xed an' settled."

"If that is all that would keep your sister from coming," said Miriam,
"she need not trouble herself."

"Now look a here, Miss Miriam," said Mike, quickly, "of course everything
in this world depends on sarcumstances, an' if it happened that Mr.
Hav'ley was the one to git married, an' he was to take some lady that was
livin' here anyway an' was used to the place, an' the ways of the house,
an' didn't want to go anywheres else an' wanted to stay here an' not to
chance nothin' an' have the same people workin' as worked before, like
Miss Drane, say, with her mother livin' here jes' the same, an' you
keepin' house jes' as you is now, an' all goin' on without no upsottin',
of course Seraphina, she wouldn't mind that. She'd like mighty well to
come, whether your brother was married or not; but supposin' he married a
lady like Miss Dora Bannister. Bless my soul, Miss Miriam, everything in
this place would be turned heels up an' heads down, an' there wouldn't be
no colored pussons wanted in this 'stablishment, Seraphina nor me nuther,
an' I reckon you wouldn't know the place in six months, Miss Miriam, with
that Miss Dora runnin' it, an' old Miss Panney with her fingers in the
pie, an' nobody can't help her doin' that when Miss Dora is concerned,
an' you kin see for yourself, Miss Miriam, that Seraphina, an' me, too,
is bound to be bounced if it was to come to that."

"I will talk to you again about your sister," said Miriam, and she went
away, amused.

Mike was delighted.

"It's all a cussed old lie, jes' as I thought it wuz," said he to
himself; "an' that old Miss Panney'll fin' them young uns is harder nuts
to crack than me an' Phoebe wuz. I got in some good licks fur dat purty
Miss Cicely, too."

Miriam's amusement gradually faded away as she approached the house. At
first it had seemed funny to hear any one talk about Ralph or herself
getting married, but now it did not appear so funny. On the contrary,
that part of Mike's remarks which concerned Ralph and Dora was
positively depressing. Suppose such a thing were really to happen; it
would be dreadful. She had thought her brother overfond of Dora's
society, but the matter had never appeared to her in the serious aspect
in which she saw it now.

She had intended to find Ralph, and speak to him about Mike's sister; but
now she changed her mind. She was wearing the teaberry gown, and she
would attend to her own affairs as mistress of the house. If R