"This chair," said Mabel, dragging one in from the dining room, "is the safest one we have in the house, but you must be careful to sit right down square in the middle of it because it slides out from under you if you sit too hard on the front edge. If you'll excuse me just a minute I'll go call the others—they're making a vegetable garden in the back yard."
"Well, I declare!" said Mrs. Crane, when she had recognized the four young housekeepers and had heard all about the housekeeping. "It seems as if I ought to be able to find something in the way of furniture for you. I have a single iron bedstead I'm willing to lend you, and maybe I can find you some other things."
"Thank you very much," said Bettie, politely.
"I hope," said Mrs. Crane, pleasantly, "that you'll be very neighborly and come over to see me whenever you feel like it, for I'm always alone."
"Thank you," said Jean, speaking for the household. "We'd just love to."
"Haven't you any children?" asked Bettie, sympathetically.
"Not one," replied Mrs. Crane. "I've never had any but I've always loved children."
"But I'm sure you have a lot of grandchildren," said Mabel, consolingly. "You look so nice and grandmothery."
"No," said Mrs. Crane, not appearing so sorrowful as Mabel had supposed an utterly grandchildless person would look, "I've never possessed any grandchildren either."
"But," queried Mabel, who was sometimes almost too inquisitive, "haven't you any relatives, husbands, or anybody, in all the world?"