rah looked up in to the bright face that bent over her. "You
are very good. Perhaps I will,--just for to-day."

"She is threatened with pneumonia; she must have a nurse," the doctor
said, outside her door.

It was the beginning for Miss Sarah of a serious illness which in one
way and another involved a number of her neighbors. Owing to the
prevailing epidemic, it was at first impossible to get a satisfactory
nurse, and Norah and Miss Virginia Wilbur offered their services. Miss
Wilbur also lent her cook until Anne should be able to return, saying
she and Charlotte could do very well with Martha.

In the shop Alex took Norah's place. Norah herself suggested it with
some hesitation, thinking Mrs. Russell might object; but this lady,
like many others, had somewhat modified her opinion of the shop. "You
know," she explained on more than one occasion, "those young women are
most interesting. Miss Carpenter, indeed, has a great deal of
elegance. Alex, with her eccentric ideas, is delighted with them, and
was so anxious to go I could not refuse."

Without the shop these would have been lonely days for Charlotte, with
Aunt Virginia absent so much of the time, and her friend Helen one of
the grip victims. Miss Carpenter had exerted a peculiar fascination
over Charlotte since the evening when she had come to her rescue.
Others might prefer Miss Pennington; Charlotte never wavered in her
admiration for the more quiet member of the firm. On her way to school
each morning she invariably crossed the street that she might pass the
shop, and perhaps receive a smile from Marion.

This new enthusiasm overshadowed all former ones, and Miss Carpenter
seemed by no means indifferent to the little girl's adoration, making
her welcome to run in and out at all times. After hours, or when
business was dull, Charlotte would often talk to her about the
Landors, and their Philadelphia home, and Miss Carpenter seemed quite
ready to listen; but Charlotte's curiosity about her cousin who lived
across the street, was never satisfied.

Miss Sarah, to whom indirectly this cementing of the ties between the
shop and its neighbors was due, called Norah to her bedside on the
first day of her illness, and confided to her a certain railroad bond.

"I am afraid it will be some time before I am able to attend to this
myself," she said, "so I am going to ask you to see if you can sell
it for me. I went yesterday to see about it, but they told me to hold
o