d went down even lower than when Moses held it,
yet she rallied instantly, and with all her might lifted it to a level
with Susanna's, who was as instantly won by this action, and exclaimed,
exultantly:

"There, Moses Jones! What did I tell you? Ain't no heft in it, not a
mite. Nobody but a man--a man--would make such a how-de-do over a trunk.
Just a trunk!"

The infinite scorn of words and manner provoked nothing further from her
"shif'less" housemate than another silent chuckle, and a keen glance at
Katharine from beneath his bushy eyebrows.

Yet he did look a trifle ashamed when his mistress herself opened the
hall door again to admit the trunk-bearers, and without more ado hurried
back to the sidewalk and brought in the rest of the luggage. It was
noticeable that he no longer stooped or affected fatigue; and that as
soon as Susanna let go the trunk at the foot of the stairs he
immediately shouldered it, like the lightest of parcels, and carried it
swiftly above. Then, pausing at the top of the flight, he asked, in a
brisk tone:

"Which room, Eunice?"

"The sitting-room chamber, Moses."

Katharine listened, astonished, then exclaimed:

"Why--I thought he was your 'hired man.' That's servant, isn't it?"

"About the same thing, my dear," answered Miss Maitland, smiling ever
so slightly, and quite conscious that Susanna's black eyes and keen ears
were alert for her reply.

"But he called you by your first name! just as if he were your brother,
or--or--somebody."

"There is little giving of titles in Marsden, Katharine, but that does
not imply any lack of respect. Moses and Susanna and I were schoolmates
together in the little red schoolhouse at the crossroads, and none of
us--none of us--wish to forget it. The same old schoolhouse where your
father learned his letters, and where you will go if you are happy
enough with me to remain. Now, Widow Sprigg, let John's little girl see
what sort of a supper you used to fix for him when he was hungry."

All fancied slight at the term "servant" thus atoned for by the formal
"Widow Sprigg," and her favor swiftly won by Kate's behavior with the
trunk, the housekeeper departed in high good-humor, her cap-strings
flying, spectacles pushed to the top of her head, and cheerily
remarking:

"So she shall, so she shall. I'll show her. For Johnny was the boy to
eat an' enj'y his victuals. 'Twas a comfort to cook for him, he was that
hearty. I'll have it ready in the jerk of