This suggestion made Jane feel very grown up—almost like a lady come in to spend the afternoon. The sulky frown smoothed itself out at once. Grandmother directed her where to find the box of silks, threaded her needle and advised in a most interested way about the choice of colors.
Jane seated herself in a low rocking-chair beside an open window and felt very important indeed as she snipped squares of silk and sewed them together. She forgave her brother his preference for boys, she forgot to be curious as to which puppy Billy Carpenter might choose. She even forgot, in the general grown-upness of the occasion, that she did not like sewing. And crowning joy, when Huldah brought a tea tray in at five o’clock, grandmother poured her out a cup of tea—with plenty of hot water, to be sure—from her own teapot. Jane pretended that there were other guests present, taking tea, too. This game added to her dignity and it also accounted, most conveniently, for the rapid disappearance of the cakes and cookies.
“Grandmother,” said Jane, feeling quite grown up enough to discuss any subject, “I was so sorry for Letty.”
“Yes, poor little child. It is hard to be motherless.”
“She asked me if I thought there was any chance of her getting a place around here. I thought perhaps you might like to take her to help Huldah.”
Mrs. Baker did not answer for a few moments, but bent silently over her knitting. Then she said:
“Janey, dear, Mrs. Hartwell-Jones did not wish anything said about it until the question was settled, one way or the other, but I am going to see if you can keep a secret.”
“Oh, grandmother, dear, of course I can! Oh, what is it?” cried Jane eagerly, jumping up and spilling the whole box of silk scraps out upon the floor.
“She thinks of taking Letty—that is, if Mrs. Drake can answer satisfactorily all the questions that must be asked—to wait on her this summer; and then in the fall to put her at some good school where she will be taught how to earn her own living when she grows up.”
“Oh, grandmother, how perfectly perfect! And can’t Mrs. Hartwell-Jones stay here with us all summer, instead of going back to Mr. Parsons’ house in the village?”