"I know, my child; I know," returned Mrs. Blake, with an animated
gesture. "Come in, Jim, and don't trouble to stand. Find him a
chair, Lila. I knew your father long before you were born," she
added, turning to the young man, "and I knew only good of him. I
suppose he has often told you of the years he worked for us?"

Jim held her hand for an instant in his own, and then, bending
over, raised it to his lips.

"My father never tires of telling us about the old times, and
about Mr. Blake and yourself," he answered in his precise
English, and with the simple dignity which he never lost. Lila,
watching him, prayed silently that a miracle might open the old
lady's eyes and allow her to see the kind, manly look upon his
face.

Mrs. Blake nodded pleasantly, with evident desire to put him
wholly at his ease.

"Well, his son is becoming quite courtly," she responded,
smiling, "and I know Jacob is proud of you--or he ought to be,
which amounts to the same thing. There's nothing I like better
than to see a good, hard-working family prosper in life and raise
its station. Not that I mean to put ideas into your head, of
course, for it is a ridiculous sight to see a person dissatisfied
with the position in which the good Lord has placed him. That was
what I always liked about your mother, and I remember very well
her refusing to wear some of my old finery when she was married,
on the ground that she was a plain, honest woman, and wanted to
continue so when she was a wife. I hope, by the way, that she is