“Sit down, Andrew,” said Miss Priscilla.  “I think that is your name.”

“They call me ‘Andy,’ ma’am.”

“That means Andrew.  Shall I give you some meat?”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“Will you have it rare or well done?”

“Well done, ma’am.  I have it rare enough, anyhow.”

“Sophia, Andrew has made a joke,” said Priscilla, with a decorous smile.

“Just so, Priscilla,” and Sophia smiled also.

“I suppose your family has been reduced to poverty, Andrew, or you would not be seeking employment of this character?”

“True for you, ma’am,” said Andy, with his mouth full.

“How was your family property lost?”

“Faith, ma’am, by speculation,” said Andy, hazarding a guess.

“That is very sad.  Sophia, we must never speculate.”

“Just so, Priscilla.”

“Or we might lose all our money.”

“And have to saw wood for a living,” said Sophia, with another brilliant idea.

Andy was so amused at the picture thus suggested that he came near choking, but recovered himself, after a violent attack of coughing.

“I am afraid, Sophia, we should scarcely make a living in that way,” said Priscilla, with a smile.

“Just so,” acquiesced her sister.

“How long have you been in this country, Andrew?”

“Six years, ma’am.”

Andy kept at work industriously.  His appetite proved to be quite equal to the emergency, but his evident enjoyment of the dinner only gratified the ladies, who, though eccentric, were kind-hearted, and not in the least mean.

“What will I do, ma’am?” asked our hero.

“You may go on sawing wood.”

So Andy resumed work, and worked faithfully during the afternoon.  By this time there was a large pile of wood ready for the stove.

At half-past four Miss Priscilla appeared at the door.

“Andrew,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Do you feel tired?”

“A little, ma’am.”

“Does your mother know where you are?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Would you like to go home and tell her?”

“Yes, ma’am, I would.”

“You can go now or after supper, as you prefer.”

“Then I’ll go now.”

“But remember, we want you to come back and sleep here.  We do not feel safe without a man in the house.”

Andy felt rather flattered at being referred to as a man.

“I’ll be back any time you name, ma’am,” he said.

“Then be here at nine o’clock.”

“Very well, ma’am.”

Andy put on his coat and hurried home.  He wanted to tell his mother and Mary the good news about his engagement at such unexpected good wages.

Mrs. Burke looked up inquiringly as he entered the house.

“Where have you been, Andy?” she asked.  “I thought I had lost you.”

“You don’t lose me so easy, mother.  Shure, I’ve been at work.”