hairs in front of a small table in one corner of the
room.

Master Plummer advanced eagerly, thinking only of the pleasure which was
about to be his, when the small lady exclaimed, as if in alarm:

"Mercy on us, child! You're tracking dust all over the floor. Go right
back into the entry, and wipe your feet."

Plums failed to see that he had soiled the floor to any extent, but both
he and Joe obeyed the command instantly, and while they were engaged in
what seemed to them useless labour, the small woman wiped carefully,
with a damp cloth, the dusty imprints of their shoes from the floor.

"I never had any experience in my own family with boys," the
odd-looking little woman said, half to herself, "and perhaps that's why
I don't understand 'em any better; but I never could make out why they
should be so reckless with dirt."

"I didn't think my shoes were so dusty when I come in, else I'd taken
them off," Joe said, apologetically. "You see, ma'am, we never saw a
floor as clean as this one."

This compliment was evidently pleasing, for the small woman looked up
kindly at her guests, and said, in a friendly tone:

"Don't call me 'ma'am,' child. I've been 'aunt Dorcas' to all the
children in this neighbourhood ever since I can remember, and anything
else doesn't sound natural."

"Do you want us to call you 'aunt Dorcas'?" Joe asked, in surprise, and
Plums winked gravely at his companion.

"Of course I do. Now, if your feet are clean, sit down, and I'll get the
pie."

The boys tiptoed their way to the table, as if by such method they would
be less liable to soil the floor, and aunt Dorcas, taking the lamp with
her, disappeared through a door which evidently led to the cellar,
leaving them in the darkness.

"Say, ain't this the greatest snap you ever struck?" Plums whispered.
"I'll bet aunt Dorcas is a dandy, an' if Dan Fernald knew what he's
missin', he'd jest about kick hisself black an' blue."

Master Plummer was still better satisfied with the situation when their
hostess returned with a large custard pie, which she placed on the
table, and immediately afterwards disappeared within the cellar-way
again.

"She's gone for more stuff!" Plums said, in a tone of delight. "If there
ain't too much work to be done 'round this place, I'd like to stay here
a year."

[Illustration: "SHE HAD A PLATE HEAPED HIGH WITH COOKIES."]

When aunt Dorcas entered the kitchen again, she had a plate heaped high
with cookies, on