Mrs. Cristie was unusually prompt that evening in going to the relief of Ida Mayberry, but before she allowed that young woman to go down to her supper she put a question to her.

“What do you mean, Ida,” she said, “by talking about dissecting babies?  Whatever you may have done in that line, I do not think it is very nice to bring it forward when you have charge of a child.”

“Of course it wasn’t nice,” replied Ida, “and I should never have thought of speaking of it if it had not been for that thing from Lethbury.  She makes me so angry that I don’t know what I say.  You ought to hear Lanigan Beam talk about her.  He has confided to me, although I am not sure that he should have done it.”

“Of course not,” said Mrs. Cristie, very promptly; “he should not have confided anything to you.”

“Well,” continued Ida, “he told me, but said he would not breathe it to any one else, that the great object of his life at present was to rid this neighborhood of Calthea Rose.  He says she has been a plague to this community ever since he has known her.  She is always ready to make mischief, and nobody can tell when or how she is going to do it.  As for himself, he vows she has made it impossible for him to live here; and as he wishes to live here, he wants her to go.”

“And how does he propose to make her go?” asked Mrs. Cristie.

“He wants her to marry Mr. Tippengray, which she is very willing to do, and then he is quite sure that they will go away and travel, and stay abroad for a long time.  He knows that this will be the very thing that she would want to do.”

“And I suppose,” said Mrs. Cristie, “that Mr. Beam told you all this in order that you might be induced to help on the match between Mr. Tippengray and Miss Rose.”

“That was exactly his object,” said Ida; “he said that everybody ought to help in this good work.”

“And then, I suppose, he would like to marry you,” remarked Mrs. Cristie.

“He hasn’t said so yet,” replied Miss Mayberry, “but I think he would like to do it.”

Mrs. Cristie brought down her little fist upon the table, regardless of her slumbering child.

“That man is utterly without a conscience,” she exclaimed.  “If he hadn’t kept on engaging himself over and over again to Calthea Rose, she might have married somebody else, and gone away long ago.  He has no one but himself to blame that she is still here to worry him and other people.  And as to his wishing to sacrifice Mr. Tippengray to his ease and comfort, I think it is the most shameful thing I ever heard of.  I hope, Ida, that you did not encourage him in this iniquitous scheme.”

Ida laughed, but quietly ­remembering the baby.

“Not much,” she said; “in fact, I have determined, if I can, to rescue Mr. Tippengray from that clutching old thing.”

“How?” asked Mrs. Cristie, quickly.

“By marrying him myself,” said the nurse-maid.

“Ida Mayberry!” exclaimed Mrs. Cristie.

“Yes,” said the other; “I have been considering the matter a good deal, and I think it can be done.  He is much older than I am, but that isn’t of great importance when people suit in other ways.  Of course I would not wish to marry a very old man, even if he were suitable, for I should have to look forward to a married life so short that it would not pay; but Mr. Tippengray was not born so dreadfully far back, and he is one of those men who keep young for a long time.  I think he likes me, and I am sure I can easily make him like me more, if I choose.  There is nobody here that I need be afraid of, excepting you, perhaps.”

Mrs. Cristie looked at her in amazement.

“Me!” she exclaimed.

“Yes,” said Ida; “and this is the way of it.  For a time I rather liked Lanigan Beam, for he’s young and good-looking, and particularly because he seems very much in love with me; but although he pretends to be anxious to study, I know he is not very deep, and will probably soon tire of that.  So when my sympathy for Mr. Tippengray was fairly aroused, ­and it has been growing for some time, ­it was easy enough to drop Lanigan; but before I allowed myself to become too much interested in Mr. Tippengray I had to consider all sides of the case.  You seem to like Mr. Tippengray very much, and of course if you really made up your mind to prefer him to anybody else, one great object would be gained, just the same as if I married him, and he would be saved from the hole those two are digging for him.”

“And in that case,” said Mrs. Cristie, repressing a strong disposition to laugh, “what would you do?  Perhaps you would be content to take anything that might be left.”

“I suppose you mean Mr. Lodloe,” said Ida.  “Well, to speak plainly, I have never thought that I had a right to take him into consideration, but if the field were entirely open, I would not hesitate a moment in preferring him to either of the others.”

Now Mrs. Cristie laughed outright.

“I could never have imagined,” she said, “that a young girl such as you are could have such practical and business-like views about matrimony.”

“Well,” said the nurse-maid, “I don’t see anything out of the way in my views.  I want to bring an intelligent judgment to bear upon everything I do, and if the higher education is of any good at all, it ought to help us to regulate our affections.”

“I have nothing to say on the subject,” said Mrs. Cristie, “except that they did not pretend to teach us that at Vassar.  I don’t see how you can bring yourself to such calculations.  But one part of your scheme I approve of highly:  positively you ought to drop Lanigan Beam.  As to marrying Mr. Tippengray, that is your affair, and his affair.  And you may be sure I shall not interfere in any way.”

Ida looked at her and smiled.

“I wasn’t very much afraid of that,” she said, “though of course I thought I ought to steer clear of even a possible interference; but now I can go ahead with a clear conscience.”

Mrs. Cristie felt drawn towards this ingenuous maid.

“Ida,” she said, taking her by the hand, “as you have been so confiding towards me, I will say to you that since you have concluded to drop Mr. Beam your choice is decidedly restricted.”

“I am glad to hear it,” said the other, warmly; “he is a good man, and I think he has brains that you can count on.  Is it all settled?”

“Oh, no, no!” said Mrs. Cristie; “and mind, Ida, don’t you say a word of this to a living soul.”

“Oh, you needn’t be afraid of that,” said Miss Mayberry; “I never betray confidences.”

“I am afraid,” said Mrs Cristie to herself, as she stood alone by her baby’s bedside, “that I went a little too far.  It isn’t settled yet, and it would have been better not to say anything about it.  However” ­and then her thoughts went wandering.  She was going down-stairs and out of doors as soon as she had satisfied herself that Douglas could be prudently left to his slumbers.