l of an earlier shopping expedition.
Mrs. Colter gathered the packages together.

The bell began to ring more insistently, and with a certain rhythm.
Tottie came down, in a tea-gown that was well past its prime, and that
held the same relation to her abundant jewelry that marble fireplace
and crystal chandelier sustained to her ornate furniture. "Don't go
for just a minute, Mrs. Colter," she suggested, rotating her
chewing-gum, and adjusting a flowered silk shawl.

There was a boy at the front door, a capped and uniformed urchin with a
special delivery letter. "Miss Clare Crosby live here?" he inquired.
Behind his back, in his other hand, the butt of a cigarette sent up a
fragrant thread of smoke.

"You bet,"--and Miss St. Clair relieved him of the letter he proffered.
He went down the steps at an alarming gait, and she came slowly into
the parlor, studying the letter, feeling it inquiringly.

"I'm goin' to finish my tradin'," informed Mrs. Colter. "It'll be six
months likely before I git down to N'York again."

"You oughta let Clare know when you're comin'," declared Tottie,
holding the letter up to the light.

"Oh, well, I won't start home till she gits in. You know there's
trains every hour to Poughkeepsie." Having gathered her bundles
together, Mrs. Colter carried them into the back-parlor.

Left alone, Tottie lost no further time. To pry the letter open and
unfold it was the swift work of a thumb and finger made dexterous by
long use of the cigarette. "'_Great news, my darling!_'" she read.
"'_The firm says----_'"

But Mrs. Colter was returning. "I'll be back from the store in no
time," she announced as she came; "only want to git a bon-bon spoon and
a pickle fork." Then calling through the double doors, "Come, Barbara!"

Tottie, having returned the letter to its envelope and resealed it, now
set it against the diving-girl on the mantelpiece. "What you doin'?"
she inquired; "blowin' the kid's board money?"

"Board money!" cried Mrs. Colter. "Why, Miss Crosby ain't paid me for
two weeks.--Barbara!"

"Yes," answered a child's voice.

"Well, she's behind with me a whole month," returned Tottie, "and you
know I let her have a room here just to be accommodatin'. The stage is
my perfession, Mrs. Colter. Oh, yes, I've played with most all of the
big ones. And as I say, I don't have to take roomers. Why, I rented
this house just so's I could entertain my theatrical friends."

Mrs. Colter took