er, hadn't you better look after those old people up at Harlem. I
suppose they had some garden truck, but there's flour and meat and
little things that take off the money when you haven't much. And fuel.
I'll try to go up some day with you and see what they need to keep them
comfortable in cold weather."

The girls could hardly study at school, there was so much excitement.
Did people really have on their ascension robes? What _would_ Hester
say?

Hester did not come to school all the week. Of course they had made a
mistake in computing the time, but a few weeks couldn't make much
difference. Still, the worst scare was over, and if one mistake could be
made, why not another? Were they so sure all the signs were fulfilled?

CHAPTER IX

A WONDERFUL SCHEME

The Whitneys and the Underhills became very neighborly. Mr. Theodore
Whitney often stopped for a little chat, and he was very fond of a good
game of checkers with Steve or John. He was on the other side in
politics and they had some warm discussions. Ophelia, the oldest girl,
was engaged and deeply absorbed with her lover. Frances went away early
in the morning and did not get back until after six. Mrs. Whitney, a
Southern woman by birth, was one of the easy-going kind and very fond of
novels. Mr. Whitney brought them home by the dozen. The house seemed
somehow to run itself, with the aid of Dele, as she was commonly called.

Dele proved a powerful rival to Miss Lily Ludlow. Lily was much prettier
and more delicate looking. Dele had brown-red hair, dry and curly. She
was a little freckled, even in the fall. Her mouth _was_ wide, but she
was always laughing, and she had such splendid teeth. Then her eyes were
so full of fun, and her voice had a sort of rollicking sound. She knew
all kinds of boys' play, and was great at marbles. Then she had so many
odd, entertaining things, and their parlor wasn't too good for use when
'Phelia's beau was not there. But the children lived mostly on the stoop
and the sidewalk.

Delia went to Houston Street school. She could walk farther up the
street with the boys, and watch out for them when they went. Ben liked
her better than he did Lily or Rosa, but Jim was quite divided. He, like
the other poor man with two charmers, sometimes wished there was only
one of them. But Lily was a born coquette, and jealous at that. She had
a way of calling back her admirers, while Dele didn't care a bit for
admiration, but just wanted a g