"
"When was Aunt Wealthy's birthday?" queried her husband.
"Yesterday," she answered with her eyes on the letter. "Ah! Ned and Zoe
start this morning for home. The rest will stay a week or so longer, and
our cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Keith, and their daughter, Annis, will soon
follow with the expectation of spending the winter as mamma's guests."
"Will you excuse me, Aunt Elsie, if I open my letter now just for a
peep?" asked Evelyn with a slight shy smile.
"No, my dear, certainly not; as I never do the like myself, but always
wait patiently till the meal is over," returned the young aunt with
playful irony.
"Then I'll have to ask uncle or do it without permission," said Evelyn,
blushing and laughing.
"Hark to the answer coming from the chicken yard," said her uncle
facetiously, as the loud crow of a cock broke in upon their talk.
"I fail to catch your meaning, uncle," said Evelyn, with another blush
and smile.
"Listen!" he answered, "he will speak again presently, and tell me if he
doesn't say, 'Mistress rules here.' Some one has so interpreted it, and,
I think, correctly.
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