marrying mamma. I don't know why; only Ephraim says 'Miss Betty was
allays full o' notions same's a aig's full o' meat.' Ephy's Aunt
Betty's 'boy,' about as old as she is--something over eighty. Nobody
knows just auntie's real age, except Ephraim and Dinah. They've lived
with her always and treat her now just as if she were a child. It's
too funny for words, sometimes, to hear the three of them argue over
some thing or trifle. She'll let them go a certain length; then all at
once she'll put on her dignity and they fairly begin to tremble. She's
mistress then and they're her servants, but I do believe either one
would die to prolong her life. Dinah says: ''Pears lak death an' dyin'
nebah gwine come nigh my Miss Betty Calvert.' And she's just right.
Everybody thinks my darling aunt is the sweetest, most wonderful woman
in the world. But I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to talk so much and
hinder your examination."

"Oh! that is all right. I love to hear your story that you've left off
at its beginning. You're only a 'baby' so far, you know."

"Well, if you like. When my father died, my mother felt that she would
die, too, and she couldn't bear to leave me alone. So she just sent me
to Aunt Betty. But she felt, auntie did, that she couldn't be bothered
with a 'squalling baby,' nor could she cast me off, really. 'Cause she
was my real great-aunt and my nearest relation and was rich enough to
do what she liked in a money way. Besides, she wanted me to be raised
real sensible. So she picked out a splendid couple she knew and had me
left on their doorstep. She had pinned to my clothes that my name was
'Dorothy C.' Their name began with 'C,' too, so they guessed I was
meant for them to keep, because they hadn't any other child. What a
lot I'm talking! Do you want to hear any more? Won't the Lady
Principal be angry if I don't get examined?"

"I will make that all right, Dorothy, and I am greatly interested.
It's 'like a story out of a book,' as the Minims say. Go on, please."

"Well, these dear people took care of me till I was a real big girl. I
love them dearly. He was a postman and he walked too much. So he had
to lose his position with lameness and he's never gotten over it,
though he's better now. He has a position in a sanitarium for other
lame folks and Mother Martha is the housekeeper, or matron, there.
Uncle Seth Winters, who knows so much that he is called the 'Learned
Blacksmith,' is my guardian. He and Aunt Betty