A quartette of children’s voices singing brought the motor to a halt on the hither side of a wonderful, lettered strip, stretched, like an unrolled scroll, to span the driveway, from the tips of two lofty uprights. Mr. Ronald bent forward attentively. Immediately his firm jaw began to twitch, and, as he spoke, his lowered voice betrayed a treacherous tremolo. "They’re singing _Hail to the Chief_. But its own mother wouldn’t know it." Claire threw him a reproachful glance, as, to the consternation of the new footman, she flung open the door of the car herself, alighted unaided, and impetuously clung about Martha Slawson’s neck. "Oh, Martha, Martha!" she cried. There were tears of joy in Martha’s eyes. "God bless you, Miss Claire, ma’am! God bless you, dear." "I say, Martha, which of us are you hailing? Which of us is _Chief_?" broke in Mr. Ronald lightly, nodding a salutation toward Sam, Ma, and the children drawn up by the driveway in martial array. Martha laughed. "Between youse be it, sir. Time’ll tell. Sam didn’t want me put it up, but I says to him, you both started in with a fair field, an’ no favor, an’ let the best man win. Guessin’ which of you’ll come out ahead, maybe’ll relieve the monoterny of married life for you some." If Sam Slawson had been a boy, he could not have felt more eager to "show the boss" what he had made of the place during his absence. While the two of them were exploring, the children and Ma busy with the treasures their fairy princess had brought home to them from the other side of the world, Martha devoted herself to "mothering" Miss Claire. "My! To be brushin’ your hair like this takes me back to a Hunderd-an’-sixteenth Street, an’ no mistake!" Mrs. Ronald’s eyes, peering through her bright veil, met Mrs. Slawson’s in the mirror. "Tell me, Martha, you miss the city sometimes, don’t you? Would you like to go back?" Martha’s reply was prompt. "I _am_ goin’ back, for a day or two, with Sam, when Mr. Ronald sends’m down on business next month. That is, I’m goin’, if I can raise the price o’ my ticket. We’re goin’ on a spree. Just us two, all alone by ourselves." Mrs. Ronald clapped her hands. "Good!" she cried enthusiastically. "But you haven’t answered my question. I’ll put it another way. Do you feel quite contented up here? Does the country suit you?"