), as much to make amends for Benella's
eccentricities as with a