the way--rent, ten pounds a year; but as it had not been
let for a long time, and it did houses no good to stand empty, Uncle
James had graciously lent it to his sister. When she was so settled in
it that it would be a great inconvenience to move, he asked for the
rent.

During the next week he drove every day to the station in Aunt Grace
Mary's pony-carriage, to see if Mrs. Caldwell's furniture had arrived
from Ireland; and when at last it came, he sent every available
servant he had to set the house in order, so that it might be ready
for immediate occupation. He also persuaded Harriet Elvidge, his
invaluable kitchen-maid, to enter Mrs. Caldwell's service as
maid-of-all-work. There is reason to believe that this arrangement was
the outcome of Uncle James's peculiar sense of humour; but Mrs.
Caldwell never suspected it.

"It will be nice for you to have some one I know all about," Uncle
James insisted, "and with a knowledge of cooking besides. And how glad
you will be to sleep under your own roof to-night!" he added in a tone
of kindly congratulation.

"And how glad you will be to get rid of us," said Beth, thus early
giving voice to what other people were only daring to think.

As soon as they were settled in the little bow-windowed house, it
became obvious that there would be differences of opinion between
mamma and Great-Aunt Victoria Bench. They differed about the cooking,
about religion, and about the education of children. Aunt Victoria
thought that if you cooked meat a second time it took all the goodness
out of it. Mrs. Caldwell liked stews, and she said if the joints were
under-done at first, as they should be, re-cooking did _not_ take the
goodness out of the meat; but Aunt Victoria abominated under-done
joints more than anything.

The education of the children was a more serious matter, however--a
matter of principle, in fact, as opposed to a matter of taste. Mrs.
Caldwell had determined to give her boys a good start in life. In
order to do this on her very limited income, she was obliged to
exercise the utmost self-denial, and even with that, there would be
little or nothing left to spend on the girls. This, however, did not
seem to Mrs. Caldwell to be a matter of much importance. It is
customary to sacrifice the girls of a family to the boys; to give them
no educational advantages, and then to jeer at them for their
ignorance and silliness. Mrs. Caldwell's own education had been of
the most desultor