"She found me. She seems to be a good enough servant considering she is so marvelously stupid." Josie overheard the conversation as she removed the soup plates. In the pantry she permitted herself the luxury of a grin and after she slid the broiled pompano from the grill to the fish plates she let off more steam by a pirouette that a premiere danseuse might have envied. Silently and efficiently she served the whole meal, managing to efface herself so utterly that the two men talked as freely as though they had been alone in the dining room. "Gloomy old house!" said Braxton Denton. "I wonder you hang on here." "It has been my home ever since I was a boy and I am more comfortable here than I would be at a hotel. I am very fond of this place. The property would run down terribly, too, if I let it stand vacant. It is only gloomy because I can't get anyone to keep it in order. The servants have all left and I don't seem to be able to get any more--not until this girl came last night. How long she will stick I can't tell." "Until I find out what I want to know," muttered Josie to the empty fish plates as she bore them off. "How is your sister-in-law getting?" "No better," with a heavy sadness in his tone. "I am afraid the case is a hopeless one. I get daily reports from the sanitarium and they are most discouraging." "And the children?" "Oh, they are in excellent hands, both of them well. They never ask for their mother, however, nor does she ask for them. It is a strange case--one almost of antagonism. They have shown the strangest lack of feeling in regard to their mother and she seems really to hate them. I can hardly blame her because while they are only little children their callousness is positively diabolical." Josie permitted herself the slight revenge of sprinkling a little extra pepper on her master's English mutton chop. "Very imprudent of me, but I hope he will sneeze his handsome nose off," she said, giving the pepper box another shake. She had her wish. His handsome nose didn't exactly come off but it was not for lack of sneezing. "Kerchoo! Kerchoo!" he gasped for breath, choking and sneezing at the same time. "Heavens, girl!" he finally sputtered. "How much pepper do you usually put on chops?" "Mine is fine," ventured his guest. "Excuse, please," and Josie gave a stiff curtsy. "My foot slipped and I bane put more pepper than I meant." His feelings were soothed by a caramel pie. After dinner he came to the pantry door and called the new maid to him. "You have done very well, all but over seasoning the chops." "The chop!" corrected Josie. "I think you will be able to do the work. I want breakfast at eight. You must look after my mail carefully. Most of my mail comes to my residence. I shall expect you to do the marketing and not bother me with details of housekeeping. Do you need any assistance with the cleaning? I fancy everything is pretty dirty." "Filthy!" ejaculated Josie, "but I bane strong."