it quite well. I am not so very tired, really;
only hot and limp."

She was very pale, though, and Irene noticed for the first time how white
her lips were, and how dark the marks under her eyes. She got up, and,
going over to the sofa, pressed Faith back on to the cushions again.
"Do let me, Faith," she pleaded, "please. You see, I shall not be able
to many times more." And Faith, anxious to give what pleasure she could,
let her have her way.

Irene, satisfied, folded her work, and departed. Faith sank down
contentedly, and fell into a doze. Audrey sat for a while, wondering what
she should do next. "I think I will go up and work at that manuscript,
as long as the daylight lasts," she decided; "the sooner it is done the
better," and crept softly out of the room, so as not to disturb Faith.
But halfway up the stairs she met Irene dashing down like a wild thing.

"Oh, Audrey," she cried, "come quickly! Where is Faith? and, oh, I want
Debby and Tom too. Such news! Oh, do call them. Mr. Carlyle wants you
all." But the end of her sentence came in broken gasps as she tripped
over the mat and disappeared into the dining-room.

A moment later three flying figures dashed up breathlessly, with Faith
panting on more slowly in the rear. "What has happened?" she gasped.
"What is it all about?"

"I don't know," cried Audrey, "but it can't be anything bad." And they
hurried after the others into their mother's room.

Mrs. Carlyle was sitting up on her couch looking happy and excited.
Mr. Carlyle looked pleased too, but a little grave.

"Irene, dear, you tell them, will you?" said Mrs. Carlyle, eagerly.
And Irene told, and what she told seemed to them all too wonderful to be
true. Mrs. Vivian had taken a furnished house at Ilfracombe for two
months, a house much larger than she needed for her own brood, and she
begged Mrs. Carlyle to let her have her brood too for three or four weeks,
"to fill the house up comfortably."

It was so wonderful, so unlooked-for, such an undreamed-of event in their
lives, that for a second an awed silence filled the room. Then came a
long-drawn "O-o-oh-h-h!" of sheer amaze and delight; and the spell was
broken.

"Is it really, truly true!" gasped Debby, "or is it only a 'let's
pretend'?"

"It is a really--truly true, Debby darling," cried Irene, seizing her in
her arms and lifting her high enough to kiss her.

"Wants _all_ of us?" gasped Audrey, incredulously. "What,_ all fiv