"I suppose you've been an early riser, though?" said Abby, as she
poured the coffee, looking meanwhile approvingly at the figure of her
guest, neatly attired in a pink and white print gown, which fitted her
in a truly astonishing manner, proving, Abby thought in her simple way,
that it had really been a "leading,"--her bringing the stranger home
last night.

"Oh, but yes," Marie answered. "I help always Old Billy wiz the dogs
first, they must be exercise, and do their tricks, and then they are
feed. So hungry they are, the dogs! It make very hard not first to
feed them, _hein_?"

"Is--William--feeble?" Abby inquired, with some hesitation.

"Feeble, no!" said Marie, with a little laugh. "But old, you know, and
when he is too much drunk it take away his mind; so then I help him,
that Le Boss does not find out that and beat him. For he is good, you
see, Old Billy, and we make comrades togezzer always."

"Dear me!" said Abby, doubtfully. "It don't seem as if you ought to be
going with--with that kind of person, Maree. We don't associate with
drinking men, here in these parts. I don't know how it is where you
come from."

Oh, there, Marie said, it was different. There the drink did not make
men crazy. This was a country where the devil had so much power, you
see, that it made it hard for poor folks like Old Billy, who would do
well enough in her country, and at the worst take a little too much at
a feast or a wedding. But in those cases, the saints took very good