n it, Miss."

"Do you know, Perkins," said little Anne, stopping work for a minute
and speaking earnestly, "do you know that I think Judy would be
different if she only knew something about him. The uncertainty makes
her unhappy, and then she does reckless things just to get away from
herself."

"Yes, Miss," said Perkins, "and there ain't a morning that she don't
put fresh flowers in front of that there picture, and there ain't a
night that she don't kiss her hand to it from the top of the stairs."

"I know," sighed Anne. "Poor Judy."

"When will the Judge be back?" she asked after awhile.

But at that Perkins shut up like a clam. "I don't know, Miss," he
snapped. "It's best for you not to ask too many questions, Miss."

Anne flushed. "Oh, of course I won't, Perkins," she said, "if you
don't like to have me--" and she was very quiet, until the old butler,
with a glance at her troubled face, said, "I don't care how many
questions you axes, Miss, but the Judge might."

And Anne smiled at him, with radiant forgiveness.

"Isn't all this silver a lot of care, Perkins?" she asked, to clear the
air.

"It is that," answered Perkins, "and yet there isn't half as much of it
as there is at the Judge's in Fairfax. Only the Judge keeps his locked
up in a safe, all except the things we uses every day. But here they
just puts it on the sideboard, where it is a temptation to
burglars--with them long windows opening out on the porch, and the
curtains drawn back half the time. I don't call it safe, Miss, I
surely don't."

"But there aren't any burglars around here, are there, Perkins?" and
Anne stopped rubbing the cups to look at him anxiously.

"Nobody knows whether there is or not," grumbled Perkins. "There might
be for all they know. It ain't fair to the servants, Miss, for to let
them lie around loose this way. Mrs. Adams says so, too, but the Judge
don't pay no attention to things since the Captain left, and Miss Judy
is too young to bother."

"They wouldn't like to lose these cups," said Anne, as she finished the
last one, and arranged them in a squat little row on the shelf.

"They wouldn't like to lose any of it," returned Perkins, putting a
great soup-ladle back into its flannel bag. "It's all old and it's all
family silver, and people ought to take care of it, and when the Judge
comes back I am going to tell him so, Miss."

"Anne," said Judy, peeping in at the door, "I'm back, and Lutie Barton
is w