d Aunt Phebe, as we
passed out of the door, how many flowers she had in summer and how
pretty the vines were. Aunt Peg heard me, and smiled graciously. Then we
went around to a side door, which opened into the ground room, as she
called it.

Her house was on a bank, or at least its main part, and while a valley
lay on one side, the ground rose upon the other. The door-sill of this
room was, therefore, even with both the ground and the floor, and on
either side of it were two windows, both door and windows facing the
south. The sides and back of the room had no windows, the back partition
being that which divided it from Aunt Peg's little cellar; and the east
and west sides were hedged in by the bank which came sloping down from
both front and back doors.

"This is a very comfortable little room," said Aunt Phebe. "Now, what
will be the rent?"

"Well, if you are bent on payin', I don't want to say less than ten
dollars a year."

"I would call it twelve, and that will be one dollar a month, Mrs.
Smith."

"Thank you, mam, it'll be a great help; I have the sideache sometimes,
and can't do nothing for a day or so, not even get the wool rolls off my
wheel, and that is jist play when I'm smart: he may come neat or not
neat, Plint or no Plint," and the bargain was finished, and Matthias
Jones was to appear on, or near, the first of March.

My rehearsal of our visit at the dinner-table provoked great mirth, and
Mr. Benton smiled on me more kindly than ever before, but I could not
but think, whenever I looked at him, that he must die pretty soon,
because Clara could not love him, and he had told her his life was
dependent on her love.

The days of Aunt Phebe's visit drew too quickly to their close, and the
time to go came on a bright sun-shiny morning. Father carried her to the
railway station; we filled a large trunk with the farm products, so
welcome to those who live in cities. Aunt Hildy put in a bundle the
contents of which she did not even want me to guess. She was a firm
friend to Aunt Phebe, and shook her hand when she left, as if loath to
let it go, and said:

"Come again as soon as you can, and if I am in my own little nest, come
and stay with me, and we'll have some more good sensible talk that helps
our wings to grow; we are only covered with pin-feathers so far."

Aunt Phebe appreciated this good old soul, and said, earnestly, "God
bless you, Mrs. Patten," as my father started the horses.

Aunt Hildy wa