opped them an old-fashioned curtsy.

"Josephine!" said Dick, "here is Mr. Croyden, the new master. Can you
cook for him, as well as you did for Colonel Duval?"

"Survent, marster," she said to Croyden, with another curtsy--then, to
the agent, "Kin I cooks, Marster Dick! Kin I cooks? Sut'n'y, I kin.
Don' yo t'inks dis nigger's forgot--jest yo waits, Marster Croyden, I
shows yo, seh, sho' nuf--jest gives me a little time to get my han' in,
seh."

"You won't need much time," Dick commented. "The Colonel considered her
very satisfactory, sir, very satisfactory, indeed. And he was a
competent judge, sir, a very competent judge."

"Oh, we'll get along," said Croyden, with a smile at Josephine. "If you
could please Colonel Duval, you will more than please me."

"Thankee, seh!" she replied, bobbing down again. "I sho' tries, seh."

"Have you had any experience with negro servants?" Dick asked, as they
returned to the library.

"No," Croyden responded: "I have always lived at a Club."

"Well, Mose and his wife are of the old times--you can trust them,
thoroughly, but there is one thing you'll have to remember, sir: they
are nothing but overgrown children, and you'll have to discipline them
accordingly. They don't know what it is to be impertinent, sir; they
have their faults, but they are always respectful."

"Can I rely on them to do the buying?"

"I think so, sir, the Colonel did, I know. If you wish, I'll send you a
list of the various stores, and all you need do is to pay the bills. Is
there anything else I can do now, sir?"

"Nothing," said Croyden. "And thank you very much for all you have
done."

"How about your baggage--can I send it out? No trouble, sir, I assure
you, no trouble. I'll just give your checks to the drayman, as I pass.
By the way, sir, you'll want the telephone in, of course. I'll notify
the Company at once. And you needn't fear to speak to your neighbors;
they will take it as it's meant, sir. The next on the left is Major
Borden's, and this, on the right, is Captain Tilghman's, and across the
way is Captain Lashiel's, and Captain Carrington's, and the house
yonder, with the huge oaks in front, is Major Markoe's."

"Sort of a military settlement," smiled Croyden.

"Yes, sir--some of them earned their title in the war, and some of
them in the militia and some just inherited it from their pas. Sort of
handed down in the family, sir. The men will call on you, promptly,
too. I shouldn't wonder