letter, and some time I'll tell you how, and what a comfort it was to
me. Oh, Miss Upton"--the girl threw her arms around the stout
figure--"I can't tell you what it means to me for you to take me in; and
this is your shop you told me of--" she released Miss Mehitable and
looked about--"and I'm going to tend it for you and help you in every
way I can. It is paradise--paradise to me, Miss Upton."

Her fervor brought a lump to her companion's throat, but she knew that
Mrs. Whipp was listening from the sitting-room, and Miss Mehitable did
love peace.

"Yes, yes, dear child; it'll all come out right," she said vaguely,
patting the white shoulder. "I have another good helper and I want you
to meet her. Come with me." She led the girl through the shop.

Mrs. Whipp had retreated violently from the front window when she saw
the closed car drive up, and now she was standing, at bay as it were,
with eyes fixed on the doorway through which her employer would bring
the stranger. Pearl was placidly purring in the last rays of the sinking
sun, her milk-white paws tucked under her soft breast, the only
unexcited member of the family.

Mrs. Whipp had excuse for staring as the young girl came into view.
Short wisps of golden hair waved about her face. Her beauty struck a
sort of awe to the militant woman, who was standing on a mental fence in
armed neutrality holding herself ready to spring down on that side which
would regard the stranger as an interloper come to sponge on Miss Upton,
or possibly she might descend upon the other side and endure the
newcomer passively.

"This is our little girl, Charlotte," said Miss Mehitable; "our little
girl to take care of, and who wants to take care of us. This is Mrs.
Whipp, Geraldine."

Charlotte blinked as the newcomer's face relaxed in her appealing smile,
and she came forward and took Mrs. Whipp's hard, unexpectant hand in her
soft grasp. "Such a fortunate girl I am, Mrs. Whipp," she said, "I'm
sure I shall inconvenience you at first (this fact had been too plainly
legible on the weazened face to be ignored), but I will try to make up
for it--try my very best, and it may not be for long."

Charlotte mumbled some inarticulate greeting, falling an instant victim
to the young creature's humility and loveliness.

"I look very queer, I know," continued Geraldine, "but you see I just
came down out of the sky."

"She really did," put in Miss Upton. "She came in Mr. Barry's
areoplane."