There was no doubt that Aunt Nell needed her, for there was endless
dusting and dishwashing to do, and some one always had to be with the
children.

Judith was making gravy one evening--a task she detested--when Uncle
Tom came into the kitchen looking particularly pleased with himself.

"You're late, dear," was Aunt Nell's greeting; "please hurry; I haven't
had time to give Bobby his supper, he'll have to have it with us, and
I'm afraid Baby isn't asleep yet."

"Hurrah, hurrah!" said Uncle Tom--very irrelevantly, Judith thought
indignantly; gravy-making time was no occasion for being funny, but
Uncle Tom was like that, you never knew.

"It takes a man to tackle a job," said Uncle Tom complacently as he
carved the roast--"you wouldn't let me wait to tell you some good news I
had brought home. Perhaps we'd better wait now until dinner is over," he
continued. But of course he couldn't wait--modesty was not Uncle Tom's
strong point. "Well, if you must know, as I said it takes a man to
tackle a job. I just mentioned to Stewart that we were in a fix,
couldn't get a cook for love or money. 'This time for love and money you
can,' said Stewart. 'My wife and I are going down to Bermuda to-morrow
and we didn't quite know what to do with our Chinese boy--Mrs. S. had
promised to lend him to her sister, and quite suddenly her sister
decided to go with us.' So there you are," finished Uncle Tom
superbly--"he arrives to-morrow, tip-top cook, takes complete charge of
kitchen arrangements. Not bad, eh?"

Not bad! Aunt Nell almost wept for joy. If it hadn't been that she had
had to spend so much time hunting for help, the housekeeping would have
been nothing, she declared stoutly to Uncle Tom later, with her head
tucked under his chin. She did weep a tear or two into his favorite tie.
"Judith has been splendid, and of course we could have managed
perfectly; it was the time I spent going from one bureau to another and
following up this trail and the other that has tired us both."

"Strikes me," said Uncle Tom, "that Judy couldn't have tackled the pots
and pans last year the way she does now."

"Of course she couldn't," said Aunt Nell, trying vainly to repair the
damages Uncle Tom had done to her hair in his desire to show his
sympathy--he inevitably wound the loose strands of her hair tightly
around her ears. "Judy has had to tackle all sorts of things this year,
more things than she ever dreamed of, and she's caught the York Hill