she sometimes found a busy knot of talkers, it was
natural to her to stand open-mouthed and drink in the conversation.
Really anxious to obey her mistress, she struggled hard with this bad
habit, but it was so strong within her that she was not always
successful, and lately she had caught a chance word now and then which
was at once dreadful and attractive--the word "ghost." Not only several
times at the post-office, where the speakers had nudged each other and
become suddenly silent when she appeared, but once she was certain she
had heard Mrs Shivers say it to Mrs Roy. They were talking earnestly
together, and when Biddy threw open the door and bore in a trayful of
clattering cups and saucers they stopped, but not before she had plainly
caught that one terrible word. Her curiosity now reached an almost
unbearable pitch, but it was soon to be further enlightened.

One bright morning, when she had been at Wavebury for nearly two months,
she was walking up and down near the house with the baby in her arms,
waiting for Mrs Roy, who had carefully warned her meanwhile not to go
out of the sunshine or to stand still, and to keep within sight of the
windows. Her walk, therefore, was rather a limited one; it lay
backwards and forwards between the farmyard gate and the kitchen door.

On her way she passed and repassed an open cart-shed where Mr Roy,
whistling cheerily, was engaged in his favourite pursuit of
carpentering. He had cast aside his black coat, and for his better
convenience wore a short blue-flannel boating-jacket; about his feet the
yellow-white shavings curled in larger and larger heaps every minute, as
he bent over his carpenter's bench in the all-absorbing enjoyment of
measuring, smoothing, and planing. The shed was also occupied by two
goats and a family of cocks and hens, some turkeys were perched on the
empty wagon at the farther end, and an inquisitive pig looked in now and
then in a friendly manner. These all eyed their human companion
thoughtfully from time to time, but without any alarm, for they had now
discovered that both he and his various edged tools were perfectly
harmless.

Up and down went Biddy in the sunshine, keeping up a low murmur of
conversation with the baby, casting a glance at her busy master, and
catching a scrap now and then of a gossip going on at the kitchen door
between Mrs Shivers and Mr Peter Sweet, landlord of the village inn.

She did not take much heed of this until s