ing for anything."

"No--it _has_ been merry and bright," Jim agreed. "And isn't the
cook-lady a surprise-packet! I say, Nor, do you think you'd find a
human side to Mrs. Atkins if we let Allenby fall over her with a
bucket of water?"

"'Fraid not," said Norah.

"You can't find what doesn't exist," said Wally wisely. "Mrs. Atkins
is only a walking cruet--sort of mixture of salt and vinegar."

They told the story to Mr. Linton over the luncheon-table, after
Allenby had withdrawn. Nevertheless, the butler, listening from his
pantry to the shouts of laughter from the morning-room, had a fairly
good idea of the subject under discussion, and became rather pink.

"It's lovely in another way," Norah finished. "For you see, I thought
Miss de Lisle wasn't human, but I was all wrong. She's rather a dear
when you come to know her."

"Yes," said her father thoughtfully. "But you'll have to be careful,
Norah; you mustn't make any distinctions between her and Mrs. Atkins.
It doesn't matter if Miss de Lisle's pedigree is full of dukes and
bishops--Mrs. Atkins is the upper servant, and she'll resent it if you
put Miss de Lisle on a different footing to herself."

"Yes, I see," said Norah, nodding. "I'll do my best, Dad."

Miss de Lisle, however, played the game. She did not encounter Norah
often, and when she did it was in Mrs. Atkins' presence: and on these
occasions she maintained an attitude of impersonal politeness which
made it hard to realize that she and the butler had indeed bathed
together on the floor of the cottage. She found various matters in
her little sitting-room: an easy-chair, a flowering pot-plant, a pile
of books that bore Norah's name--or Jim's; but she made no sign of
having received them except that Norah found on her table at night a
twisted note in a masculine hand that said "Thank you.--C. de L." As
for Mrs. Atkins, she made her silent way about the house, sour and
watchful, her green eyes rather resembling those of a cat, and her
step as stealthy. Norah tried hard to talk to her on other matters
than housekeeping, but found her so stolidly unresponsive that at last
she gave up the attempt. Life, as she said to Wally, was too short to
woo a cruet-stand!

The week flew by swiftly, every moment busy with work and plans for
the Tired People to come. Mrs. Atkins, it was plain, did not like the
scheme. She mentioned that it would make a great deal of work, and
how did Norah expect servants