them."

"The place would swarm with them," said Winthrop.

"At any rate, I shall keep the house even if I close it," said Margaret.
"It must be ready for occupancy at any time."

"Then you are thinking of coming back?" Winthrop asked. His face still
showed an angry mistrust.

"I may come back. At present, however, I shall go north; and as I prefer
to go immediately, I shall set about arranging the rooms here so that I
can leave them. It will not take long, two days, or three at most; it
would be a great kindness, Mr. Moore, if you would stay with me until I
leave--by next Saturday's steamer, probably."

"I hardly think you will be able to accomplish so much in so short a
time," answered the clergyman, a good deal bewildered by this display of
energy. To Mr. Moore's idea, a woman who had been deserted by her
husband, even though that husband had been proved to be abnormally
vicious, could not well be in the mood for the necessary counting of
chairs, for the proper distribution of gum-camphor among carpets and
curtains, all so important.

Then, reading again the deep trouble in Margaret's face, under all the
calmness of her manner, he dismissed his objections, and said, heartily,
"In any case, I will stay with you as long as you wish."

"Possibly one of your difficulties is that I am here," said Winthrop to
Margaret. "You cannot expect me to leave you entirely, as long as you
are still in this house, I am, after all, your nearest relative; but of
course I could stay at the hotel." He spoke with extreme coldness.

Margaret, however, did not try to dissipate it by asking him to remain.

He showed that he felt this, for he said, "Perhaps I had better go up at
once and see to getting quarters there."

She did not answer. He walked about aimlessly for a moment or two, and
then left the room.

"Will you go over the house with me now, Mr. Moore--I mean this
afternoon?"

"Certainly. It would be better, I think, to make a list," Mr. Moore
answered, in an interested voice. Mr. Moore enjoyed lists; to him an
index was an exciting object; in devising catalogues, or new
alphabetical arrangements, he had sometimes felt a sense of pleasure
that was almost dissipation.

"You will have three enemies to encounter," he began with much
seriousness. "They are, first, the Mildew. Second, the Moth. Third, the
Damp; the Mouse, so destructive in other climates, will trouble you
little in this. We shall need red pepper."