"Trained?" The question was the doctor's.
"Yes. You see at first he was such a bear."
"Oh, Betty!" exclaimed her mother, in very genuine distress.
But Betty plainly was in one of her most mischievous moods. With another merry glance at her mother she turned to the doctor.
"It's only this, doctor. You see, at first he was so silent and solemn, and Benton and Sarah and Mrs. Gowing were so scared, and the whole house was so scared and silent and solemn, that it seemed some days as if I should scream, just to make a little excitement. But it's all very different now. Benton and Sarah are all smiles, Mrs. Gowing actually laughs sometimes, and the only trouble is there isn't time enough for Mr. Denby to get in all the talking he wants to."
"Then Mr. Denby seems happier?"
"Oh, very much. Of course, at first it was just about the work—we're cataloguing the curios; but lately it's been in other ways. Why, the other day he found I could play and sing a little, and to-day he asked me to sing for him. And I did."
Helen sat suddenly erect in her chair.
"Sing? You sang for Mr. Denby?" she cried, plainly very much agitated. "But you hadn't told me—that!"
"I hadn't done it till this afternoon, just before I came home," laughed Betty.