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Ida, with difficulty, suppressed a laugh.

โ€œI see,โ€ said Aunt Rachel, with severe resignation, โ€œthat you've taken to ridiculing your poor aunt again. But it's what I expect. I don't never expect any consideration in this house. I was born to be a martyr, and I expect I shall fulfil my destiny. If my own relations laugh at me, of course I can't expect anything better from other folks. But I sha'n't be long in the way. I've had a cough for some time past, and I expect I'm in a consumption.โ€

โ€œYou make too much of a little thing, Rachel,โ€ said the cooper. โ€œI don't think Jack meant anything.โ€

โ€œI'm sure, what I said was complimentary,โ€ said Jack.

Rachel shook her head incredulously.

โ€œYes it was. Ask Ida. Why won't you draw Aunt Rachel, Ida? I think she'd make a capital picture.โ€

โ€œSo I will,โ€ said Ida, hesitatingly, โ€œif she will let me.โ€

โ€œNow, Aunt Rachel, there's a chance for you,โ€ said Jack. โ€œI advise you to improve it. When it's finished, it can be hung up at the Art Rooms, and who knows but you may secure a husband by it?โ€

โ€œI wouldn't marry,โ€ said his aunt, firmly compressing her lips, โ€œnot if anybody'd go down on their knees to me.โ€

โ€œNow I am sure, Aunt Rachel, that's cruel in you.โ€

โ€œThere ain't any man that I'd trust my happiness to.โ€

โ€œShe hasn't any to trust,โ€ observed Jack, sotto voce.

โ€œThey're all deceivers,โ€ pursued Rachel, โ€œthe best of 'em. You can't believe what one of 'em says. It would be a great deal better if people never married at all.โ€

โ€œThen where would the world be a hundred years hence?โ€ suggested her nephew.

โ€œCome to an end, most likely,โ€ said Aunt Rachel; โ€œand I don't know but that would be the best thing. It's growing more and more wicked every day.โ€

It will be seen that no great change has come over Miss Rachel Crump during the years that have intervened. She takes the same disheartening view of human nature and the world's prospects, as ever. Nevertheless, her own hold upon the world seems as strong as ever. Her appetite continues remarkably good, and although she frequently expresses herself to the effect that there is little use in living, probably she would be as unwilling to leave the world as any one. I am not sure that she does not derive as much enjoyment from her melancholy as other people from their cheerfulness. Unfortunately, her peculiar way of enjoying herself is calculated to have rather a depressing influence upon the spirits of those with whom she comes in contactโ€”always excepting Jack, who has a lively sense of the ludicrous, and never enjoys himself better than in bantering his aunt.

Ida is no less a favorite with Jack than with the other members of the household. Rough as he is sometimes, Jack is always gentle with Ida. When she was just learning to walk, and in her helplessness needed the constant care of others, he used, from choice, to relieve his mother of much of the task of amusing the child. He had never had a little sister, and the care of a child as young as Ida was a novelty to him. It was, perhaps, this very office of guardian to the child, assumed when she was so young, that made him feel ever after as if she was placed under his special protection.

And Ida was equally attached to Jack. She learned to look up to him for assistance in anything which she had at heart, and he never disappointed her. Whenever he could, he would accompany her to school, holding her by the hand; and fond as he was of rough play, nothing would induce him to leave her.

โ€œHow long have you been a nurse-maid?โ€ asked a boy, older than himself, one day.

Jack's fingers itched to get hold of his derisive questioner, but he had a duty to perform, and contented himself with saying, โ€œJust wait a few minutes, and I'll let you know.โ€

โ€œI dare say,โ€ was the reply. โ€œI rather think I shall have to wait till both of us are gray before that time.โ€

โ€œYou won't have to wait long before you are black and blue,โ€ retorted Jack.

โ€œDon't mind what he says, Jack,โ€ whispered Ida, fearful lest he should leave her.

โ€œDon't be afraid, Ida; I won't leave you; I guess he won't trouble us another day.โ€

Meanwhile the boy, emboldened by Jack's passiveness, followed, with more abuse of the same sort. If he had been wiser, he would have seen a storm gathering in the flash of Jack's eye; but he mistook the cause of his forbearance.

The next day, as they were again going to school, Ida saw the same boy dodging round the corner, with his head bound up.

โ€œWhat's the matter with him, Jack?โ€ she asked.

โ€œI licked him like blazes, that's all,โ€ said Jack, quietly.

โ€œI guess he'll let us alone after this.โ€





CHAPTER VIII. A STRANGE VISITOR.

IT was about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, Mrs. Crump was in the kitchen, busy in preparations for dinner, when a loud knock was heard at the door.

โ€œWho can it be?โ€ ejaculated Mrs. Crump. โ€œAunt Rachel, there's somebody at the door; won't you be kind enough to see who it is?โ€

โ€œPeople have no business to call at such an hour in the morning,โ€ grumbled Aunt Rachel, as she laid down her knitting reluctantly, and rose from her seat. โ€œNobody seems to have any consideration for anybody else. But that's the way of the world.โ€

Opening the outer door, she saw before her a tall woman, dressed in a gown of some dark stuff, with marked, and not altogether pleasant features.

โ€œAre you the lady of the house?โ€ inquired the visitor.

โ€œThere ain't any ladies in this house,โ€ said Rachel. โ€œYou've come to the wrong place. We have to work for a living here.โ€

โ€œThe woman of the house, then. It doesn't make any difference about names. Are you the one I want to see?โ€

โ€œNo, I ain't,โ€ said Rachel, shortly.

โ€œWill you lead me to your mistress, then?โ€

โ€œI have none.โ€

The visitor's eyes flashed, as if her temper was easily roused.

โ€œI want to see Mrs. Crump,โ€ she said, impatiently. โ€œWill you call her, or shall I go and announce myself?โ€

โ€œSome folks are mighty impatient,โ€ muttered Rachel. โ€œStay here, and I'll

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