The Second Violin

ittle kitchen. As he looked in at the door he beheld a slim figure in a big Turkey-red apron, bending over a chicken which lay, in a

you--all slippery and bloody. Ugh! Why won't your old windpipe com

her of hot water?" asked an

. Her cheeks, already flushed

lf," she answered, curtly, turning

A congen

otte's tone w

ipe was the special cause of your d

faced roun

now what I'm doing at all, only that I've been doing it for almost an hour, an

lf as the doctor's hearty la

reciate your feeli

t a good hold on the offending w

of doing som

ly designed for the purpose, only the necessary attachmen

for a moment, and drew out the windpipe successfully.

up the chicken and make a fr

he indicated a bowlful of macerated bread-crumbs mixed w

may have trouble in getting the stuffing to stay in

've cut it o

a very good amateur s

to be!" Charlotte burst out, suddenly, beginning to cut up t

e anatomy of this bird in your mind, and it won't bother you a bit to cut it up. Pardon me, Miss C

full of hot water, and handed it silently to Doctor Churchill without looking at him. He glanced

girl looked up at him he noted, as he had done many times already in the short two weeks he had known her, the peculiar, gipsy-like bea

ing a most undesirable inheritance. She admired intensely Celia's blonde loveliness, and lo

pproached her, hat in hand, "I was ve

ck black lashes swept her cheek, and she did not see the look, h

household like this to descend upon a girl's shoulders. But I want you to know that I--that they are all immensely pleased wi

ays the coffee is better, but--oh, no matter--I'm just discouraged this morning, I--shall learn somethi

"how many times have you been out of

is done. Then I steal out and run round and round the house in the

o something now if I a

u mean go for a walk--which is what doctor

watch. "It is half past ten.

began to get it ready this morning because I hadn't the least idea in the world how long

't want to as

to surp

see to the chicken. What is more, by the time you get back, all big obstacles will look like little ones to you. Go, please. I am to be in the office for the next hou

won'

will y

mour you," prom

d to your family, you must not plod all the time. Plan to get away every day for an hour

im go down the steps. He turned, surprised. "But I shal

house to the kitchen. Here a tall, thin woman, with shar

orrow morning to run in at that door over there"--he indicated t

had taken leave of his senses. "Me--borr

t your principles, but never mind the principles, for once--since by ignoring them you

girl with the red cheeks? She

iss Birch, if that way suits you better, but get to know Miss Charlotte, and show her a few things abo

about 'em, and of course, being a doctor's

s of his boyhood, and she felt it her right to tell him, now and then, what she thought.

I see this girl a-hanging dish-towels, and opening the kitchen door to let out the smoke each time she's burned

ral, over her inefficiency, but she's very anxious to learn, and there's nobody to teach her. She

ds said, doubtfully. "Shakes out her d

oid th

shades the minute th

do y

e of that Mis' Carter the other day, when s

u despise that sort of thing yourself, so you mustn't yield to it. Go over and be neighbourly,

t into her sharp eyes for a moment, until they softened percepti

proceeded energetically to scrape the board. "You always did have a way with you, wheedling folks into doing what they didn't want to just to please you

lly, as Doctor Churchill had known she would do. And twenty-four hou

l if one went at it aright. Mrs. Fields came

d, "but I didn't want to come to the front door with my jelly

lotte. "You are--I think I've seen y

m I. Yes, I'm Doctor Churchill's hous

an hour when kitchens are supposed to be in order, if ever, yet it was a relief to Mrs. Fields to find this one in that condition. Brass faucets gleamed in the afternoon sunlight, the teakettle steame

ike to make that. It seems the biggest result for the smallest labour of a

ith a laugh. Things had gone fairly well with he

ked his fun at me all the time he was eating it," said the housekeeper, with a tactful disregard for the full truth, which was that a refractor

ges me. Doctor Churchill told me he had the finest coo

u get in a quandary how to cook anything--how long to give it or whether to bake or boil--you just run across and ask me. I ain't one o' the prying kind--the doctor'll tell you that--and

d have resented the appearance of almost any of her neighbours at her back door with an offer of help, suspecting that they had come to use

ay. But it frets me not to have you come to me for help. I could plan things for you, and teach you all the little I know. I'm

I'm going to fight it through myself. I'd r

a's room that evening, hi

ding. Charlotte says you ate it--and the inference was that it was good

es so hard, Lanse. And the

the taste of the pudding. Did

ow and drew out her soap-dish. "Please get rid of it for me," she whispered, "an

the dish on the stand, where it had been within Celia's reach. "I wish I had had a soap-dish at the table," he remarked,

er, retired by an incurable injury which did not make him the less the best uncle in the world--could not fail to

up?" h

e would like to come to spend the

t lu

Charlotte in

l will help out like oil on a dry axle, and if we don't have