no remark, however, and Sarah Emily continued the one-sided
conversation all unabashed.

"I hoofed it every fut o' the road," she remarked aggrievedly.

Miss Gordon took a new thread from her ball and fitted it into her
needle with majestic dignity.

Sarah Emily was silent a moment, then hummed her favorite song.

"_My grandmother lives on yonder little green,
As fine an old lady as ever was seen,
She has often cautioned me with care,
Of all false young men to beware!_

"I couldn't abide that there Mrs. Oliver another five minutes. She had
too stiff a backbone for me, by a whole pail o' starch."

Miss Gordon's face changed. Here was news. Sarah Emily had been at
service in town during her week's absence, and not only that, she had
actually been in one of its most wealthy and influential families! To
Miss Gordon, the town, some three miles distant, was a small Edinburgh,
and she pined for even a word from someone, anyone, there who moved in
its social world. She longed to hear more, but realized she could not
afford to relax just yet.

"Perhaps you will understand now what it means to be under proper
discipline," she remarked.

"Well, I wasn't kickin' about bein' under that, whatever it is. It was
bein' under her thumb I couldn't abide--makin' me wear a white bonnet
in the afternoons, jist as if I was an old granny, an' an apron not big
enough for a baby's bib!"

Miss Gordon longed to rebuke the girl sharply, but could not bear to
lose the glimpse of real genteel life.

"She has one girl an' one boy--an' that there boy! She'd dress him up
in a new white get-up, 'bout every five minutes, an' he'd walk straight
outside an' wallow in the mud right after. I thought I'd a' had to
stand an' iron pants for that young heathen till the crack o' doom, an'
I had just one pair too many so I had. An' I up an' told her you'd
think she kep' a young centipede much less a human boy with only two
legs to him. And then I up and skedaddled."

Miss Gordon's conscience added its protest to that of her dignity, and
she spoke.

"I prefer that you should not discuss your various mistresses with me,
Sarah Emily. I can have nothing to do with your affairs now, you see."

Sarah Emily lilted the refrain of her song:

"_Timmy--eigh timmy--um, timmy--tum--tum--tum,
Of all false young men to beware!_

"Would you like muffins or pancakes for supper?" she finished up
graciously.

Miss Gordon hesitated. Sa