f of intricate
labor, during which she strained her old eyes in order to avoid cutting
the delicate cambric, she had at last undone the mischief which Alison
had caused that day.

"Now then, here we are, as straight as possible," she said aloud, in
her cheery way. "It's wonderful how fresh I do feel, and this hand's a
sight better. I declare it's a sort of Providence that the old don't
want much sleep--why, the church clock has gone two, and I aint a bit
drowsy. I know what I'll do, I'll work till five, that's three hours;
then I'll go to bed till seven. My hand's so comfortable that I'm sure
to sleep like a top, and seven is time enough for me to rise. Two
hours aint such a bad lot of sleep for a woman of my years. Let's see,
I'm sixty-eight. In one sense sixty-eight is old, in another sense
it's young. You slack down at sixty-eight; you don't have such a draw
on your system, the fire inside you don't seem to require such poking
up and feeding. When you get real old, seventy-eight or eighty, then
you want a deal of cosseting; but sixty-eight is young in one sense of
the word. This is the slack time--this is the time when you live real
cheap. What a deal of mercies I have, to be sure; and them beautiful
grandchildren, so fat and hearty, and Alison and me to keep the house
so snug, and tight, and neat, and not a debt in the world. Now, then,
I expect I'll get a lot of work through in these three hours. I can
set up for the next few nights, till Ally gets her place back again,
and make up all the difference, and more, that her eight shillings a
week brings in. Oh, thank the Lord, it's wonderful fortinit that I've
come to the easy time of life. If I were younger now, I must have my
sleep; but at sixty-eight you, so to speak, slacks down your fire, and
_werry_ little keeps it goin'."

As Grannie thought these last vigorous and contented thoughts, she
pulled the lamp nearer, seized her needle and thread, and commenced her
feather-stitching. For the first quarter of an hour or twenty minutes
the work went well--the mysterious twists, and turns, and darts, and
loops were all made with fidelity and exactitude--the lovely crinkled
ornament stood out boldly on the delicate cambric. Grannie looked at
her work with intense pride and happiness.

"It's a fortin'--I do wish that gel would learn it. Why, ef the two of
us were at it, she'd make a sight more than she do in the shop. I
declare I'll give her a lesson