"And the saucer, if I like the cup?"

"Exactly, Miss Day."

"Thank you, Mr. Dewy, for I like the cup decidedly. Stop a minute; there
are no spoons now!" She dived into the hamper again, and at the end of
two or three minutes looked up and said, "I suppose you don't mind if I
can't find a spoon?"

"Not at all," said the agreeable Richard.

"The fact is, the spoons have slipped down somewhere; right under the
other things. O yes, here's one, and only one. You would rather have
one than not, I suppose, Mr. Dewy?"

"Rather not. I never did care much about spoons."

"Then I'll have it. I do care about them. You must stir up your tea
with a knife. Would you mind lifting the kettle off, that it may not
boil dry?"

Dick leapt to the fireplace, and earnestly removed the kettle.

"There! you did it so wildly that you have made your hand black. We
always use kettle-holders; didn't you learn housewifery as far as that,
Mr. Dewy? Well, never mind the soot on your hand. Come here. I am
going to rinse mine, too."

They went to a basin she had placed in the back room. "This is the only
basin I have," she said. "Turn up your sleeves, and by that time my