"'Papa has heard of something very important, which will take him to Boston, so he will be away for some weeks longer. He says you must keep my place in the drawing-class till I come.'" "Drawing, indeed!" said Miss Priscilla. "Spinning would be more to the purpose. You shall stay at home and learn to spin." "Remember the child belongs to me, Priscilla; that was part of the bargain." "Well, well, have her; I don't care. I must go to town this afternoon, Druey, and I want you to go with me." "Very well," said Miss Druett. "I have an errand of my own. Calista, stay within bounds, and don't go running over the woods. We shall have you bitten by one of the gray snakes, or killed by a wild pig or something." "I don't in the least believe in the gray snakes," said Calista. "I have never seen one yet, as often as I have been in the Red Hollow. But I shall not go out of the house, for I have a bit of work to finish for the fair." "Oh, it is to-morrow, is it? Whom do you mean to stay with?—For I suppose you must stop all night with some one." "Emma Ross asked me to stay with her. Clary Whitman and Belle Adair are going to be there, so we shall have a fine time. Elizabeth Howell won't come, because she says she has not a clear evidence that it is right. The girls laugh at her, but I don't see anything to laugh at. It seems to me if you are not sure that a thing is right, it makes that thing wrong for you." "She is quite correct. Keep that rule in mind, and you will save yourself a deal of trouble." When her aunt and Miss Druett were gone, Calista established herself in the front room with the child's apron she was ornamenting in crewels. Thanks to her mother's store of working materials, she was now able to do something independently. The front parlor was kept in decent order, only by the exertions of Miss Druett, and hither Calista resorted with her work, pulling down the inside venetian blinds, so that she could see without being seen. She had not sat long before she saw old Jael come to the kitchen door and speak to Chloe. By leaning a little out of the window she could hear the whole conversation. "Where's your mistress?" "What's that to you?" "Come, old woman, keep a civil tongue, will you? Is Miss Stanfield at home?" "She's gone to town, if you must know." "Has she found her purse?" "She hasn't lost it. I saw it in her hands just as she went away." "But, I tell you, she did lose it," said the old woman, in a voice which betrayed some agitation. "She lost it last night, I know." "Oh, you do, do you?" thought Calista. "I thought so." "Well, if I was a fortune-teller, I'd tell straighter than that," said Chloe, in a tone of great contempt. "Don't I know Miss Priscy? I tell you if she had lost her purse last night, not one in this house would have a wink of sleep till it was found. Besides, I saw it in her hands not an hour ago—the very long green purse she always carries; so you needn't talk to me."