aught a glimpse of a bed. There was a
wood stove with the embers of a fire in it, and the room was still
fairly warm. Everything was as scrupulously neat as her first impression
from without had led her to expect. But the scanty and worn furniture
showed a desperate struggle with poverty that touched the girl's heart.

Under Nan's directions, the girls lifted Mrs. Bragley from the sled and
gently deposited her in the one rocking chair that the apartment
contained, first, however, placing a cushion in it to make it more
comfortable.

"Now, girls," said Nan, "let's all get busy. In the first place, we want
to get this fire going. Where do you keep your wood?" she asked, turning
to the invalid.

"There's plenty of it in the little woodshed at the back," was the
answer. "The neighbors always cut enough for me to last me through the
winter. But it's a shame that you should have to go for it," she called
after Nan, who had already started for the woodshed.

Her protests were unheeded, and in a moment Nan was back, accompanied by
Bess, who had gone with her, their arms full of wood which they laid
beside the stove.

In a few minutes a cheerful fire was roaring in the stove. Then,
following the directions of Mrs. Bragley, they found some tea and brewed
it, and set out a little lunch which they pressed the woman to eat. The
food and tea refreshed and revived her, and, as her shyness wore off,
she talked with them freely.

Nan found some arnica with which she bathed the injured ankle, and then
they helped their patient to undress and get into bed. And having done
this, and seen that she was as comfortable as it was possible to make
her, the girls withdrew into a corner to hold, as Nan expressed it, a
"committee meeting to discuss ways and means."

"Now, girls, just what are we going to do?" demanded Nan, as her friends
gathered round her with anxious looks on their faces.

"Take care of this poor woman until she is able to be on her feet
again," responded Bess promptly. "We can't do less."

"Of course, that goes without saying," agreed Nan. "We're the cause of
her present trouble, and it's up to us to get her out of it. The only
question is as to the best way to do it."

"Go ahead and tell us, Nan," urged Grace. "You've got the best head of
any of us when it comes to an emergency like this."

"The first thing," suggested Nan, "is to get a doctor."

"I'm so glad it isn't an undertaker we have to call for," put in Gra