valuable, and as the estate had been divided
and no one had any use for the old grizzled negro, they let me have
him. I adored Amos. It was he who had attended to all my childish
pleasures on the plantation when I went there to visit, and, in turn,
he thought "Miss Faith honey" could do no wrong. It is a comfort to
have some one in one's childish memory who thinks one can do no wrong,
even if it is only a servant.

So old Amos came and made flower-beds, and persuaded us to buy a pair
of horses in addition to the one we had hitherto modestly used, and
thus, with the aid of friends' and judicious servants' advice, we were
by way of being landed proprietors, and came to look upon Peach Orchard
as an estate.

Then the grocer's boy gave me the promised kitten, a common tiger
kitten, which we named Mitnick, and soon afterward we acquired not only
one cow, but several, our especial pride being an imported Guernsey,
which figures quite prominently in my narrative further on. And as
Aubrey's unwonted prosperity continued, we endeavoured not to let our
riches increase too fast, by spending every cent upon which we could
lay our hands on the place. But who, who owns a country place, can
help it? Or who would help it if he could?

We raised our own flowers and vegetables regardless of expense. We
could have ordered American Beauties from New York every day for what
our hollyhocks and clove pinks and common annuals cost us. We planted
five bushels of potatoes and dug three and a half, which made them come
to a dollar a bushel more than if we had bought them at the grocer's.
And as to our milk and cream--I once heard the Angel say to Jimmie when
they came out for a visit:

"Which will you have, old man? A glass of champagne or a glass of
milk? They both cost the same!"

But what of it? Weren't they _our_ cows which gave the milk? And
weren't they _our_ potatoes which rotted in the ground, and _our_
chickens which died before we could kill them? It was the pride of
ownership which ate into our lives and made us quite sickening to our
friends whose tastes ran to pink teas and hotel verandas, while we,
poor fools, lived each day nearer to the soil, and loved more dearly
the earth which nourished us.

CHAPTER IX

HOW BEE TRIED TO MAKE US SMART

Bee had spent nearly all the time since we were married in Europe, and
had never, therefore, paid the Angel and me a visit. But this very
afternoon she was to arrive