as she finished her
singular words.

Nancy had lifted a round strawberry to her lips. She was so startled
that the hand that guided it dropped suddenly and the berry rolled over
the cloth, leaving a tiny red trail across the white surface.

Was there ever anything in the world as strange as this? Why shouldn't
she mention Anne's father or her grandfather? To be sure, as all she
knew about them was the little Anne had told her during the last two
weeks, she was not likely to want to say much about them--nevertheless
she was immensely curious. Why _should_ Miss Sabrina make such a
singular command and _why_ should she be so agitated?

Nancy knew she must say something in reply. "I--I'll be glad to do
just--what you want me to do!" she stammered. "I just want to--make
you like me--if I can."

Nancy said this so humbly and so sincerely that it won a smile from
Miss Sabrina. Nancy did not know, of course, that the old woman had
been trying hungrily to find something in Nancy's face that was "like a
Leavitt!" And as Nancy had spoken she had suddenly seen an expression
cross the young face that, she said to herself, was "all Leavitt!" So
her voice was more kindly and she laid an affectionate hand upon the
girl's shoulder.

"I am sure I shall grow very fond of you, my dear. Now I must leave
you to amuse yourself--this is my rest hour. Make yourself at home and
go about as you please!"

Nancy did not move until the last sound of her aunt's footstep died
away. A door shut, then the house was perfectly still. She drew a
long, quivery breath.

"Thank goodness--she _does_ have to rest! Nancy Leavitt, how are you
ever going to stand all that pomposity--for days and days. Wouldn't it
be _funny_ if I took to talking to myself in this dreadful stillness?
Happy House--_Happy_, indeed."

It was not at all difficult for Nancy to know what each room, opening
from the long hall, was or what it looked like. The parlor opened from
one side, the sitting-room from the other; the dining-room was behind
the sitting-room and the kitchen in a wing beyond that. The parlor
with its old mahogany and walnut furniture, its faded pictures and ugly
carpeting was, of course, just like the sitting-room, except that, to
give it more of a homey air, in the sitting-room there were some waxed
flowers under a glass, a huge old Bible on the marble-topped table, a
bunch of peacock feathers in a corner and crocheted tidies on the
horseha