"And you must come, too," said Mrs. O'Neil to her two guests; "there isn't anything to see—it isn't prying—it's just the wonder how they can get along without anything at all that way."
Alva was rather pale.
"Do let's go," Lassie whispered.
Alva smiled sadly. "Yes, we'll go," she said.
Mrs. O'Neil called Mary Cody and stationed her below. Then they all four mounted the stairs and went along the plain hall to the plain door at the end.
"You keep everything very neat, Nellie," said Mrs. Ray; "it's a pity you don't stick to nice people who can appreciate nice things. If you go taking in people like the Lathbuns too often, you might just as well give up and get the name for it. I wouldn't dare stay under the same roof with them, myself."
Mrs. O'Neil made no answer, simply pressing the door at the end of the hall and—as the door yielded—entering first.
Mrs. Ray and Lassie were next. Alva did not go in, but stood still in the doorway.
It is hard to conceive the special effect of that interior on each of the four.
"Did you have any little things around before you swept?" Mrs. Ray asked, standing in the middle like the head of some royal commission in the days of the Dissolution.