w and
see how spry you can clear the table, and you, Rind," speaking to a
simple looking girl with crooked feet, "do you go to your shoes. Be
quick now, for it's goin' on seven o'clock."

At this moment Mary caught sight of Mr. Parker, who was standing just
without the door, and his mischievous look as Mrs. Grundy gave out her
orders made Mary a little suspicious of that lady's real position
among them. But she had no time for thought, for just then through all
the closed doors and the long hall there came to her ears the sound of
a scream. Alice was crying, and instantly dropping the plate she held
in her hand, Mary was hurrying away, when Mrs. Grundy called her back,
saying "Let her cry a spell. 'Twill strengthen her lungs."

Mary had more spirit than her face indicated, and in her mind she was
revolving the propriety of obeying, when Mr. Parker, who was still
standing by the door, said, "If that baby is crying, go to her by all
means."

The look of gratitude which Mary's eyes flashed upon him, more than
compensated for the frown which darkened Mrs. Grundy's brow as she
slammed the doors together, muttering about "hen-hussies minding their
own business."

Mary was not called down to finish the dishes, and when at last she
went to the kitchen for milk, she found them all washed and put away.
Mrs. Grundy was up to her elbow in cheese curd, and near her, tied
into an arm chair, sat Patsy, nodding her head and smiling as usual.
The pleasant looking woman was mopping the kitchen floor, and Mary,
for the first time, noticed that she was very lame.

"Go out doors and come round. Don't you see you'll track the floor all
up?" said Mrs. Grundy, and the lame woman replied, "Never mind, Polly,
I can easy wipe up her tracks, and it's a pity to send her out in the
rain."

Mary chose to obey Mrs. Grundy, who wiped the crumbs of curd and drops
of whey from her arms and took the cup, saying, "More milk? Seems to
me she eats a cart load! I wonder where the butter's to come from, if
we dip into the cream this way."

Had Mary been a little older, she might have doubted whether the blue
looking stuff Mrs. Grundy poured into her cup ever saw any cream, but
she was only too thankful to get it on any terms, and hurried with it
back to her room. About noon the clouds broke away, while here and
there a patch of bright blue sky was to be seen. But the roads were so
muddy that Mary had no hope of Billy's coming, and this it was,
perhap