“Pretty scrumptious place he’s got here in this park, I notice,” returned the new coachman.

“Yes, he has a breath of fresh air before he goes to the city and after he gets back every day.  Isn’t that Essex Maid of his a beauty?” Mrs. Forbes cast her eyes towards the stalls where the shining flanks of two horses were visible from her seat by the wide-open doors of the barn.  “His rides back there among the hills,”—­Mrs. Forbes waved her hand vaguely toward the tall trees waving in the spring sunshine,—­“are his one pleasure; and he never tires of them.  You will find the horses here something different to groom from those common grocery horses in Boston.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” drawled ’Zekiel, teasingly.

“Then you’d better know, young man,” emphatically.  “And, Zeke, what’s the names of those carriages?” pointing with sudden energy at two half shrouded vehicles.

“How many guesses do I get?”

“Guessing ain’t going to do.  Do you know, or don’t you?”

“Know?  Why,” leniently, “bless your heart, mother, don’t you s’pose I know a buggy and a carryall when I see ’em?”

“Oh, you poor benighted grocery boy!” Mrs. Forbes raised her hands.  “What a mercy I mentioned it!  Imagine Mrs. Evringham hearing you ask if she’d have the buggy or the carryall!  ’Zekiel,” solemnly, “listen to me.  That tall one’s a spider, and the other’s a broom.  There!  Do you hear me?  A spider and a broom!”

Ezekiel’s merry eyes met the anxious ones with a twinkle.

“Who’d have thought it!” he responded.

“Now then, Zeke,” anxiously, “it’s my responsibility.  I recommended you.  I want you should say ’em off as glib as Fanshaw did.  Now then, which is which?”

“Mother, didn’t you tell me that the late lamented was not a prohibitionist?”

“Fanshaw drank like a fish, if that’s what you mean.”

“Well, just because he saw things in this barn you needn’t expect me to!  Poor chap!  Spiders and brooms!  He must have been glad to go.”

Mrs. Forbes’ earnest expression did not change. “’Zekiel, don’t you tease, now!  We haven’t got time.  I want you to make such a success of this that you’ll stay with me.  You can’t think how I felt when I woke up this morning and thought the first thing, ‘Zeke’s here.’  Why, I’ve scarcely kept acquainted with you for fifteen years.  Scarcely saw you except for a few weeks in the summer time.  Now I’ve got you again!”

“I ain’t the only thing you’ve got again,” grinned ’Zekiel, “if you’re going to see things, same as Fanshaw did.”

Thus reminded, the housekeeper looked back at the phaeton and the brougham.  “Be a good boy, Zeke,” coaxingly, “and don’t forget now, because Mrs. Evringham is a great stickler—­and a great sticker, too,” added Mrs. Forbes in a different tone.

“Who is the old woman, if the governor isn’t married?” asked Ezekiel with not very lively interest.  “She don’t seem popular with you.”