"It's your turn, Rebecca, and I'm glad, too," said Emma Jane, drawing up to a gateway and indicating a house that was set a considerable distance from the road. "I haven't got over trembling from the last place yet." (A lady had put her head out of an upstairs window and called, "Go away, little girl; whatever you have in your box we don't want any.") "I don't know who lives here, and the blinds are all shut in front. If there's nobody at home you mustn't count it, but take the next house as yours." Rebecca walked up the lane and went to the side door. There was a porch there, and seated in a rocking-chair, husking corn, was a good-looking young man, or was he middle aged? Rebecca could not make up her mind. At all events he had an air of the city about him,--well-shaven face, well-trimmed mustache, well-fitting clothes. Rebecca was a trifle shy at this unexpected encounter, but there was nothing to be done but explain her presence, so she asked, "Is the lady of the house at home?" "I am the lady of the house at present," said the stranger, with a whimsical smile. "What can I do for you?" "Have you ever heard of the--would you like, or I mean--do you need any soap?" queried Rebecca. "Do I look as if I did?" he responded unexpectedly. Rebecca dimpled. "I didn't mean THAT; I have some soap to sell; I mean I would like to introduce to you a very remarkable soap, the best now on the market. It is called the"-- "Oh! I must know that soap," said the gentleman genially. "Made out of pure vegetable fats, isn't it?" "The very purest," corroborated Rebecca. "No acid in it?" "Not a trace." "And yet a child could do the Monday washing with it and use no force." "A babe," corrected Rebecca "Oh! a babe, eh? That child grows younger every year, instead of older--wise child!" This was great good fortune, to find a customer who knew all the virtues of the article in advance. Rebecca dimpled more and more, and at her new friend's invitation sat down on a stool at his side near the edge of the porch. The beauties of the ornamental box which held the Rose-Red were disclosed, and the prices of both that and the Snow-White were unfolded. Presently she forgot all about her silent partner at the gate and was talking as if she had known this grand personage all her life. "I'm keeping house to-day, but I don't live here," explained the delightful gentleman. "I'm just on a visit to my aunt, who has gone to Portland. I used to be here as a boy and I am very fond of the spot." "I don't think anything takes the place of the farm where one lived when one was a child," observed Rebecca, nearly bursting with pride at having at last successfully used the indefinite pronoun in general conversation. The man darted a look at her and put down his ear of corn. "So you consider your childhood a thing of the past, do you, young lady?" "I can still remember it," answered Rebecca gravely, "though it seems a long time ago."