t so easy and pleasant as it looks."

"Of course it is work, but we find it pleasant. For several years I
taught, but to keep a store has always been my ambition since I was
three years old, and I at last persuaded my friend to join me in an
experiment."

"You don't make all your lovely baskets, surely?" Alex asked, her eyes
on the strings of raphia and an unfinished basket that lay on the
table.

"Oh, no. It is work Miss Carpenter can do at times,--her eyes allow
very little of any sort,--but most of our stock comes from a Mothers'
Club in a settlement in which we are both interested. I lived there
for a time. You can't think how much it has meant to those women. They
bring their babies with them, and they sing while they work, and the
babies sleep or are entertained by their surroundings. Many of the
patterns are original, and they have developed a wonderful sense for
color and form in some instances."

"How interesting!" exclaimed Alex. "I don't see how you ever happened
to come to a stupid town like this."

"Our pottery has a history, too. It is designed and decorated by two
young women, and it has taken very well wherever it has been
exhibited. But I do not mean to go on talking shop all the evening,"
and Norah paused with a smile.

"I like to hear about it. It has been such a puzzle to me to know what
I could do to support myself. There seemed to be nothing but teaching
or stenography, and I should hate both, I am afraid."

"If possible, do the thing you like to do, is my theory. There are a
good many fields in these days, and still in almost any paper you can
find a young lady who wishes to be a companion and is willing to
travel."

Alex laughed. Miss Virginia was rising, and she reluctantly followed
her example. "May I come again sometime?" she asked.

While Miss Wilbur and Alex were talking over their call, Charlotte
came in in a flutter of gayety, her checks matching her rose-colored
ribbons.

"I wish I could have gone with you," she said when she had heard of
the visit. "Did they say anything about me?"

"You were mentioned," her aunt replied, pinching her cheek; and
adding, "they are certainly very pleasant young women."

"They are charming," said Alex.

"I wonder if this Miss Carpenter could be any relation to the one who
lives across the street from Uncle Landor?" said Charlotte.

"Did you hear what Miss Pennington was saying when we went in, Miss
Virginia?" asked Alex.

"It was someth