set here no longer. Come into the house
and wait. Hadn't you better?'

"'No!' says she, loud and defiant like. 'No, sir! It's all right. He's a
little late, that's all. What do you s'pose I care for a lot of jealous
folks like those up there?' wavin' her flipper scornful toward the
kitchen.

"And then, all to once, she kind of broke down, and says to me, with a
pitiful sort of choke in her voice:

"'Oh, Mr. Wingate! I can't stand this. Why DON'T he come?'

"I tried hard to think of somethin' comfortin' to say, but afore I
could h'ist a satisfyin' word out of my hatches I heard the noise of a
carriage comin'. Effie heard it, too, and so did everybody else. We all
looked toward the gate. 'Twas Sim Butler, sure enough, in his buggy and
drivin' the same old horse; but settin' alongside of him on the seat was
Susannah Debs, the housekeeper. And maybe she didn't look contented with
things in gen'ral!

"Butler pulled up his horse by the gate. Him and Susannah bowed to all
hands. Nobody said anything for a minute. Then Effie bounced off the
trunk and down them steps.

"'Simmie' she sung out, breathless like, 'Simeon Butler, what does this
mean?'

"The Debs woman straightened up on the seat. 'Thank you, marm,' says
she, chilly as the top section of an ice chest, 'I'll request you not to
call my husband by his first name.'

"It was so still you could have heard yourself grow. Effie turned white
as a Sunday tablecloth.

"'Your--husband?' she gasps. 'Your--your HUSBAND?'

"'Yes, marm,' purrs the housekeeper. 'My husband was what I said. Mr.
Butler and me have just been married.'

"'Sorry, Effie, old girl,' puts in Butler, so sassy I'd love to have
preached his fun'ral sermon. 'Too bad, but fust love's strongest, you
know. Susie and me was engaged long afore you come to town.'

"THEN such a haw-haw and whoop bust from the kitchen and fo'castle as
you never heard. For a jiffy poor Effie wilted right down. Then she
braced up and her black eyes snapped.

"'I wish you joy of your bargain, marm,' says she to Susannah. 'You'd
ought to be proud of it. And as for YOU,' she says, swingin' round
toward the rest of the help, 'I--'

"'How 'bout that prophet?' hollers somebody.

"'Three cheers for the Oriental!' bellers somebody else.

"'When you marry the right Butler fetch him along and let us see him!'
whoops another.

"She faced 'em all, and I gloried in her spunk.

"'When I marry him I WILL come back,' says she. 'And