ng the very
cheapest board she could endure, after that she would have over three
fourths of her money to spend each month for books and clothes. She
was intently engaged with her side of the closet and her end of the
bureau, when she had her first glimpse of home; even preoccupied as she
was, she saw a difference. Several loose pickets in the fence had been
nailed in place. The lilac beside the door and the cabbage roses had
been trimmed, so that they did not drag over the walk, while the yard
had been gone over with a lawn-mower.

Kate turned to her father. "Well, for land's sake!" she said. "I
wanted a lawn-mower all last summer, and you wouldn't buy it for me. I
wonder why you got it the minute I was gone."

"I got it because Nancy Ellen especially wanted it, and she has been a
mighty good girl all summer," he said.

"If that is the case, then she should be rewarded with the privilege of
running a lawn-mower," said Kate.

Her father looked at her sharply; but her face was so pleasant he
decided she did not intend to be saucy, so he said: "No doubt she will
be willing to let you help her all you want to."

"Not the ghost of a doubt about that," laughed Kate, "and I always
wanted to try running one, too. They look so nice in pictures, and how
one improves a place! I hardly know this is home. Now if we only had
a fresh coat of white paint we could line up with the neighbours."

"I have been thinking about that," said Mr. Bates, and Kate glanced at
him, doubting her hearing.

He noticed her surprise and added in explanation: "Paint every so
often saves a building. It's good economy."

"Then let's economize immediately," said Kate. "And on the barn, too.
It is even more weather-beaten than the house."

"I'll see about it the next time I go to town," said Mr. Bates; so Kate
entered the house prepared for anything and wondering what it all meant
for wherever she looked everything was shining the brightest that
scrubbing and scouring could make it shine, the best of everything was
out and in use; not that it was much, but it made a noticeable
difference. Her mother greeted her pleasantly, with a new tone of
voice, while Nancy Ellen was transformed. Kate noticed that,
immediately. She always had been a pretty girl, now she was beautiful,
radiantly beautiful, with a new shining beauty that dazzled Kate as she
looked at her. No one offered any explanation while Kate could see
none. At last she aske