any way."

"You act as if she belonged to the family."

"Why shouldn't we?" asked Ethel in amazement.

"Don't you pay her for taking care of the baby?"

"Certainly we pay her. We'd pay a doctor for taking care of her, too,
only we happen to have two doctors related to the Club so they give us
their services free. Why shouldn't we pay her?"

Ethel Brown was quite breathless. She could not entirely understand
Katharine's point of view, but she seemed to be hinting that Miss
Merriam was serving in a menial capacity. The idea made loyal Ethel
Brown, who had not a snobbish bone in her body, extremely angry. Service
she understood--her father and her uncle and Katharine's father, too,
for that matter, were serving their country and were under orders. One
kind of service might be less responsible than another kind, but that
any service that was honest and useful could be unworthy was not in her
creed.

"No reason, of course," replied Katharine, who saw that she had offended
Ethel. "Any way, her work is more than a nursemaid's work."

"I should say it was," answered Ethel warmly; "she's taken several
years' training to fit her for it. But even if she were just a nursemaid
I should love her. I love Mary. She was Dicky's nurse and Mother says
she saved him from becoming a sick, nervous child by her wisdom and
calmness. Mary's skilful, too."

Katharine did not pursue the discussion, and Ethel Brown, when Miss
Merriam came into the room to wish them a "Merry Christmas," threw her
arms around her neck and kissed her.

"You're a perfectly splendid person," she exclaimed.

Elisabeth was at her very best this morning. Never before had they seen
her so beaming. She had a special smile for every one of them, so that
each felt that he had been singled out for favors. She shook hands with
Roger, walked a few steps, clinging to the Ethels' fingers, patted
Helen's cheek, rippled all over when Dicky danced before her, and even
permitted Katharine to take her on her lap. This was a concession on
Katharine's part as well as on Elisabeth's, for Katharine was not much
interested in a stray baby. She saw, however, that the Mortons all were
in love with the little creature so she did her best to be amiable
toward her.

"You're all so good to me," she cried. "I love all these things that
you've made for me with your own fingers."

"We'd do more than that if we could," answered Ethel Blue as they all,
including Dorothy, swept out of th