this town. They--"

Mrs. Chase was loquacious. Her speeches were never finished. She was always interrupted in mid-career. Otherwise, she would have talked endlessly.

"That steak looks as though she could cook," said Wint. "Give me some."

One of Mrs. Chase's difficulties with hired girls was that Winthrop Chase, Senior, liked style with his meals.

Mr. Chase was no provincial. He had traveled; he had lived at good hotels; he knew New York, Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati. He had been a guest at fine homes. He knew what was what.

"It adds tone to a repast," he would tell his wife, over and over. "It adds tone to a repast. A neatly dressed maidservant, in apron and cap, handing your dishes around. I tell you, Margaret, it gives that--that--that style...."

"I know it, Winthrop," Mrs. Chase always agreed. "I'd like to have it so, as much as you would. Land knows I've tried. I've trained, and I've trained; but you can't expect a girl to do everything for two dollars a week, or even three. Why, Mrs. Hullis had--"

"Well, pay more, then. Pay more. Five, or ten dollars. I make money enough. I surely make money enough, Margaret, to have comfort and--and style in my own home."

"You can't get a girl in Hardiston that's worth more than three dollars," Mrs. Chase insisted. "They come and they go, and they're always getting married, and--"

Mr. Chase always carved the meats at his own table. He took pride in his carving. When Wint appeared now, he looked up with a hostile eye, at the same time lifting the carving knife and fork. "You're late, young man."

"Am I?" said Wint stiffly.

"The dinner hour in this house is five-thirty. If you wish to have your meals here, you would do well to observe that fact and regulate your movements in accordance."

"Oh, give the boy his supper," Mrs. Chase urged. "You get me all mixed up, calling supper dinner and dinner lunch that way, Winthrop. Wint, don't you mind what your father says. He--"

"Margaret," said Mr. Chase sternly, "I wish you would--"

"I went to the station to meet Caretall," said Wint slowly. "Sorry to be late. But--"

"Caretall?" 

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