d studied the ill-shaped, vacant, though not vicious,
face of the unfortunate waif. Something drew her sympathy toward him,
and she pitied him for the mother whom he had never known. In the
adjoining room she could hear the voices of her own "childer," with
their cultured inflection and language, which was theirs by inheritance
and as unconsciously as were "Bony's" harsh tones and rude speech his
own.

"Arrah musha! but it's a queer world, I d'know. There's them an' there's
him, an' the Lord made 'em both. Hear me, me gineral. Take a hold o'
that broom o' yours, an' show me what it's made for. If you're as clean
as you're homebly, I might stand your good friend. What for no?"

Fayette had returned Cleena's cool stare with another as steady. He
liked her far better and more promptly than she liked him, yet in that
moment of scrutiny each had measured the other and formed a tacit
partnership. "For the family," was Cleena's watchword, and it had
already become the half-wit's.

Cleena went to the well, tied her clothesline to the leaky old bucket
and lowered it. On the night before she had obtained a pail of spring
water from the cottage at the foot of the knoll, from the same friendly
neighbor who had sold her the milk. But their own well must be fixed. To
her dismay she found that it was very deep, and that the bit of water
which remained in the bucket when it was drawn up was quite unfit even
for cleaning purposes.

This worried her. A scarcity of water was one of the few trials which
she had been spared, and she could hardly have met a heavier. As she
turned toward the house she saw that Fayette had carefully set out of
doors the old chairs and the other movable furniture which the kitchen
had contained, and that, before sweeping, he was using his broom to
brush the cobwebs from the ceiling. The sight filled her with joy and
amazement.

"Saints bless us! That's the first man body I ever met that had sense
like that!" and she lifted up her voice in a glad summons:--

"You, Napoleon Gineral Bonyparty, come by!"

"Before I finish here?"

"Before the wag o' dog's tail. Hurry up!"

"The wind'll blow it all over again."

"Leave it blow. Come by. Here's more trouble even nor cobwebs, avick!
First need is first served."

This summoned Hallam and Amy out to see what was going on, and after
learning the difficulty and peering into the depths of the old pit they
offered their suggestions. Said Amy:--

"We might dra