Anne assented.
"It's a nice name you've given me—very much nicer than my own real name which happens to be Margery Hartman. I know your name. I heard Albert Naumann call you Anne Lewis."
"You gave Albert shoes to wear to school," said Anne.
"Yes. That is my business—to give things to people who need them. Kind people provide money for me to help the poor. Isn't that good of them?"
"It's very good," said Anne, earnestly. "Do you give them—shoes, I mean—to all the children that need them?"
"Not all." Miss Hartman smiled and then she sighed. "I wish I could."
CHAPTER XXV
The new acquaintance soon ripened into friendship. Miss Hartman grew very fond of the quaint, affectionate child and Anne said Miss Hartman was "nice as a book." She would tell story after story about the children she met in her Charity work and then she would sit at the piano and sing old songs in a sweet, clear voice of the quality that reaches the heart.
Sometimes Anne went to the Charity office and sat mouse-like watching the people who came and went. One Saturday afternoon, Peggy Callahan hurried into the room, untidy as usual, her eyes shining with excitement.