upstairs like a whirlwind. Every room in the brick house was as neat as
wax, and she had only to pull up the shades, go over the floors with a
whisk broom, and dust the furniture. The aunts could hear her scurrying
to and fro, beating up pillows and feather beds, flapping towels,
jingling crockery, singing meanwhile in her clear voice:--

"In vain with lavish kindness
The gifts of God are strown;
The heathen in his blindness
Bows down to wood and stone."

She had grown to be a handy little creature, and tasks she was capable
of doing at all she did like a flash, so that when she called her aunts
at five o'clock to pass judgment, she had accomplished wonders. There
were fresh towels on bureaus and washstands, the beds were fair and
smooth, the pitchers were filled, and soap and matches were laid out;
newspaper, kindling, and wood were in the boxes, and a large stick
burned slowly in each air-tight stove. "I thought I'd better just take
the chill off," she explained, "as they're right from Syria; and that
reminds me, I must look it up in the geography before they get here."

There was nothing to disapprove, so the two sisters went downstairs to
make some slight changes in their dress. As they passed the parlor door
Miranda thought she heard a crackle and looked in. The shades were up,
there was a cheerful blaze in the open stove in the front parlor, and a
fire laid on the hearth in the back room. Rebecca's own lamp, her
second Christmas present from Mr. Aladdin, stood on a marble-topped
table in the corner, the light that came softly through its
rose-colored shade transforming the stiff and gloomy ugliness of the
room into a place where one could sit and love one's neighbor.

"For massy's sake, Rebecca," called Miss Miranda up the stairs, "did
you think we'd better open the parlor?"

Rebecca came out on the landing braiding her hair.

"We did on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I thought this was about as
great an occasion," she said. "I moved the wax flowers off the
mantelpiece so they wouldn't melt, and put the shells, the coral, and
the green stuffed bird on top of the what-not, so the children wouldn't
ask to play with them. Brother Milliken's coming over to see Mr. Burch
about business, and I shouldn't wonder if Brother and Sister Cobb
happened in. Don't go down cellar, I'll be there in a minute to do the
running."

Miranda and Jane exchanged glances.

"Ain't she the beatin'est creetur that