iser, John Liddell had a fire summer and
winter--sat the old man watching the embers, in himself a living
refrigerator.

"You are late!" was his greeting, in a low, cold voice. "I have been
expecting you. The woman Newton found for me has been up and down with a
dozen questions I cannot answer. I must be saved from this; I will not
be disturbed. Go and see what she wants; then, if there is more food to
be cooked, come to me for money. Mark! no more bills. I will give you
what cash you want each day, so long as you do not ask too much."

"Very well. Your fire wants making up, uncle." She brought out this last
word with an effort. "I suppose I _am_ to call you uncle?"

"Call me what you choose," was the ungracious reply.

In the hall she found the new servant, whom she had already seen,
waiting her orders. She was a stout, good-humored woman of a certain
age, with vast experience, gathered in many services, and partly tempted
to her present engagement by the hope that in so small a household her
labor would be light.

"Will you come up, miss, and see if your room is as you like it?" was
her first address. "I'm sure I _am_ glad you have come! I've been
groping in the dark, in a manner of speaking, since I came yesterday;
and Mr. Liddell, he's not to be spoke to. Believe me, miss, if it wasn't
that I promised your mar, and saw you was a nice young lady yourself,
wild horses wouldn't keep me in such a lonesome barrack of a place!"

"I hope you will not desert us, Mrs. Knapp," returned Katherine,
cheerfully. "If you and I do our best, I hope the place will not be so
bad."

"Well, it didn't ought to," returned Mrs. Knapp. "There's lots of good
furniture everywhere but in the kitchen, and that's just for all the
world like a marine store!"

"Is it?" exclaimed Katherine, greatly puzzled by the metaphor. "At all
events you have made my room nice and tidy." This conversation,
commenced on the staircase, was continued in Katherine's apartment.

"It ain't bad, miss; there's plenty of room for your clothes in that big
wardrobe, and there's a chest of drawers; but Lord, 'm, they smell that
musty, I've stood them open all last night and this morning, but they
ain't much the better. I didn't like to ask for the key of the bookcase,
but I can see through the glass the books are just coated with dust,"
said Mrs. Knapp.

"We must manage all that by-and-by," said Katherine. "Have you anything
in the house? I suppose my uncle wil