As she bent to stitch linings and wrestled with contrary wirings, Mahala was forever busy at her problem, because she had a problem to face. She realized from the manner in which her mother had listened that she would be interested in repairing the house and moving to the bit of land that had fallen to them. But if she did this, she must either keep a working place in the village and go back and forth, or she must undertake to handle the land in such a way as to make a living from it. On this part of her problem Mahala was helpless. She knew nothing whatever of sowing and reaping, the rotation of crops; of gardening, of chickens, and of the raising of stock. The only thing she did know that she could turn to dollars and cents was the thing that she was doing. The only way in which she could procure even a small degree of comfort for her mother was to keep on with the work she really could do with assurance and with extremely profitable results. With a sharp eye upon every detail of expense, she began deliberately to see how much she could save that might be laid away toward the repairing of the farm house. If she had a few minutes to read, she found that she was reading about land. If there was spare time in which Jemima came and sat beside her and tried to help her with the coarser part of her work, she constantly questioned her to learn what she knew about soil, poultry, and gardening. One day she said to Jemima: “Old dear, how much of your life are you going to give to me? I want to know definitely how long I can depend on you.” Jemima smiled at her. “Now, my dear,” she said, “don’t be botherin’ your head about that. There’s only one thing on earth that could happen that would take me away from you.” “You mean your son?” questioned Mahala. “Yes,” said Jemima. “I mean my boy. He’s a fine, upstanding lad. From the time his father died till he could look out for himself, I took care of him. He’s a good boy; he’s got a good wife. He’s got a houseful of fine babies. As long as everything goes all right with them, I’m free to stay with you and do all I can for you, and if it’s goin’ to be any comfort to you, I want you to understand that’s what I mean to do.”