er spirit.

"I'm glad to see you come back looking so well," she screamed, when Aunt
Mary was in and they were off.

Aunt Mary raised her eyebrows in a manner that appeared a trifle
indignant, and riveted her gaze on the hindquarters of the horse.

"I thought it was more like heaven myself," she said coldly. "Not that
your opinion matters any to me, Lucinda."

Then she leaned forward and poked the driver.

"Joshua!" she said.

Joshua jumped in his seat at the asperity of her poke and her tone.

"What is it?" he said hastily.

"Jus' 's soon as we get home I want you to take the saw--that little, sharp
one, you know--and dock Billy's tail. Cut it off as close as you can; do
you hear?"

"I hear," was the startled answer.

"Did you have a good time?" Lucinda had the temerity to ask, after a
minute.

"I guess I could if I tried," the lady replied; "but I'm too tired to try
now."

"How did you leave Mr. Jack?"

"I couldn't stay forever, could I?" asked the traveler impatiently. "I
thought that a week was long enough for the first time, anyhow."

Lucinda subsided and the rest of the drive was taken in silence. When they
reached the house Aunt Mary enveloped everything in one glance of blended
weariness, scorn and contempt, and then made short work of getting to bed,
where she slept the luxurious and dreamless sleep of the unjust until late
that afternoon.

"My, but she's come back a terror!" Lucinda cried to Joshua in a high
whisper when he brought in the trunk. "She looks like nothin' was goin' to
be good enough for her from now on."

"Nothin' ain't goin' to be good enough for her," said Joshua calmly.

"What are we goin' to do, then?" asked Lucinda.

"We'll have enough to do," said Joshua, in a tone that was portentous in
the extreme, and then he placed the trunk in its proper position for
unpacking and went away, leaving Lucinda to unpack it.

Aunt Mary awoke just as the faithful servant was unrolling the green plaid
waist, and the instant that she spoke it was plain that her attitude
toward life in general was become strangely and vigorously changed, and
that for Lucinda the rack was to be newly oiled and freshly racking.

This attitude was not in any degree altered by the unexpected arrival of
Arethusa that evening. Strange tales had reached Arethusa's ears, and she
had flown on the wings of steam and coal dust to see what under the sun it
all meant. Aunt Mary was not one bit rejoiced to see her a