CORNELLI
ting it on her shoulders, went quietly out of the house and over to the Director’s residence. She looked up at the kitchen windows and saw a light there, as well as in the room that overlooked the garden. On entering the kitchen Martha saw Esther and Miss Mina sitting down to a plentiful supper. The latter was just getting up to answer a bell which had rung in the dining room, but Esther offered the empty seat to her old acquaintance.
“Sit down, Martha. I am sure you have earned a rest, the same as I have,” she said, and with these words moved three platters and a bottle over to the new arrival. “Just take it. There is a lot left and I am glad when it is gone, for then I can plan something new for to-morrow.”
“Thank you, Esther,” Martha replied. “I have already eaten supper. It is very nice of you to invite me to share it with you, but I really can’t.”
“How can you refuse? I simply won’t have it. Anybody can eat what I cook, even the Emperor of Russia himself. I am sure you are not yet quite as mighty as that,” Esther
132
