"Complain!" echoed the handmaiden. "She was as well as you be, not five minutes afore you come in." "How do you know?" "Guess I had ought to! Why, she was in the kitchen talkin' and fiddle-faddlin' with them eggs; she thinks I ain't up to 'em. There warn't nothin' on earth the matter with her then. She had sot the table in here and fixed up the fire, and then she come in to the kitchen and went to work at the supper. There ain't never nothin' the matter with her." The minister made no sort of remark, nor put any further inquiry, nor looked even curious, Miss Collins, however, _did_. Her brain got into a sudden confusion of possibilities. Pouring out the tea, she stood by the table reflecting what she should say next. "I guess she's mad at me," she began slowly. "Or maybe she's afeard you'll be mad with her. La! 'tain't nothin'. I told her, you'd never be jealous. 'Tain't no harm for a girl to have two beaus, is it?" The minister gave her a quick look from under his brows, and replied calmly that he "supposed not." "Wall, I told her so; and now she's put out 'cause I knowed o' them letters. La, folks that has the post office can't help but know more o' what concerns their fellow-creatures than other folks doos. I handled them myself, you see, and handed them out; leastways two o' them; that warn't no fault o' mine nor of anybody's. La, she needn't to mind!" "How much tea did you put in, Jemima?" "I don't know, Mr. Masters. I put in a pinch. Mrs. Masters had ought to ha' been here to make it herself. She knows how you like it." "I like more than such a pinch as this was. If you will empty the tea-pot, I will make a cup for myself. That will do, thank you." Left alone, Mr. Masters sat for a little while with his head on his hand, neglecting the supper. Then he roused himself and went on to make some fresh tea. And very carefully and nicely he made it, poured out a cup and prepared it, put it on a little tray then, and carried it steaming and fragrant up to his wife's room. Diana was lying just as he had left her. Mr. Masters shut the door, and came to the bedside. "Di," said he gently, "I have brought you a cup of tea." There was neither answer nor movement. He repeated his words. She murmured an unintelligible rejection of the proposal, keeping her face carefully covered. "No," said he, "I think you had better take it. Lift up your head, Di, and try. It is good."