e room which part of it Edith
occupied, and which Cynthia. Cynthia's dressing-table, with its ungainly
pin-cushion, its tangle of ribbons and neckties tossed down anywhere
that they might happen to fall, its medley of horseshoes, tennis balls,
and other treasures, was a constant source of trial to Edith, whose
possessions were always kept in perfect neatness. She scolded and
lectured her sister in vain; Cynthia was incorrigible.

"It's too much bother to keep things in order," she would say. "After
you have been around with your duster and your fixings-up I never can
find a thing, Edith."

The night of Mrs. Franklin's arrival they talked over the new state of
family affairs.

"I think she is nice," said Cynthia, with decision. "I like her, and so
does Jack."

She was perched on the side of the bed, leaning against the tall post,
her favorite position when she had anything of especial interest to
discuss.

[Illustration: "I DON'T LIKE HER, AND I WON'T!"]

"I don't," said Edith, who was brushing out her long hair with great
vigor. "I don't like her, and I _won't_."

"That is just it, Edith. You have made up your mind you won't like her
just because you didn't want her to come. Now she is here, why don't you
make the best of it? What do you dislike about her?"

"Her coming here. She had no right to."

"Edith, how silly you are! She wouldn't have come if papa had not asked
her, and she wouldn't have if she had not loved papa. I should think you
would like her for that if nothing else. I do. And she is pretty and
sweet and dear, and I am going to help her all I can. I think I shall
even call her 'mamma.'"

"Cynthia, I shall never do that. Never, to my dying day!"

"Well, I shall; that is, if she doesn't mind."

"She will. It will make her seem too old."

"I don't believe she would mind that, and any one can see she isn't a
bit old. I think we are very fortunate, as long as papa was going to
marry again, to have him find such a nice, lovely woman."

Edith did not reply. She finished her braid and tied it up. Then she
said:

"Of course, it is a great deal harder for me than for the rest of you. I
thought I was always going to help father, and now I can't."

"Of course it's hard, Edith, but--but don't you think you could still
help him if--if you were nice to his wife?"

"I don't want to help him that way," said Edith, honestly, as she blew
out the light.

The next day when Cynthia asked somewhat timidly