thee?"

Had Rachel known that the signs of her past tears were so palpable as to
call forth remark from everybody she met, as it appeared they were
doing, she might have remained at home. Putting on a gay face, she
laughed off the matter. Matthew pressed it.

"Something went wrong at home, and I got a scolding," said Rachel at
length. "It was not worth crying over, though."

Mrs. Frost turned round from her saucepan.

"A scolding from the missis, Rachel?"

"There's nobody else at Verner's Pride should scold me," responded
Rachel, with a charming little air of self-consequence. "Mrs. Verner
said a cross word or two, and I was so stupid as to burst out crying. I
have had a headache all day, and that's sure to put me out of sorts."

"There's always things to worry one in service, let it be ever so good
on the whole," philosophically observed Mrs. Frost, bestowing her
attention again upon the saucepan. "Better be one's own missus on a
crust, say I, than at the beck and call of others."

"Rachel," interrupted old Matthew, "when I let you go to Verner's Pride,
I thought it was for your good. But I'd not keep you there a day, child,
if you be unhappy."

"Dear father, don't take up that notion," she quickly rejoined. "I am
happier at Verner's Pride than I should be anywhere else. I would not