n sense in tending the little shop, that Miss Mehitable, seeing
what a godsend it would be to the poor creature, asked her to stay on;
since which time, though no gratitude had ever been expressed in words,
Mrs. Whipp had taken upon herself the ruling of the small establishment
and its mistress with all the vigor possible. Miss Upton had told her to
bring with her anything she valued and the widow had twisted her thin,
one-sided mouth: "There ain't a thing in that shanty I don't wish was
burned except Pearl," she said. "I'll bring her if you'll let me. She's
a Malty cat."

"Oh, bring her along," Miss Mehitable had replied. "I suppose I won't
really sense that I'm an old maid until there's a cat in the house."

So Pearl came, and to-night she sat blinking at the leaping flame in the
open stove while the two women ate their supper in the long spring
evening.

"I brought some things home in my bag," said Miss Upton, "but most o'
them are comin' out Monday."

"Put in a good day, did you?" asked Charlotte, who, now that her mind
was relieved of rebukes, was ready to listen to the tales she always
expected when Miss Mehitable returned from her trips.

"Yes, I think I did pretty well," was the answer.

But the widow regarded her friend with dissatisfaction. This dispirited
manner was very different from the effervescence which usually bubbled
over in anecdote.

"Well, next time don't stay till you're worn to a frazzle," she said.

"I missed the train, Charlotte. That was what happened."

"Well, didn't Mr. Barry have anything to say comin' out on the train?"
asked Mrs. Whipp, determined to get some of her usual proxy satisfaction
from Miss Upton's outing.

"I never saw him till we got to Keefe. Oh, Charlotte, if I'd ever met a
boy like him when I was young I wouldn't be keepin' a store now with
another woman and a cat."

"H'm, you're better off as you are. Ben Barry's young yet. He'll be in
plenty of mischief before he's forty. His mother was in the shop to-day.
With all her money it's queer she never married again."

"Oh, she's just wrapped up in her flowers and chickens," remarked Miss
Mehitable.

"Well," returned Charlotte, "seems to me if I had a big house and
grounds like that, I'd want somebody around besides servants."

Miss Mehitable lifted her eyes from her meat and potato and gazed at her
companion.

"Queer you should say that," she returned. "I was speakin' of that very
thing to Ben to-day. I shoul