ingly.

Steering well away from the centre-table with its highly prized
ornament, Thorpe gained the chair in which, if he did not lean
against the tidy, he was permitted to sit. He held himself bolt
upright and warmed his hands at the stove. "It is good to be out,"
he said, cheerfully, "and good to come in again. A day like this
makes one appreciate the blessing of a home."

Miss Hitty watched the white-haired, inoffensive old man with the
keen scrutiny of an eagle guarding its nest. He did not lean upon
the tidy, nor rest his elbows upon the crocheted mats which protected
the arms of the chair. In short, he conducted himself as a gentleman
should when in the parlour of a lady.

His blue, near-sighted eyes rested approvingly upon Araminta. "How
the child grows!" he said, with a friendly smile upon his kindly old
face. "Soon we shall have a young lady on our hands."

Araminta coloured and bent more closely to her sewing.

"I hope I'm not annoying you?" questioned the minister, after an
interval.

"Not at all," said Miss Mehitable, politely.

"I wanted to ask about some one," pursued the Reverend Mr. Thorpe.
"It seems that there is a new tenant in the old house on the hill
that has been empty for so long--the one the village people say is
haunted. It seems a woman is living there, quite alone; and she
always wears a veil, on account of some--some disfigurement."

Miss Hitty's false teeth clicked, sharply, but there was no other
sound except the clock, which, in the pause, struck four. "I
thought--" continued the minister, with a rising inflection.

Hitherto, he had found his hostess of invaluable assistance in his
parish work. It had been necessary to mention only the name. As
upon the turning of a faucet a stream of information gushed forth
from the fountain of her knowledge. Age, date and place of birth,
ancestry on both sides three generations back, with complete and
illuminating biographical details of ancestry and individual;
education, financial standing, manner of living, illnesses in the
family, including dates and durations of said illnesses, accidents,
if any, medical attendance, marriages, births, deaths, opinions,
reverses, present locations and various careers of descendants, list
of misfortunes, festivities, entertainments, church affiliation past
and present, political leanings, and a vast amount of other personal
data had been immediately forthcoming. Tagged to it, like the
postscr