hopefully. "Sometimes he doesn't."

"No; I think he'll be here. When he doesn't come he usually
telephones by this time to say not to wait for him; he's very
thoughtful about that. Well, it really is getting late: I must
go and tell her she ought to be preparing her fillet. Dearie, DO
rest a little."

"You'd much better do that yourself," Alice called after her, but
Mrs. Adams shook her head cheerily, not pausing on her way to
the fiery kitchen.

Alice continued her useless labours for a time; then carried her
bucket to the head of the cellar stairway, where she left it
upon the top step; and, closing the door, returned to the
"living-room;" Again she changed the positions of the old plush
rocking-chairs, moving them into the corners where she thought
they might be least noticeable; and while thus engaged she was
startled by a loud ringing of the door-bell. For a moment her
face was panic-stricken, and she stood staring, then she realized
that Russell would not arrive for another hour, at the earliest,
and recovering her equipoise, went to the door.

Waiting there, in a languid attitude, was a young coloured woman,
with a small bundle under her arm and something malleable in her
mouth. "Listen," she said. "You folks expectin' a coloured
lady?"

"No," said Alice. "Especially not at the front door."