Joe had made some quite magnificent alterations in his old home stead. The newly married couple would live there, for Joe could not desert his feeble but domineering old mother. Every morning, going about among her neat possessions, Louisa felt as one looking her last upon the faces of dear friends. It was true that in a measure she could take them with her, but, robbed of their old environments, they would almost cease to be themselves. Then there were some features of her happy solitary life which she would probably be obliged to relinquish altogether. Sterner tasks would devolve upon her. There would be a large house to care for, company to entertain, Joe’s mother to wait upon; and it would be contrary to all thrifty village traditions for her to keep more than one servant.