fashion, or without waist, and termed "an elegant negligee,"--
this word being applied to any frock without lacing strings.

Thus clothed, they gathered at seven o'clock in the pleasant,
low-ceiled dining-room whose French windows, facing westward,
gave glimpses of the Raritan, over fields of stubble and corn-stacks,
broken by patches of timber and orchard. On the
table stood a tea service of silver, slender in outline, and curiously
light in weight, though generous in capacity. Otherwise,
a silver tankard for beer, standing at Mr. Meredith's place
beside a stone jug filled with home brew, balanced by another
jug filled with buttermilk, was all that tended to decoration, the
knives and forks being of steel, and the china simplicity itself.
For the edibles, a couple of smoked herring, a comb of honey,
and a bunch of water-cress, re-enforced after the family had
taken their seals by a form of smoking cornbread, was the
simple fare set forth. But the early rising, and two hours of
work, brought hunger to the table which required nothing more
elaborate as a fillip to tempt the appetite.

While the family still lingered over the meal one warm
September morning, as if loth to make further exertion in the
growing heat, the Sound of a knocker was heard, and a moment
later the coloured maid returned and announced:--

"Marse Hennion want see Marse Meredith."

"Bring him in here, Peg," said Mr. Meredith. "Like as not
the lad 's not breakfasted."