stening to sprout their curtaining green, and a hammock,
comfortable chairs, a table and books proclaimed the place an
out-of-door sitting-room.

"Your mother is wonderful," she began when her companion had placed her
satisfactorily and had stretched himself out in a listening attitude,
his hands clasped behind his head and his eyes on hers.

What eyes they were, Miss Upton thought. Clear and light-brown, the
color of water catching the light in a swift, sunny brook.

"She is a queen," he responded with conviction.

"A pity such a woman hasn't got a daughter," said Miss Mehitable
tentatively.

"I'm going to give her one some day." A smile accompanied this.

"Is she picked out?"

Ben laughed at his companion's anxious tone. "You seem interested in my
prospects. That's the second time you have seemed worried at the idea.
No, she isn't picked out. I'm going to hunt for her in the stars. Why?
Have you some one selected?"

"Law, no!" returned Miss Upton, flushing. "It is a--yes, it is a girl
I've come to talk to you about, though." The visitor stammered and grew
increasingly confused as she proceeded. "I thought--I didn't know--the
girl needs somebody--yes, to--to look after her and I thought your
mother bein'--bein' all alone and the house so big, she might have some
use for a--young girl, you know, a kind of a helper; but Charlotte says
the girl would fall in love with you and--and--" Miss Upton paused,
drawing her handkerchief through and through her hands and looking
anxiously at her companion who leaned his head back still farther and
laughed aloud.

"Come, now, that's the most sensible speech that ever fell from Lottie's
rosebud lips." He sat up and viewed his visitor, who, in spite of her
crimson embarrassment, was gazing at him appealingly. "I don't believe,
Mehit, my dear, that you've begun at the beginning, and you'll have to,
you know, if you want legal advice."

"I never do, Ben; I am so stupid. I always do begin right in the middle,
but now I'll go back. You know I went to the city yesterday."

"You and the umbrella."

"Yes, and I was mad at myself for luggin' it around all the mornin' when
the weather turned out so pleasant and I had so many other things; but
never _mind_"--the narrator tightened her lips impressively--"that
umbrella was all _right_."

"Sure thing," put in Ben. "How could you have rescued the girl without
it?"

Miss Upton's eyes widened. "How did you know I did?"

"The legal