l, Elizabeth sat near, watching her as she worked. Olga did
it as she did most things, with taste and skill, but she listened
indifferently when Laura Haven, stopping beside her, spoke admiringly of
the work.

"I wouldn't waste time over it if I hadn't promised Miss Grandis to
embroider it. She gave us all the stuff, you know," Olga explained.

"It isn't wasting time to make things beautiful," Laura replied. "That
is part of our law, you know, to seek beauty, and wherever possible,
create it." She looked at Elizabeth and added, "You'll be learning
by-and-by to do such work."

There was no response from the Poor Thing, only the usual shrinking
gesture and eyes down-dropped. Acting on a sudden impulse, Laura spoke
again. "Elizabeth, the cook is short of helpers this morning, and I've
volunteered to shell peas. There's a big lot of them to do. I wonder if
you would be willing to help me."

To her surprise Elizabeth rose at once with a nod. "Olga will be glad to
have her away for a little while," Laura was thinking as they went over
to the kitchen.

It certainly was a big lot of peas. Forty girls, living and sleeping in
the open, develop famous appetites, and the "telephone" peas were
delicious. But as the two worked, the great pile of pods grew steadily
smaller, and finally Laura looked at Elizabeth with a laugh. "I've been
trying my best, but I can't keep up with you," she said. "How do you
shell them so fast, Elizabeth?"

A wee ghost of a smile--the first Laura had ever seen there--fluttered
over the girl's face. "I'm used to this kind of work. You have to do it
fast when you're cookin' for eight," she explained simply.

"And you have cooked for eight?" Laura questioned, and added to herself,
"No wonder you look like a ghost of a girl."

Elizabeth nodded. Laura could not induce her to talk, but still she felt
that somehow she had penetrated a little way into the shell of silence
and reserve. As they went back across the camp, she dropped her arm over
Elizabeth's shoulders, and said,

"You're a splendid helper, Elizabeth. May I call on you the next time I
need any one?"

Another silent nod, and then the girl slipped back into her place beside
Olga.

"Then I will--and thank you," Laura returned as she passed on. Olga
glanced after her with something odd and inscrutable in her dark eyes,
and there was a question in the look with which she searched the face of
Elizabeth. But she did not put the question into wo