Mr. Holcroft."

"I can't get a girl short of town," was the reply, "and there is so
much cream in the dairy that ought to be churned at once that I'll wait
till next Monday and take down the butter."

Mrs. Mumpson put on a grave, injured air, and said, "Well," so
disapprovingly that it was virtually saying that it was not well at
all. Then, suddenly remembering that this was not good policy, she was
soon all smiles and chatter again. "How cozy this is!" she cried, "and
how soon one acquires the home feeling! Why, anyone looking in at the
window would think that we were an old established family, and yet this
is but our first meal together. But it won't be the last, Mr.
Holcroft. I cannot make it known to you how your loneliness, which
Cousin Lemuel has so feelingly described to me, has affected my
feelings. Cousin Nancy said but this very day that you have had
desperate times with all kinds of dreadful creatures. But all that's
past. Jane and me will give a look of stability and respecterbility to
every comer."

"Well, really, Mrs. Mumpson, I don't know who's to come."

"Oh, you'll see!" she replied, wrinkling her thin, blue lips into what
was meant for a smile, and nodding her head at him encouragingly. "You
won't be so isolated no more. Now that I'm here, with my offspring,
your neighbors will feel that they can show you their sympathy. The
most respecterble people in town will call, and your life will grow
brighter and brighter; clouds will roll away, and--"

"I hope the neighbors will not be so ill-mannered as to come without
being invited," remarked Mr. Holcroft grimly. "It's too late in the day
for them to begin now."

"My being here with Jane will make all the difference in the world,"
resumed Mrs. Mumpson, with as saccharine an expression as she could
assume. "They will come out of pure kindness and friendly interest,
with the wish to encourage--"

"Mrs. Mumpson," said Holcroft, half desperately, "if anyone comes it'll
be out of pure curiosity, and I don't want such company. Selling
enough butter, eggs, and produce to pay expenses will encourage me more
than all the people of Oakville, if they should come in a body. What's
the use of talking in this way? I've done without the neighbors so
far, and I'm sure they've been very careful to do without me. I shall
have nothing to do with them except in the way of business, and as I
said to you down at Lemuel Weeks's, business must be the first
co