th a napkin. William Jaquith went to a certain corner and
brought out a teapoy of violet wood, which he set down at the old lady's
elbow.

"There!" said Direxia Hawkes. "Did you ever?"

She was shaking all over, but she set the tray down carefully. Jaquith
took the saucepan from her hand and set it on the hob. Then he lifted
the napkin. Under it were two plates, one of biscuits, the other of
small cakes shaped like a letter S.

"Snaky cakies!" said Will Jaquith. "Oh, Direxia! give me a cake and
I'll give you a kiss! Is that right, you dear old thing?"

He stooped to kiss the withered brown cheek; the old woman caught up her
apron to her face.

"It's him! it's him! it's one of my little boys, but where's the other?
Oh, Mis' Tree, I can't stand it! I can't stand it!"

Mrs. Tree watched her, dry-eyed.

"Cry away, so long as you don't cry into the gruel," she said, kindly.
"You are an old goose, Direxia Hawkes. I haven't been able to cry for
ten years, Willy. Here! take the 'postle spoon and stir it. Has she
brought a cup for you?"

"Well, I should hope I had!" said Direxia, drying her eyes. "I ain't
quite lost my wits, Mis' Tree."

"You never had enough to lose!" retorted her mistress. "Hark! there's
Jocko wanting his gruel. Bring him in; and mind you take a sup yourself
before you go to bed, Direxia! You're all shaken up."

"Gadzooks!" said the parrot. "The cup that cheers! Go to bed, Direxia!
Direxia Hawkes, wife of Guy Fawkes!"

"Now look at that!" said Direxia. "Ain't you ashamed, Willy Jaquith? He
ain't said that since you went away."

* * * * *

The next morning was bright and clear. Mrs. Malvina Weight, sweeping her
front chamber, with an anxious eye on the house opposite, saw the door
open and Mrs. Tree come out, followed by a tall young man. The old lady
wore the huge black velvet bonnet, surmounted by a bird of paradise,
which she had brought from Paris forty years before, and an India shawl
which had pointed a moral to the pious of Elmerton for more than that
length of time. "Adorning her perishing back with what would put food in
the mouth of twenty Christian heathens for a year!" was the way Mrs.
Weight herself expressed it.

This morning, however, Mrs. Weight had no eyes for her aged neighbor.
Every faculty she possessed was bent on proving the identity of the
stranger. He kept his face turned from her in a way that was most
exasperating. Could it be the man sh