loud boo-hoos, pressed a squirming trio.
There were two torn and dirty boys, their faces streaked with tears,
their hands vainly trying to grapple. And between the two, holding to
each by a handful of cassock, and by turns scolding and beseeching the
quarreling pair, came Sue Milo.

Strangers saw Sue Milo as an attractive, middle-aged woman, tall, and
full-figured, whose face was expressive and inclined toward a high color,
whose shining brown hair was well grayed at the temples, and whose eyes,
blue-gray, and dark-lashed, were wide and kindly.

Strangers marked her for a capable, dependable woman, too; and found
suited to her the adjective "motherly." This for the same reason which
moved new acquaintances instinctively to address her as "Mrs." For Sue
Milo, at forty-five, bore none of the marks of the so-called typical
spinster.

But a curious change of attitude toward her was the experience of that
man or woman who came to know her even casually. Though at a first
meeting she seemed to be all of her age, with better acquaintance she
appeared to grow rapidly younger. So that it was not strange to hear her
referred to as "the Milo girl," and not infrequently she was included at
gatherings of people who were still in their twenties. In just what her
youthfulness lay it was hard to define. At times an expression of the
eye, a trick of straight-looking, or perhaps the lifting and turning of
the chin, or a quick bringing together of the hands,--all these were
girlish. There was that about her which made her seem as simple and
unaffected as a child.

Yet capable and dependable she was--as any crisis at Rectory or Orphanage
had proven repeatedly. And when quick decisions were demanded, all
turned as if with one accord to Sue. And she was as quick to execute.
Or if that was beyond her power, she roused others to action. It was a
rector of St. Giles who once applied to her a description that was
singularly fitting: "She is," he said, "like a ship under full sail."

Just now she was a ship in a storm.

"Aw, you did said it!" cried the wailing Ikey, pointing at his adversary
a forefinger wrapped in a handkerchief. "You did! You did! I heard you
said it!"

"I never! I never!" denied his opponent. "It ain't so! Boo-hoo!"

Sue gave them an impartial shake. "That will do!" she declared, trying
hard to speak with force, while her eyes twinkled. "--Ikey, do you hear
me?--Put down that fist, Clarence!--Now, b