, it will be comfortable for her
when she comes down and Henry comes in.'

Ella, with a book in her hand, was curled up in a corner of a sofa
standing awry among various other articles of furniture that seemed to
have tumbled together by chance within the barn-like room. Minna began
moving first one and then the other, daintily wiping off the dust, and
restoring an air of comfort.

'Oh dear!' said Ella, unfolding herself; 'I am so tired. Where's Hetta
Mary?'

'Oh, don't you know, Hetta Mary went home this morning because Henry
asked her where his boots were, and she thought he wanted her to clean
them.'

'Can't Mrs. Shillabeer come in!'

'Mrs. Shillabeer said she would never come in again, because Averil
asked her not to hold the ham by the bone and cut it with her own knife
when Henry was there! Come, Ella it is of no use. We had better do
things ourselves, like Cora and Ave, and then we shall not hear people
say disagreeable things.'

The once soft, round, kitten-like Minna, whom Leonard used to roll
about on the floor, had become a lank, sallow girl, much too tall for
her ten years, and with a care-stricken, thoughtful expression on her
face, even more in advance of her age than was her height. She moved
into the kitchen, a room with an iron stove, a rough table, and a few
shelves, looking very desolate. The hands of both little girls had
become expert in filling the stove with wood, and they had not far to
seek before both it and the hearth in the sitting-room were
replenished, and the flame beginning to glow.

'Where's the coffee-mill?' said Minna, presently, looking round in
blank despair.

'Oh dear!' said Ella, 'I remember now; that dirty little Polly Mason
came to borrow it this morning. I said we wanted it every day: but she
guessed we could do without it, for they had got a tea-party, and her
little brother had put in a stone and spoilt Cora Muller's; and she
snatched it up and carried it off.'

'He will serve ours the same, I suppose,' said Minna. 'It is too far
off to go for it; let us make some tea.'

'There's no tea,' said Ella; 'a week ago or more that great Irene Brown
walked in and reckoned we could lend her 'ma some tea and sugar, 'cause
we had plenty. And we have used up our own since; and if we did ask
her to return the loan, hers is such nasty stuff that nobody could
drink it. What shall we do, Minna?' and she began to cry.

'We must take some coffee up to the hotel,' said Min