Mary-'Gusta

housekeeper was recognized now and even Isaiah consulted her on matters of household management. As for her uncles, she managed them whether consul

should wear and insisted that they black their boots on Sunday. She helped them in the store and it became occasionally possible for them to leave that place of business at the same time without engaging the services of Annabel. At first the partner

to wear weekdays and it ought to be saved for Sunday, but it ain't Sunday and I've got it on. She said 'twas becomin' and the one I've

chet it for you. I noticed you didn't stop her tyin' it

handled as many fo'mast hands as I have, should come to be led around by the no

s well as anybody ever I saw. You know perfectly well you was tickled to death to

okin', not grinnin'. You don

clared. "There ain't anybody in this town, unless it's Philander

thing else so well, either. Look at the way our candy trade has picked up since Mary-'Gusta fixed up the showcase. You cal'lated 'twas

he remarked. "You gave me fits for lettin' her fuss with it. Annabel was in t'other day and she

el's all brass, like a ship's spyglass. By the jumpin' Judas! I'm proud of that showcase and

Shadrach! I know you. You talk about disgrace and

u might say, I used to wonder how we'd ever get along with her; now I wonder how

h! Don't talk about

ed from the grammar school and in the fall was to enter the high school

han the other and she was too busy at the house and in the store to have her young friends hanging about. They bothered her, she said. As for having a particular friend of the other sex, which some of the girls in her class no old

umber of cottages had been built for people from Boston and New York and Chicago, and there was talk of a new hotel. Also there was talk of several new stores, but Hamilton and Company were inclined to b

ellow and a girl came in. Mary-'Gusta recognized them both. The girl was the seventeen-year-old daughter of a wealthy summer resident, a Mr. Keith from Chicago. The Keiths had a fine cottage on the bluff at the other end of the village. The young chap with her was, so gossip reported, a college friend of her brother. His surname was prosaic enough, being Smith, but his first name was Crawford a

a wrinkle, his tie and socks were a perfect match, and his cap was of a style which the youth of South Harniss might be wearing the following summer, but not this one. Take him "b

over at Setuckit Point that day. Sam Keith, Edna's brother, and the other members of the party had gone on to Jabez Hedges' residence, where Jabez had promised to meet them with the clams and other t

d Mary-'Gusta of these facts at once. Also she

re not there, Sam will be awfully cross. He hates to wait for people. And we've been too long alread

own voice. The demand for a dozen oranges furnished Gaius with subject sufficient for a len

Asking him if he kept pomegranates and bread-fruit! The idea! I'm sure he doesn't know what a pomegranate is. You were SO solemn and h

to be set upon a pedestal and worshiped, to have one's feeblest joke hailed as a masterpiece of wit, is dangerous for the idol; the effort of sustaining the elevated position entails the risk of

ate. You begin with a pup-pup-pup, as if you were calling a dog, and you finish with a grunt

m her spasm of merriment, declared

wford, you buy the things. I should think of that

store; its display of stock was, thanks to Mary-'Gusta's recent efforts at tidiness, not quite the conglome

o buy, but I'm sure it is here, whatever it is. Some empor

gig

is just the clerk, that's all. Her name is-

ed as "dear" and she strongly objected to the patronizing tone in which it

l you something else-something funny-Oh, I know! Mary-'Gusta, that's it. I knew it was funn

ith. Mary-'Gusta did not appear cha

, cheerfully. "There was a list, wasn

d in pencil on the back of an e

t I can guess at it. Let's see-a pound of butter. Whe

convulsion, declar

. Right there, behind the oilskin jacket. Remove jacket, open door-behold, the icebox an

iggled Miss Keith. "Isn't he awful,

'Gusta, promptly. "Wh

to be a-er-certain kind of ham. I blush to mention it, but I m

f deviled ham from the she

" he said. "She didn't speak its name, though. Suppose I had asked you w

very angry, but she was determined t

"Next item appears to be six boxes of marshmallows

there was a fresh assortment in an unopened packing box in the back room, a box which had just come from the whole

. "This is SO slow. I know Sam and the rest wo

ry' in the South Harniss dictionary, Edna

his superior young man wished her to do so

a," he said, "suppose we sit down.

eith took that with an exclamation of impatience. Crawford Smith, whistling a m

had, spread across its top, a sheet of the fresh and very sticky fly paper. Before she could have protested, even if she had

ooked in that direction himself. His whistle stopped in the middle of a note and his face immediatel

e counter. Consequently she was unaware of the mishap to the white flanne

We'll never get there on time. Sam won't wait for us; I know he won'

er was provokingly deliberate. She took a b

The fresh ones, those that have just come, are in a box in the back roo

hing. Miss Keith, ho

lared. "I'm sure these will do. Th

was enjoying this portion of the interview as much as

h mischievous gravity, addressing the young gentleman on the

he would be certain to tell them. Crawford Smith foresaw a horrible day, a day of disgrace and humiliation, one in which he was destined to furnish amusement without sharing the fun. And Sam Keith, who had remarked upon the splendor of his friend's attire, would gloat-not only here in South Harniss, but elsewhere-in Cambridge, for instan

iss Keith, "why don't you look at them

y that the girl relented. Her feeling of satisfied resentment changed to one almost of pity. She had been made to feel ridiculous herself at var

. Then she thrust the b

she said with decision. "Uncle Zoeth said they we

amped h

ppose. Oh, dear! And they depended on us to get them. It's so provokin

once more at the o

anted to. Perhaps Miss Keith might go on and tell the others and-er-Mr. Smit

"Shall I, Craw

think perhaps you'd better, Edna,"

y-'Gusta turned her attenti

tear off, anyway, and if you hurry you will hav

rprised, also his embarrassmen

you knew?"

own what you were going to do I'd have told you to look out. But

"Does it show much?" he queried.

ere's enough," she said simply. "Here are the things you bought. Now go ou

arshmallows which Mary-'Gusta produced from beneath the counter.

enough for a toast. I said that so that the Keith g

why you said you would have to open t

ger. You'll have to run, you

door of the back room, bu

u, do you know it? And after the way I guyed you when

you

ERE white. If I'd been you I'd have got square. You had the chance; 'twould have served me right for p

fault. Mary-'Gusta was pleased, but she did not show it.

u won't have time to get home and change and meet the others at

lds in the direction of the Keith cottage. When her uncles returned she said nothing of the occurrence. She con

nd Company entertained a caller at the store. That

d the Captain. "Didn't want to buy nothin'; said he just happened in, that'

answered without looking round. "He and Edna Keith

' on tomorrow mornin's train. Goin' way out West, he is, to Nevada; that's where he and his dad live. His ma's dead, so he told us. Must be tough to live so fur off from salt water: I couldn't stand it, I know that. Funny t

the house. The package was addressed to Miss Mary Augusta Lathrop and contained a five-poun

on't believe they are as good as those marshmallows. And I KNOW they are not as fresh as

.

fect little br

ts of the basket in due time. The basket itself was taken to the parlor, where it was given a place beside the other curiosities. As for the note, that disappeared. And yet, if o

d, after all, good-looking young college men are what they are. A