ave her bed, she
went about in pussy-slippers and a loose gown of lace and frills
without her stays, Peggy's only protest was against her wearing anything
else--so adorable was she. When this happy, dreamy indolence began to
pall upon her--and she could not stand it for long--she would be up at
sunrise helping Peggy wash and dress her frolicsome children or get
them off to school, and this done, would assist in the housework--even
rolling the pastry with her own delicate palms, or sitting beside the
bubbling, spontaneous woman, needle in hand, aiding with the family
mending--while Peggy, glad of the companionship, would sit with ears
open, her mind alert, probing--probing--trying to read the heart of the
girl whom she loved the better every day. And so there had crept
into Kate's heart a new peace that was as fresh sap to a dying plant,
bringing the blossoms to her cheeks and the spring of wind-blown
branches to her step.

Then one fine morning, to the astonishment of every one, and greatly to
Todd's disgust, no less a person than Mr. Langdon Willits of "Oak Hill"
(distant three miles away) dismounted at Coston's front porch, and
throwing the reins to the waiting darky, stretched his convalescent, but
still shaky, legs in the direction of the living-room, there to await
the arrival of "Miss Seymour of Kennedy Square," who, so he informed
Todd, "expected him."

Todd scraped a foot respectfully in answer, touched his cocoanut of a
head with his monkey claw of a finger, waited until the broad back of
the red-headed gentleman had been swallowed up by the open door, and
then indulged in this soliloquy:

"Funny de way dem bullets hab o' missin' folks. Des a leetle furder
down an' dere wouldn't 'a' been none o' dis yere foolishness. Pity Marse
Harry hadn't practised some mo'. Ef he had ter do it ag'in I reckon he'd
pink him so he neber be cavortin' 'roun' like he is now."

Willits's sudden appearance filled St. George with ill-concealed
anxiety. He did not believe in this parade of invalidism, nor did
he like Kate's encouraging smile when she met him--and there was no
question that she did smile--and, more portentous still, that she
enjoyed it. Other things, too, she grew to enjoy, especially the long
rides in the woods and over to the broad water. For Willits's health
after a few days of the sunshine of Kate's companionship had undergone
so renovating a process that the sorrel horse now arrived at the porch
almost every