departure that the master of the house discovered what
had happened. Then, as his wife rose to get some forgotten article, he
questioned, with uplifted eyebrows:

"Too good to wait upon us, is my lady now, eh?"

"My lady is waiting on you," smiled Billy.

"Yes, I see _this_ lady is," retorted Bertram, grimly; "but I mean our
real lady in the kitchen. Great Scott, Billy, how long are you going to
stand this?"

Billy tossed her head airily, though she shook in her shoes. Billy had
been dreading this moment.

"I'm not standing it. She's gone," responded Billy, cheerfully, resuming
her seat. "Uncle William, sha'n't I give you some more pudding?"

"Gone, so soon?" groaned Bertram, as William passed his plate, with a
smiling nod. "Oh, well," went on Bertram, resignedly, "she stayed longer
than the last one. When is the next one coming?"

"She's already here."

Bertram frowned.

"Here? But--you served the dessert, and--" At something in Billy's
face, a quick suspicion came into his own. "Billy, you don't mean that
you--_you_--"

"Yes," she nodded brightly, "that's just what I mean. I'm the next one."

"Nonsense!" exploded Bertram, wrathfully. "Oh, come, Billy, we've been
all over this before. You know I can't have it."

"Yes, you can. You've got to have it," retorted Billy, still with that
disarming, airy cheerfulness. "Besides, 'twon't be half so bad as you
think. Wasn't that a good pudding to-night? Didn't you both come back
for more? Well, I made it."

"Puddings!" ejaculated Bertram, with an impatient gesture. "Billy,
as I've said before, it takes something besides puddings to run this
house."

"Yes, I know it does," dimpled Billy, "and I've got Mrs. Durgin for that
part. She's coming twice a week, and more, if I need her. Why, dearie,
you don't know anything about how comfortable you're going to be! I'll
leave it to Uncle William if--"

But Uncle William had gone. Silently he had slipped from his chair and
disappeared. Uncle William, it might be mentioned in passing, had never
quite forgotten Aunt Hannah's fateful call with its dire revelations
concerning a certain unwanted, superfluous, third-party husband's
brother. Remembering this, there were times when he thought absence was
both safest and best. This was one of the times.

"But, Billy, dear," still argued Bertram, irritably, "how can you? You
don't know how. You've had no experience."

Billy threw back her shoulders. An ominous light came to her