iss Mellen."

"I want to have a pair of very light oars made to the little boat, so
that I can learn to row it," pursued Elsie.

"That's easy done," said Jarvis. "I guess I've got a pair that'll
answer. Only don't dround yourself."

"I'll take care of that," she replied, laughing. "But who else wants
you, Jarvis?"

"Your brother told me to come up, and--oh, there he is."

Mr. Mellen had heard voices, and came through the hall out on the
veranda.

"Good morning, Jarvis!" he said, in his quiet way.

"Good morning, sir! You don't look very well, I think," observed the
keen-sighted old man.

Elsie glanced at her brother; he was very pale, and his heavy eyes told
of a long, sleepless night.

Mr. Mellen frowned slightly; it displeased him to have his personal
appearance commented upon, and wounded his pride to know that he had not
sufficient strength to keep back every outward sign of the anxiety and
trouble he was enduring.

"Be you well, now?" continued the pertinacious old man, who had a habit
of asking questions and expressing his opinions with the utmost freedom
to people of every degree.

"Perfectly well," replied Mr. Mellen. "You have come up about that tree,
have you?"

"Wal, yes," said Jarvis. "I hadn't much to do this morning, so I thought
I'd just come round and find out what's the matter. You hain't found no
gardener yet?"

"No; I have sent to town for one. You have sufficient knowledge to keep
the greenhouse in order until one is found."

"Just as you say, sir; I'll do my best."

The gardener at Piney Cove had seen fit to leave the place a few days
before without the slightest warning, with the true, reckless
independence of the Hibernian race. When a dilemma of this kind arose,
the people of the neighborhood were in the habit of sending for old
Benson, who seemed, in some mysterious way, to have acquired a
smattering of knowledge about everything that could make him generally
useful.

Elsie did not feel particularly interested in the subject of
conversation, and was moving off in search of other amusement, when she
heard old Jarvis say:

"It's the big cypress yonder, in the thicket, ain't it?"

She stopped short in the hall, and stood leaning against the door with
her back towards them.

"Yes," Mr. Mellen answered. "I am afraid it is dying. I want you to dig
about the roots and see if you can find out where the trouble lies."

"Loosening the earth a bit'll maybe do a world of good," s