CHAPTER L.

JOSEY WEST DISTURBS US IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.

'Well, Master Chris,' said Josey West, as my mother and I entered the kitchen on the following night, here are the old times come over again. Now, children, bustle about! Florry, take mother's shawl and bonnet.' (They all called her mother.) 'Ah, you're looking about you, my dear; they're a queer lot of things; but they belong to a queer lot of people. The first night Chris came here he bumped his head. I heard some one tumbling about in the passage, and I called out to know who was there. "It's Me," Master Chris answered, as if all the world knew who Me was. "Come downstairs, Mr. Me," I called; and down he came head over heels, and fell sprawling right in the middle of the kitchen. Ah, that was a night! Do you remember the scene from _As You Like It_, Master Chris, and how mad you were when Jessie said, "Ask me what you will, I will grant it;" and Gus said, "Then love me, Rosalind?" You thought no one knew what was going on inside that head of yours, but I saw it all as clear as clear can be. I'm a witch, my dear. Did you ever hear'--(she was addressing my mother now)--'that I played an old witch for an entire season? I did, and played it well; I could show you the notices I got in the papers on the day they contained all about the pantomimes, but you would think me vain if I