e Washington's board. It's splendid
to have someone besides yourself to work for," she added with a very
adult air.

She sang to herself as she worked, after Aunt Kate had left her.

"Where have you been, Billie boy, Billie boy?
Where have you been, charming Billie?
I've been to see my wife, she's the treasure of my life,
She's a young thing and can't leave her mother."

It was Lena's favorite song and it had many verses. Mary Rose sang
them all with gusto.

"If I didn't make a noise I'd be scared of the quiet," she thought. "I
never was in a home that was so little like a home. It's because there
isn't anything alive in it. There isn't even a Lady Washington
geranium." She was astonished that there wasn't, for in Mifflin pots
of geraniums and other plants were always to be seen in sunny windows.
"It gives you a hollow feeling--not empty for bread and butter but for
people," she decided.

Mary Rose had never lived where there were no live things. "Dogs and
cats and birds help to make you feel friendly toward all the world.
And so do plants. I guess that's true of all the things God made," she
thought as she hung up the dish pan on the nail Aunt Kate had pointed
out.

She stood in the doorway, looking back at the clean and tidy kitchen
with considerable satisfaction. She had done it all herself and it
would have pleased even the critical Lena.

A door across the hall opened suddenly and Mary Rose swung around and
looked into the curious face of an elderly woman who was almost as
broad as she was tall. Her round face wore a scowl and the corners of
her mouth turned straight down.

"Good morning," Mary Rose said in the neighborly fashion that was in
vogue in Mifflin.

"H-m." The fat lady eyed her over gold spectacles. "Can't Mrs.
Bracken get a full-grown girl to do her work? I thought she was
against child labor."

She laughed unpleasantly.

"I'm not working regular," Mary Rose said quickly, with a blush because
she was not so large as the fat lady thought she should be. "I'm Mrs.
Donovan's niece and I've just come from Mifflin. I'm only washing Mrs.
Bracken's dishes until she gets another girl, so I can earn money to
pay for George Washington's board."

"George Washington's board?" echoed the fat lady. "Come here, Mina,"
she called over her shoulder, "and listen to this child. Who's George
Washington?" She was frankly curious and so was the maid, who had
joined her.

"He's m