Stott meantime had been figuring on the time of Shirley’s probable arrival.  If the cablegram had been received in Paris the previous evening it would be too late to catch the French boat.  The North German Lloyd steamer was the next to leave and it touched at Cherbourg.  She would undoubtedly come on that.  In a week at most she would be here.  Then it became a question as to who should go to meet her at the dock.  The judge could not go, that was certain.  It would be too much of an ordeal.  Mrs. Rossmore did not know the lower part of the city well, and had no experience in meeting ocean steamships.  There was only one way out—­would Stott go?  Of course he would and he would bring Shirley back with him to Massapequa.  So during the next few days while Stott and the judge toiled preparing their case, which often necessitated brief trips to the city, Mrs. Rossmore, seconded with sulky indifference by Eudoxia, was kept busy getting a room ready for her daughter’s arrival.  Eudoxia, who came originally from County Cork, was an Irish lady with a thick brogue and a husky temper.  She was amiable enough so long as things went to her satisfaction, but when they did not suit her she was a termagant.  She was neither beautiful nor graceful, she was not young nor was she very clean.  Her usual condition was dishevelled, her face was all askew, and when she dressed up she looked like a valentine.  Her greatest weakness was a propensity for smashing dishes, and when reprimanded she would threaten to take her traps and skidoo.  This news of the arrival of a daughter failed to fill her with enthusiasm.  Firstly, it meant more work; secondly she had not bargained for it.  When she took the place it was on the understanding that the family consisted only of an elderly gentleman and his wife, that there was practically no work, good wages, plenty to eat, with the privilege of an evening out when she pleased.  Instead of this millennium she soon found Stott installed as a permanent guest and now a daughter was to be foisted on her.  No wonder hard working girls were getting sick and tired of housework!

As already hinted there was no unhealthy curiosity among Massapequans regarding their new neighbors from the city but some of the more prominent people of the place considered it their duty to seek at least a bowing acquaintance with the Rossmores by paying them a formal visit.  So the day following the conversation on the porch when the judge and Stott had gone to the city on one of their periodical excursions, Mrs. Rossmore was startled to see a gentleman of clerical appearance accompanied by a tall, angular woman enter their gate and ring the bell.