: "Mr. Owner of the
Washington."

Then she folded the letter smoothly and dropped a kiss on it before she
put it in the envelope.

"Just for friendliness," she said when she met Mr. Jerry's eyes and she
blushed. Even her ears turned into pink roses.

He caught her in his arms and hugged her.

"Mary Rose," he said and his voice was not quite clear, "you're
absolutely the friendliest soul I know!"

"That's what I try to be, Mr. Jerry." Her arm slipped up about his
neck. "Daddy said I was to be friendly and the friendlier I was the
easier it would be."

CHAPTER XXI

Mary Rose loved her school. It was too delightful to be with children
again and she made new friends rapidly. After supper she liked to run
up to the third floor and tell Miss Thorley and Miss Carter what a
wonderful day she had had and they always seemed glad to hear. She
often found Mr. Strahan there and generally there were grapes or pears
or peaches or candy to nibble while she told her tale.

Mr. Strahan had written a lot of stories out of Mary Rose's experiences
and he grinned with delight as he heard her talk of school. He saw her
as a mine of human interest tales.

"If it hadn't been for her I'd never have kept my job this summer," he
told Miss Carter and Miss Thorley, one night after Mary Rose had gone.
"The old man liked the stuff she told me and it gave me a chance to
show what I could do. I've a regular run now and a regular salary."
He looked across at Miss Carter and colored a bit. "My foot's on the
ladder now for keeps."

Miss Carter laughed and colored a bit, too, as she hoped that his foot
was there "for keeps." Miss Thorley caught the exchange of glances
with an odd little contraction of her heart. Was that the way the wind
was blowing? Funny she hadn't noticed anything before. If Blanche
went away she would be left alone--alone with her work and her
independence. She shivered involuntarily. Once that had been all she
wanted. Why didn't they satisfy her now? They should satisfy her.
She'd work harder than ever on jam advertisements and when she had
saved a lot of money she'd go to New York and get a big position and
some people would have to admit that it would have been a waste to tie
her down to a humdrum--what was it Mary Rose had said?--"home for a
family." Her lip curled with scorn. Mary Rose was only a child. She
didn't know that homes and families were not the most important things
in the world.