"This is really charming!" said Mr. Phillips, glancing from fireplace to
wall, and from wall to window; while his wife exclaimed with delight
over the Mariposa lilies which filled a glass bowl on the table, and the
tall sheaves of scarlet penstamens on either side the hearth. Mrs.
Watson blinked about curiously, actually silent for a moment, before her
surprise took the form of words.

"Why, how pretty it looks, doesn't it, Ellen? and so large and spacious,
and so many-- I'm all the more surprised because when we were together
before, you wouldn't go to the Shoshone House, you remember, because it
was so expensive, and of course I-- Well, circumstances _do_ alter; and
it is a world of changes, as Dr. Billings said in one of his sermons
last spring. And I'm sure I'm glad, only I wasn't prepared to-- Ellen!
Ellen! look at that etching! It's exactly the same as yours, which Jane
Phillips gave you and Henry for your tin wedding. It was very expensive,
I know, for I was with her when she got it, and so--at Doll's it was;
and his things naturally--but I really think the frame of this is the
handsomest! Now, my dear Miss Carr, where _did_ you get that?"

"It was one of _our_ gifts," said Clover, smiling. "There is a double
supply of wedding presents in this house, Mrs. Watson, for my sister's
are here as well as our own. So we _are_ rather rich in pretty things,
as you see, but not in anything else, except cows; of those we have any
number. Now, if you will all excuse me for a moment, I will go up and
tell Mrs. Page that you are here."

Up she went, deliberately till she was out of sight, and then at a
swift, light run the rest of the way.

"Elsie dear," she cried, bursting into the nursery, "who do you think is
here? Mrs. Watson, our old woman of the Sea, you know. She has her
son-in-law and daughter with her, and they look like rather nice people,
strange to say. They have driven over from the Ute Valley, and of course
they must have some lunch; but as it happens it is the worst day of the
whole year for them to choose, for I have sent Choo Loo into St. Helen's
to look up a Chinese cook for Imogen Young, and I meant to starve you
all on poached eggs and raspberries for lunch. I can't leave them of
course, but will you just run down, my darling duck, and see what can be
done, and tell Euphane? There are cans of soup, of course, and sardines,
and all that, but I fear the bread supply is rather short. I'll take
Phillida.