and finding health
and happiness in daily toil. She went from task to task, rejoicing that
her hand had not lost its cunning for sweeping, dusting, sewing,
cooking, and all the rest of the blessed work that goes to the making of
a home; "and the evening and the morning were the first day." The second
day was like unto the first, and on the third day Mary Matthews and
Annie McGowan came, and a broken friendship was cemented, never to be
broken again.

At the end of the week David came home with a grave face. "I'm sorry,
Sarah," he said, as they sat down to their supper, "but I'm afraid
we'll have to break camp and go back to town to-morrow morning. I had a
letter from Bates and Hammond, that big firm I told you about, and I
have to go to St. Louis to-morrow morning. I can't leave you out here
alone, so I reckon you'll have to go back to the two-story brick for
awhile."

He expected an outburst of tears from Sarah, but to his great relief she
went calmly on, pouring his coffee and helping him to the corn bread and
bacon.

"That's all right, David," she said pleasantly. "I was just wonderin'
to-day how things were in town, and I'd just as soon go back as not."

David drew a breath of relief. "I think you'll find everything in good
order," he said. "Ann Bryan has got Nelly and Bertha well in hand. She
says they're good servants, and all they need is a tight rein to hold
them to their work. She says you must look them straight in the eye when
you give an order, and never let a bad piece of work pass. She says
that's the secret of managin' servants."

Sarah said nothing, but there was a look on her face that Ann Bryan
would have approved.

"We have to make an early start to-morrow," continued David, "for I
leave on the nine o'clock train. Ann may leave the house before we get
to town. Her brother's wife is sick, and she's needed at home, and
that's another reason why we ought to go back to town for awhile."

"Of course it is," agreed Sarah, "and I don't mind it at all."

David watched his wife closely, as they made preparations for leaving
the next morning, but there was nothing in her manner or her words to
indicate the slightest annoyance over the return to town. She seemed
alert, cheerful, and more than willing to make the change, and when they
came in sight of the two-story brick, David thought she looked rather
pleased.

"Maybe you'd better have some one to stay with you while I'm gone," he
suggested, as he