“Do you mean that I am to get along without Nancy, Mr. Tarbox?” Mrs. Tarbox said quickly.

“I’ve met with losses, Mrs. T.,” replied Seth, “and I don’t feel as if I could afford to pay out seventy-five cents every Monday for work that might as well be done in the family.”

“Does that mean that you expect me to do it, Mr. Tarbox?”

“Ahem!” said Tarbox, a little embarrassed. “It’s your duty to help bear my burden.”

“I think I do that. I am sure that I work beyond my strength.”

“We all have to work. Don’t I work in the fields, Mrs. Tarbox?”

“You choose to do it. You are able to lead an easier life.”

315“Who says I am?”

“Everybody in the village knows that you are well to do, and have a large sum in the savings-bank.”

Seth Tarbox frowned.

“If I have got a little money ahead,” he said, “I don’t mean to squander it in extravagant living.”

“I don’t think you are in any danger of it,” remarked Mrs. Tarbox dryly.

Mr. Tarbox left the house, and made it in his way to call at the home of Nancy Stokes and give her notice that her services would not be needed on the coming Monday.

Nancy opened her eyes in surprise.

“Why, Mr. Tarbox,” she said, “I’ve been goin’ to your house for ten years. Have you got any other woman in my place?”

“No, Miss Stokes; but I’ve been thinkin’ that I can’t afford to pay seventy-five cents a week for washin’.”

“Why, you haven’t failed, have you, Mr. Tarbox?”

“No; but I’ve met with losses,” answered Seth vaguely.

316“They must be big losses if you can’t afford the little money you’ve paid me.”

“You may call it little, Nancy, but seventy-five cents a week amounts in a year to thirty-nine dollars.”

“It’ll take more‘n one thirty-nine dollars to break you, Mr. Tarbox.”

“You seem to know a good deal about my affairs, Nancy. I’m the best judge of that.”

“Who’s goin’ to do the washin’, then?”

“Mrs. Tarbox will do it.”

“The whole of it?”

“Yes; my first wife used to do it.”

“And died of broken health at forty.”

Seth Tarbox did not relish the plain speaking of Miss Stokes, and turning on his heel, walked away.

Nancy made it a point to call at the farm during the day.

“I hear, Mrs. Tarbox,” she said, “that you are going to do all the washing hereafter.”

“Who told you?” asked Mrs. Tarbox quickly.

“Mr. Tarbox.”

317“He is mistaken,” said Mrs. Tarbox calmly. “I shall do nothing of the kind.”

“He expects it.”

“I can’t help that.”

“Good for you, Mrs. Tarbox. Don’t let him impose upon you. He’s too mean to live.”

The next Monday Seth Tarbox went out to his farm work in a complacent frame of mind. His wife had said nothing of the washing, and he concluded that when she found Nancy absent, she would turn to and do the whole herself. But when he returned to dinner he looked in vain for the clothes line.

“You’re late about your washin’, Mrs. T.,” he said, as he entered the kitchen.

“I am not going to wash, Mr. Tarbox.”

“How’s that? You can’t get along without having the clothes washed.”

“I intend to wash my own, but I don’t propose to do the rest.”

“Wh-what?” ejaculated Seth, in dismay.

“You have taken it upon yourself to discharge Nancy. If the clothes remain unwashed, you are responsible.”

318“But, Mrs. T., my first wife used to do all the washing. She didn’t have Nancy to help her.”

“What your first wife did does not concern me. I do not propose to follow in her footsteps and die of overwork, as she did.”

“It seems............