"We must stir him up and hear these martial memories. I want some new incidents and shall book all I can get if I may."

Here Randal was interrupted by Saul himself, who came in with an armful of wood for the fire.

"Anything more I can do for you, cousin?" he asked, surveying the scene with a rather wistful look.

"Only come and sit with us and talk over war times with Mr. Randal."

"When I've foddered the cattle and done my chores, I'd be pleased to. What regiment were you in?" asked Saul, looking down from his lofty height upon the slender gentleman, who answered briefly:

"In none. I was abroad at the time."

"Sick?"

"No, busy with a novel."

"Took four years to write it?"

"I was obliged to travel and study before I could finish it. These things take more time to work up than outsiders would believe."

"Seems to me our war was a finer story than any you could find in Europe, and the best way to study it would have been to fit in it. If you want heroes and heroines, you'd have found plenty of 'em there."

"I have no doubt of it and shall be glad to atone for my seeming neglect of them by hearing about your own exploits, Major."

Randal hoped to turn the conversation gracefully, but Saul was not to be caught and left the room, saying, with a gleam of fun in his eye:

"I can't stop now. Heroes can wait; pigs can't!"

The girls laughed at this sudden descent from the sublime to the ridiculous, and Randal joined them, feeling his condescension had not been unobserved.

As if drawn by the merry sound, Aunt Plumy appeared, and being established in the rocking chair, fell to talking as easily as if she had known her guests for years.

"Laugh away, young folks. That's better for digestion than any of the medicines people use. Are you troubled with dyspepsia, dear? You didn't seem to take your supper very heartily, so I suppose you must be delicate," she said, looking at Emily, whose pale cheeks and weary eyes told the story of late hours and wasted time.

"I haven't eaten so much for years, I assure you, Mrs. Basset, but it was impossible to taste all your good things. I am not dyspeptic, thank you, but a little tired; for I've been working rather hard lately."

"Be you a teacher, or have you a 'profession,' as they call a trade nowadays?" asked the old lady in a tone of kindly interest, which prevented a laugh at the idea of Emily's being anything but a beauty and a belle. The others kept their composure with difficulty, and Emily answered demurely:

"I have no trade as yet, but I dare say I should be happier if I had."

"Not a doubt on it, my dear."

"What would you recommend, ma'am?"