y settled in that minute, though Father Bob and Mother
Jess talked it over again by themselves.

"Are you sure, dear, you want to do this?" Mother Jess asked Elliott.

"Perfectly sure," the girl answered. She felt excited and confident,
as though she could do anything.

"It won't be easy."

"I know that. But please let me try."

"And there are the Gordons," said Mother Jess, half to herself.

"Yes," echoed Elliott, "there are the Gordons."

When the little car ran up to the door to take the two over to Upton
and Mother Jess and Laura were saying good-by, Laura strained Elliott
tight. "I'll love you forever for this," she whispered.

Then they were off and with them seemed to have gone something
indispensable to the well-being of the people who lived in the white
house at the end of the road. Elliott, watching the car vanish around
a turn in the road, hugged Laura's words tight to her heart. It was
the only way to keep her knees from wabbling at the thought of what
was before her.

CHAPTER X

WHAT'S IN A DRESS?

Of course Elliott never could have done it without the Gordons.
Elliott and Harriet made the crab-apple juice into jelly, Mrs. Gordon
sent in bread and cookies, and both mother and daughter stood behind
the girl with their skill and experience, ready to be called on at a
moment's notice.

"Just send for us any time you get into trouble or want help about
something," said Mrs. Gordon over the telephone. "One of us will come
right up. Most likely it will be Harriet. I'm so cumbersome, I can't
get about as I'd like to. Large bodies move slowly, you know."

Other people besides the Gordons sent in things to eat. Elliott
thought she had never known such a stream of generosity as set toward
the white house at the end of the road--intelligent generosity, too.
There seemed a definite plan and some consultation behind it. Mr.
Blair brought a roast of beef already cooked, from Mrs. Blair, and
hoped for both of them that there would soon be good news of the boy.
The Blisses sent in pies enough for two days and asked Elliott to let
them know when she was ready for more. People she knew and people she
didn't know brought rolls and cookies and doughnuts and gelatines and
even roast chickens, and asked, with real anxiety in their voices, for
the latest news from Camp Devens.

They didn't bring their offerings all at once; they brought them
continuously and steadily and with truly remarkable appropriate