"Thank you, miss; and I'm sure I'm grateful for all the trouble you
are taking with my small affairs."
Down I went, and leaned over the wicket-gate, gazing at the unnamed
cottage. The brick pathway was scrubbed as clean as a penny, and
the stone step and the floor of the little kitchen as well. The
garden was a maze of fragrant bloom, with never a weed in sight.
The fowl cackled cheerily still, adding insult to injury, the pet
sheep munched grass contentedly, and the canaries sang in their
cages under the vines. Mrs. Bobby settled herself on the porch with
a pan of peas in her neat gingham lap, and all at once I cried:-
"'Comfort Cottage'! It is the very essence of comfort, Mrs. Bobby,
even if there is not absolute peace or rest. Let me paint the
signboard for you this very day."
Mrs. Bobby was most complacent over the name. She had the greatest
confidence in my judgment, and the characterisation pleased her
housewifely pride, so much so that she flushed with pleasure as she
said that if she 'ad 'er 'ealth she thought she could keep the place
looking so that the passers-by would easily h'understand the name.
Chapter XXIII. Tea served here.
It was some days after the naming of the cottage that Mrs. Bobby
admitted me into her financial secrets, and explained the
difficulties that threatened her peace of mind.
