ge.

But when Aunt Kate's lips touched the girl's forehead they were
Warm, and soft as velvet. Her breath was sweet. There was a wholesome
cleanliness about her person that pleased Nan. The ugly dress was
spotless and beautifully laundered. She had a glimpse of the unplastered
kitchen and saw a row of copper pots on the shelf over the dresser that
were scoured to dazzling brightness. The boards of the floor were
white as milk. The big, patent range glistened with polish, and its
nickel-work was rubbed till it reflected like a mirror.

"Welcome, my dear!" said Aunt Kate again. "I hope you will be happy
while you stay with us."

Happy! With Momsey and Papa Sherwood on the ocean, and the "little
dwelling in amity" closed and deserted? Nan feared she would break down
and cry.

Her Aunt Kate left her to herself a minute just then that she might
overcome this weakness. Uncle Henry came up the path with the bags,
smiling broadly.

"Well, old woman!" he said heartily.

"Well, old man!" she returned.

And then suddenly, Nan Sherwood had a new vision. She was used to
seeing her pretty mother and her handsome father display their mutual
affection; it had not seemed possible that rough, burly Uncle Henry and
ugly Aunt Kate could feel the same degree of affection for each other.

Uncle Henry dropped the bags. Aunt Kate seemed to be drawn toward him
when he put out his hands. Nan saw their lips meet, and then the giant
gently, almost reverently, kissed the horrid scar on Aunt Kate's neck.

"Here's Nan!" cried the big lumberman jovially. "The pluckiest and
smartest little girl in seven states! Take her in out of the cold, Kate.
She's not used to our kind of weather, and I have been watching for the
frost flowers to bloom on her pretty face all the way from the forks."

The woman drew Nan into the warm kitchen. Uncle Henry followed in a
minute with the trunk.

"Where'll I put this box, Kate?" he asked. "I reckon you've fixed up
some cozy place for her?"

"The east room, Hen," Aunt Kate replied. "The sun lies in there
mornings. I took the new spring rocker out of the parlor, and with the
white enameled bedstead you bought in Chicago, and the maple bureau
we got of that furniture pedlar, and the best drugget to lay over the
carpet I reckon Nannie has a pretty bedroom."

Meanwhile Nan stared openly around the strange kitchen. The joists and
rafters were uncovered by laths or plaster. Muslin, that had once been
white, was