r
projected life in the valley; and before I went to sleep I was quite as
much in love with it as she was. The next day it rained, but Mr. Baxter
came all the same; weather never interfered with him."

"Who in the name of common sense is Mr. Baxter?" asked the Master of the
House. "I like to know who people are when I am being told what they
do."

"I had hoped," said the Mistress of the House, "that I should be able
to tell my story so you would find out for yourselves all about the
characters, just as in real life if you see a man working in a garden
you know he is a gardener."

"But he may not be," said her husband; "he may be a coachman pulling
carrots for his horses."

"But, as you wish it," continued the Mistress of the House, "I do not
mind telling you that Mr. Baxter was my hero's right-hand man and
business manager. And now he will go on:

"After Baxter and I had finished our business I told him about the cot,
for if we carried out Anita's plan it would be necessary for him to know
where we were. Then, putting on waterproof coats, we rode over to the
place which had excited my wife's desire to become a cotter. We found
the house small but in good order, with four rooms and an adjunct at one
end. There were vines growing over it, and at the side of it a garden--a
garden with an irregular hedge around two sides; it was a poor sort of a
garden, mostly weeds, I thought, as I glanced at it. The stream of water
was a pretty little brook, and Baxter, who rode to the head of it, said
he thought it could be made much better.

"The house was the home of a widow with a grown-up daughter and a son
about fifteen. We talked to them, asking a great many questions about
the surrounding country, and then retired to consult. We did not
consider long; in less than ten minutes I had ordered Baxter to buy the
house and everything in it, if the people were willing to sell; and then
to purchase as much land around it as would be necessary to carry out my
plans, which I then and there imparted to him in a general way, leaving
him to attend to the details."

"Your nameless hero," said the Master of the House, "must have been in
very comfortable circumstances."

"I am glad to see that my story is explaining itself," remarked his
wife, and she continued:

"Baxter looked serious for a moment, and said it was a big piece of
work; but he did not decline it. Baxter never declined anything.

"'How much time can you give me?' he as