," said the other, "that to do such a thing was
most--"

"Yes, I do!" interrupted Willy. "I knew it then and I know it now, but I
don't care any more now than I did then! I put it there because I wanted
to! And if you'll take it, Miss Barbara, and pay it back to me any time
when you feel like it,--and you can pay me interest at ten per cent if
you want to, and that will make it all right, you know; and oh, Miss
Barbara! I know all about that sort of bill, because they used to come
when my father was alive. And if you'd only take it, you don't know how
happy I would be!"

At this she began to cry, and then Miss Barbara burst into tears, and
the two sat down beside each other on a lounge and cried earnestly, hand
in hand, for nearly ten minutes.

"I'm so glad you'll take it!" said Willy, when Miss Barbara went into
her room, "and you may be just as sure as you're sure of anything that
nobody but our two selves will ever know anything about it!"

Immediately after luncheon Miss Barbara went by herself to the
post-office, and when she came back her sister said to her that New York
must just be beginning to agree with her.

"It is astonishing," said Miss Eleanor, "how long it takes some people
to get used to a change, but it often happens that if one stays long
enough in the new place, great benefit will be experienced, whereas, if
the stay is short, there may be no good result whatever!"

That afternoon Mrs. Cliff actually laughed at Miss Barbara--a thing she
had never done before. They were in a large jewelry store where they
were looking at clocks, and Miss Barbara, who had evinced a sudden
interest in the beautiful things about her, called Mrs. Cliff's
attention to a lovely necklace of pearls.

"If I were you," said Miss Barbara, "I would buy something like that! I
should not want to wear it, perhaps, but it would be so delightful to
sit and look at it!"

The idea of Miss Barbara thinking of buying necklaces of pearls! No
wonder Mrs. Cliff laughed.

When the party returned to Plainton, Mrs. Cliff was amazed to find her
new house almost completely furnished; and no time was lost in proposing
the Thorpedyke project, for Mrs. Cliff felt that it would be wise to
make the proposition while the sense of companionship was still fresh
upon them all.

Miss Thorpedyke was very much surprised when the plan was proposed to
her, but it produced a pleasant effect upon her. She had much enjoyed
the company she had been in;