d the postmaster if there were
any work to be had out of doors that spring in Dulham. Being assured
of his prospects, he reappeared with his pale, bright-eyed wife and
little daughter the very next day but one. This startling promptness
had given time for but few persons to hear the news of a new neighbor,
and as one after another came over the bridge and along the road there
were many questions asked. The house seemed to have new life looking
out of its small-paned windows; there were clean white curtains, and
china dogs on the window-sills, and a blue smoke in the chimney--the
spring sun was shining in at the wide-open door.

There was a chilly east wind on an April day, and the elderly men were
gathered inside the post-office, which was also the chief grocery and
dry-goods store. Each was in his favorite armchair, and there was the
excuse of a morning fire in the box stove to make them form again into
the close group that was usually broken up at the approach of summer
weather. Old Captain Weathers was talking about Alexis, the newcomer
(they did not try to pronounce his last name), and was saying for the
third or fourth time that the more work you set for the Frenchman the
better pleased he seemed to be. "Helped 'em to lay a carpet yesterday
at our house, neat as wax," said the Captain, with approval. "Made the
garden in the front yard so it hasn't looked so well for years. We're
all goin' to find him very handy; he'll have plenty to do among us all
summer. Seems to know what you want the minute you p'int, for he can't
make out very well with his English. I used to be able to talk
considerable French in my early days when I sailed from southern ports
to Havre and Bordeaux, but I don't seem to recall it now very well.
He'd have made a smart sailor, Alexis would; quick an' willing."

"They say Canada French ain't spoken the same, anyway"--began the
Captain's devoted friend, Mr. Ezra Spooner, by way of assurance, when
the store door opened and a bright little figure stood looking in. All
the gray-headed men turned that way, and every one of them smiled.

"Come right in, dear," said the kind-hearted old Captain.

They saw a charming little creature about six years old, who smiled
back again from under her neat bit of a hat; she wore a pink frock
that made her look still more like a flower, and she said "_Bonjour_"
prettily to the gentlemen as she passed. Henry Staples, the
storekeeper and postmaster, rose behind the