ly clean the room Eppie had occupied, she resolved.
Arraying herself in a dress of Mary's which was much too long, an apron
of the little maid's that was much too short, and a huge dust-cap of
her aunt's, she set vigorously to work, washing, scrubbing, and
cleaning windows. There was some grim satisfaction in the hard
physical labor, her last chance, she felt, to do something useful, some
satisfaction, too, in wondering what the fastidious Mr. Huntley would
say, could he see her.

She had finished the hardest part of her task and was just tacking up
with loving hands an old photograph of Annie's first Vision, in a long,
white robe, when she heard the front door open suddenly, and knew by
the bounding step that Sarah Emily had arrived. Ever since her
marriage Mrs. Peter Johnstone regularly visited The Dale, at short
intervals, and in spite of many broad hints from her former mistress,
she had never yet become sufficiently formal to knock at the door.
"Come right up, Sarah Emily," Elizabeth called over the balustrade.

"I knowed you'd be alone, Lizzie," said the visitor, mounting gayly.
"I seen the rest o' the folks goin' off in all directions, an' ses I,
'I'll scoot over an' slap up a batch o' biscuits or somethin',' for I
knowed you couldn't get any dinner. For the love o' the crows, you
ain't housecleanin'!"

"Doesn't this room look as if I were?"

Sarah Emily sniffed the damp clean odor. "Well, I never. If this
ain't a come-downer for a lady like you!" She turned and regarded the
girl with affectionate reproach. "What d'ye do it for?" she continued,
puzzled.

"Because I like it, Sarah Emily. I'd like to go on doing it all my
life."

Sarah Emily laughed. Of course this was only Lizzie's nonsense, and
she didn't mean a word of it.

"You're a pretty one," she declared, assuming her old air of authority,
which came to her easily in the presence of the Gordon children.
"Here, if you ain't gone and cleaned up the whole place an' that
stove-pipe not moved."

Elizabeth uttered an ejaculation of dismay. "Oh, I forgot. Can't we
do it yet?"

"Course we can!" said Sarah Emily cordially. "Come along, I'll show
you!"

She flung aside her shawl and soon Elizabeth was in her old subordinate
position. Sarah Emily took matters in her own hands. She proceeded to
remove the stove from the study below and the pipes from the room
above, flying upstairs and downstairs in her old authoritative way,
much to Elizab