iss Sabrina herself placed a steaming omelette at Nancy's
place. Then she sat down stiffly at the other end of the table. The
omelette was very good; Nancy relished, too, eating it from a plate of
rare old blue and white china; her quick eyes took in with one
appraising glance the beautiful lines of the old mohogany highboy and
the spindle-legged chairs which one of the "forefathers" must have
brought over from England, years and years ago.

"The meat pie was cold so B'lindy beat up an omelette," Miss Sabrina
was saying. "I guess you must be hungry, Anne."

And then, because there had been the slightest tremble in the older
woman's voice Nancy realized, in a flash, that Miss Sabrina was as
nervous as she! Of course she had dreaded the coming of this strange
grand-niece whom she had invited to Happy House merely from her sense
of duty to Leavitt traditions. In her relief Nancy wanted more than
anything to laugh loudly--instead she flashed a warm smile and said
coaxingly:

"I wish you'd call me Nancy! Everyone does and it sounds--oh, jollier."

But Miss Sabrina's long face grew longer. She shook her head
disapprovingly. "We've never called Anne Leavitts anything but Anne
since the first one and I guess in every generation there's been _one_
Anne Leavitt! My mother gave the name to an older sister who died when
she was a baby. My own name is Sabrina Anne. Eat the strawberries!
Jonathan says they're the last from the garden."

Rebuked Nancy bent her head over the fruit. "I am ashamed to know so
little--of my family! You will forgive me, won't you, when I seem
ignorant? I _do_ want to learn." And she said this with all her
heart, for unless she could either get Aunt Sabrina quickly away from
the beloved subject of family or learn something about them, she was
sure to make some dreadful blunder.

Making little patterns on the tablecloth with the end of one thin
finger, Miss Sabrina cleared her throat twice, as though she wanted to
say something and found it difficult to speak. Her eyes, as she
levelled them upon Nancy, turned steely gray with cold little glints in
their depths.

"As I wrote to you, I believe, I struggled--for a long time--with my
conscience before I took the unwarranted step of inviting you to Happy
House. Now I must make one command. Never, while you are here, are
you to mention the name of your father or grandfather--and I likewise
will refrain from so doing!" She stood up stiffly