The Wilt household was in a state of excitement bordering upon consternation. Levi, the head of the family, had just come in from the barn to the large kitchen, where his wife and children, together with Susanna, his wife's widowed sister, who lived with them in the capacity of hired girl, were all gathered about the dinner-table; and the announcement he had made as he took his seat had almost the effect of a dynamite bomb.