was a pretty little cottage and
grounds, and a feeling of satisfaction at being their mistress, even if
it necessitated being his mistress, came over her that made her affable
and winning, if she did occasionally say things that hinted at a stormy
future.

They strolled up the broad brick walk, he thrilled with his magnificent
capture, and she just as satisfied with the power she had attained over
one so high socially, and who stood in such near prospect of obtaining
vast wealth. Instead of entering the house at its little front door with
its highly ornamented porch, they opened the door of a little
trellis-worked addition to the cottage, which was now covered by an
almost leafless mass of vines, and passed to a side entrance, where a
gentle pull of the bell caused the immediate appearance of a very fat
and very flabby woman of middle age, who at once conducted them to a
suite of rooms, consisting of a parlor and a large sleeping-room,
between which, in place of the original folding-doors, had been
substituted rich hangings sufficiently drawn apart to admit of the
passage of one person, and which, with the tastefully draped windows,
the deeply-framed pictures, the vari-colored marble mantels and
fireplaces, the heavy, yielding carpet giving back no sound to the
foot-fall, and the great easy-chairs into which one sank as into pillows
of down, gave the rooms the hintings of such luxuriousness that Lilly
was completely dazzled and bewildered with the unexpected elegance, and
the, to her, never before realized splendor.

"Mother Blake," said Bland, "this is Lilly Mercer, who is my friend, and
whom you are to make comfortable."

Mother Blake, as if realizing that her duties began whenever Bland
spoke, majestically crossed the room, sat down beside Lilly and
immediately kissed her very affectionately, merely remarking, "And a
very nice girl she is, too, Mr. Bland."

"That'll do, mother. You may get us a small bottle of wine, and then go
to bed. It's getting late, and you know you need a good deal of sleep."

Mother Blake chuckled, and shook from it as though her enjoyment of any
sort of pleasantry came to the surface only in a series of ripples over
her great fat body, instead of in echoes of enjoyment from her great fat
throat. But it might have been merely a habit with its origin in the
necessities of her quiet mode of life; and, doing as requested, only
lingered to fasten back the curtain so that the low, luxurious be