“I know you all I need to know,” said the good woman decidedly. “You’re a good girl and a capable girl. Nine out of every ten girls I know would have screamed and run for the fire company instead of stalking in here and doing something. And I can’t be sure of one that would have come in here and helped me the way you did with that dinner when I was hard put to it, not even for pay. They’d have had too much to do in their own affairs. And if they had come after urging they wouldn’t have known what to do without being told at every turn. You told me, and you made things go, and I say you’re a smart girl and a good girl.”
Such praise from a stranger was sweet to Joyce’s lonely soul and she found the tears welling to her eyes, but she choked them back with a smile:
“Thank you, Mrs. Bryant, I’ll try to live up to the recommendation you’re giving me. I only hope you won’t ever have reason to take it back.”
“Well, I don’t believe I shall. Now don’t hesitate to ask for anything you want to borrow, and let me know if there’s anything I can do for you. By the way, if you want to clean any before you get a stove just come over and get hot water. I’m going out this afternoon, but I’ll leave the kitchen key under the door mat and if you want to, just come in and put on the teakettle and get all the hot water you need.”
So Joyce went down the short path to her own door with gratitude in her heart and a ten dollar bill in her hand, saying over to herself the words that had leaped to her lips of a sudden out of the stores of the past when she and Aunt Mary learned whole chapters out of the Bible and repeated them to one another:
“And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord.”
“Isn’t it almost funny,” she said to herself thoughtfully, “The money comes back just as fast as I spend it for the things I need, faster in fact. It’s wonderful to be cared for this way!”
CHAPTER XIV
Back in her house she set to work on her curtains, cutting the cheese cloth in lengths, and hemming it with long, even stitches. It did not take long and her fingers flew rapidly. She was always a fast worker on whatever she took up, and her thoughts kept pace with her work. Suppose Mrs. Bryant should find out that it was still possible for her to take her examinations! Suppose she got a school here! Could she live in the little house all winter? How would she get heat? And light? She would have to work and study in the evenings! How many problems there were to meet when one dropped away from a home and provided it for oneself!
There were strings enough around the packages to run in the hems and hang the curtains, but the windows had to be washed before the curtains could be put up, so Joyce ran over to the store for a few more purchases. A broom, a scrubbing-brush, soap, a galvanized pail and a sponge. She had no rags but a sponge was wonderful for paint and windows. Then a bright thought came to her and she asked if they had any boxes for sale. They took her down to the cellar where were boxes and barrels of all sizes and shapes. She selected several boxes and two nice clean sugar barrels, besides two delightful boxes with lids swinging on tiny hinges. These would make wonderful closets for her china when she got some. She had to pay ten cents apiece for them.