"You won't find anything that will change Matilda very quick, Jane. She's a dreadful person to stick to habits; she's drunk out of the blue cup and give me the green one for these whole five years."
"The change in the atmosphere of the house," said Jane slowly, "must be complete. We must never say one more word about her that isn't nice, and we mustn't even think unkind thoughts. We must talk about her lots and look forward to her coming back—"
"Oh, heavens, I can't," gasped Susan.
"We'll begin to-day on her room—"
"Then you'll make her madder than a hatter, sure; she can't bear to have her room touched."
"I'm going to make it the prettiest room in the house," said Jane resolutely. "I'm going to brush and clean and mend and fix all those clothes she's left hanging up, and I'm going to love her dearly from now on."
Susan sat still, her lips moving slightly, but whether with repressed feeling or trembling sentiment it would be impossible to say. "She looked awful cute when she was little and wore pantalettes," she said finally.
"Bravo!" cried Jane, running to her and kissing her. "There's a fine victory for you, and now,"—her face brightening suddenly,—"I've got an idea of what we can do to lift us right straight up into a new circle of life. What do you say to our making the little back parlor over into a bedroom, and—"
"—taking Mr. Rath to board?" cried Susan joyfully. "Oh, I am sure that he wanted to come all along."
Jane laughed outright. "No, indeed, the very idea! No, what I thought of was inviting that poor old Mrs. Croft here for a week and giving her and her daughter-in-law a rest from one another."