, employed herself with needle and thread in sartorial repairs on
behalf of her husband and Sam. Then she was interrupted by the advent of
a coloured serving-maid.

"Miz Williams, I reckon the house goin' fall down!" this pessimist said,
arriving out of breath. "That s'iety o' Mist' Sam's suttenly tryin' to
pull the roof down on ow haids!"

"The roof?" Mrs. Williams inquired mildly. "They aren't in the attic,
are they?"

"No'm; they in the celluh, but they REACHIN' fer the roof! I nev'
did hear no sech a rumpus an' squawkin' an' squawlin' an' fallin' an'
whoopin' an' whackin' an' bangin'! They troop down by the outside celluh
do', n'en--bang!--they bus' loose, an' been goin' on ev' since, wuss'n
Bedlun! Ef they anything down celluh ain' broke by this time, it cain'
be only jes' the foundashum, an' I bet THAT ain' goin' stan' much
longer! I'd gone down an' stop 'em, but I'm 'fraid to. Hones', Miz
Williams, I'm 'fraid o' my life go down there, all that Bedlun goin' on.
I thought I come see what you say."

Mrs. Williams laughed.

"We have to stand a little noise in the house sometimes, Fanny, when
there are boys. They're just playing, and a lot of noise is usually a
pretty safe sign."

"Yes'm," Fanny said. "It's yo' house, Miz Williams, not mine. You want
'em tear it down, I'm willin'."

She departed, and Mrs. Williams continued to sew. The days were growing
short, and at five o'clock she was obliged to put the work aside, as her
eyes did not permit her to continue it by artificial light. Descending
to the lower floor, she found the house silent, and when she opened the
front door to see if the evening paper had come, she beheld Sam, Penrod
and Maurice Levy standing near the gate engaged in quiet conversation.
Penrod and Maurice departed while she was looking for the paper, and Sam
came thoughtfully up the walk.

"Well, Sam," she said, "it wasn't such a bad thing, after all, to show a
little politeness to Georgie Bassett, was it?"

Sam gave her a non-committal look--expression of every kind had been
wiped from his countenance. He presented a blank surface.

"No'm," he said meekly.

"Everything was just a little pleasanter because you'd been friendly,
wasn't it?"

"Yes'm."

"Has Georgie gone home?"

"Yes'm."

"I hear you made enough noise in the cellar--Did Georgie have a good
time?"

"Ma'am?"

"Did Georgie Bassett have a good time?"

"Well"--Sam now had the air of a person trying to remember detai