indoors. They sorted, and they counted, and they arranged on
shelves. Anna-Rose flew in and out with her arms full. Anna-Felicitas
slouched zealously after her, her arms full too when she started, but
not nearly so full when she got there owing to the way things had of
slipping through them and dropping on to the floor. They were in a
blissful, busy confusion. Their faces shone with heat and happiness.
Here was liberty; here was freedom; here was true dignity--_Arbeit und
Liebe_....

When Mr. Twist, as he did whenever he could, came and looked on for a
moment in his shirt sleeves, with his hat on the back of his head and
his big, benevolent spectacles so kind, Anna-Rose's cup seemed full. Her
dimple never disappeared for a moment. It was there all day long now;
and even when she was asleep it still lurked in the corner of her mouth.
_Arbeit und Liebe_.

Immense was the reaction of self-respect that took hold of the twins.
They couldn't believe they were the people who had been so crude and
ill-conditioned as to hide Mrs. Bilton's belongings, and actually
finally to hide themselves. How absurd. How like children. How
unpardonably undignified. Anna-Rose held forth volubly to this effect
while she arranged the china, and Anna-Felicitas listened assentingly,
with a kind of grave, ashamed sheepishness.

The result of this reaction was that Mrs. Bilton, whose pressure on them
was relieved by the necessity of her too being in several places at
once, and who was displaying her customary grit, now became the definite
object of their courtesy. They were the mistresses of a house, they
began to realize, and as such owed her every consideration. This bland
attitude was greatly helped by their not having to sleep with her any
more, and they found that the mere coming fresh to her each morning made
them feel polite and well-disposed. Besides, they were thoroughly and
finally grown-up now, Anna-Rose declared--never, never to lapse again.
They had had their lesson, she said, gone through a crisis, and done
that which Aunt Alice used to say people did after severe trials, aged
considerably.

Anna-Felicitas wasn't quite so sure. Her own recent behaviour had
shaken and shocked her too much. Who would have thought she would have
gone like that? Gone all to pieces, back to sheer naughtiness, on the
first provocation? It was quite easy, she reflected while she worked,
and cups kept on detaching themselves mysteriously from her fingers,