Nelly was not a whit abashed , seemingly , by the fashionable circle in which she found herself , and she talked away to Will Evans and the others in her soft drawl as if she had known them all her life . All might have gone passably well , had not a little Riverside imp , by name of Rufus Hent , who had been picked up by the picnickers to run their errands , come up just then with a pail of water . `` Golly ! '' he ejaculated in very audible tones . `` If there ai n't Mrs. Pennington 's hired girl ! '' Mrs. Keyton-Wells stiffened with horror . Winslow darted a furious glance at the tell-tale that would have annihilated anything except a small boy . Will Evans grinned and went on talking to Nelly , who had failed to hear , or at least to heed , the exclamation . The mischief was done , the social thermometer went down to zero in Nelly 's neighbourhood . The women ignored her altogether . Winslow set his teeth together and registered a mental vow to wring Rufus Hent 's sunburned neck at the first opportunity . He escorted Nelly to the table and waited on her with ostentatious deference , while Mrs. Keyton-Wells glanced at him stonily and made up her mind to tell his mother when she went home . Nelly 's social ostracism did not affect her appetite . But after lunch was over , she walked down to the skiff . Winslow followed her . `` Do you want to go home ? '' he asked . `` Yes , it 's time I went , for the cats may be raidin ' the pantry . But you must not come ; your friends here want you . '' `` Nonsense ! ''
said XXXXX sulkily .
Evans Hent Keyton-Wells Nelly Pennington Winslow errands first imp raidin