dmired them. When some
things go they carry a little piece of my heart with them, but I don't
mind losing donation china. Are you hurt, Amy?"

"A bruise and a scratch--nothing to signify. Here comes Lole with the
arnica. I don't care in the least since I haven't wrecked any of our
Colonial heirlooms. Isn't it fortunate, mother, that we haven't broken
or lost anything _this_ congregation has bestowed?"

"Yes, indeed," said mamma, gravely. "There, gather up the pieces, and
get them out of the way before we have a caller."

In the Manse callers may be looked for at every possible time and
season, and some of them have eyes in the backs of their heads. For
instance, Miss Florence Frick or Mrs. Elbridge Geary seems to be able to
see through closed doors. And there is Mrs. Cyril Bannington Barnes, who
thinks us all so extravagant, and does not hesitate to notice how often
we wear our best gowns, and wonders to our faces where mamma's last
winter's new furs came from, and is very much astonished and quite angry
that papa should insist on sending all his boys to college. But, there,
this story isn't going to be a talk about papa's people. Mamma wouldn't
approve of that, I am sure.

Everybody sat down comfortably in the dining-room, while Frances and
Mildred took hold and helped Amy and Laura finish the closet. Everybody
meant mamma, Mildred, Frances, Elbert, Lawrence, Sammy and Jessie.
Somehow, a downright rainy day in autumn, with a bit of a blaze on the
hearth, makes you feel like dropping into talk and staying in one place,
and discussing eventful things, such as Grace Wainwright's return, and
what her effect would be on her family, and what effect they would have
on her.

"I really do not think Grace is in the very least bit prepared for the
life she is coming to," said Frances.

"No," said mamma, "I fear not. But she is coming to her duty, and one
can always do that."

"For my part," said Elbert, "I see nothing so much amiss at the
Wainwrights. They're a jolly set, and go when you will, you find them
having good times. Of course they are in straitened circumstances."

"And Grace has been accustomed to lavish expenditure," said Mildred.

"If she had remained in Paris, with her Uncle Ralph and Aunt Gertrude
she would have escaped a good deal of hardship," said Lawrence.

"Oh," mamma broke in, impatiently, "how short-sighted you young people
are! You look at everything from your own point of view. It is not of
Gra