"It is a good thing we have learned all we know now," said Phyllis, thoughtfully. "We can never forget it, and be the sort of girls we should have been if we had never seen the seamy side. Still, that doesn't make it inconsistent to be glad to have enough not to feel uncertain of how we are coming out. If we all had wealth—even great wealth—again, which we probably shall never have, we should use it better than we would have before we learned our lesson; we cannot forget some things gained in this year."
"You probably will not," said Ruth, smiling to herself, as if she knew something that amused her in that connection.
Phyllis and Bab looked up, the former wonderingly, the latter with a sharp look; her tone was a trifle sharp also as she asked: "What, for instance?"
"Making croquettes," laughed Ruth, with a teasing look. "I suspect some of you have gained more than you realize."
"Why this Guy Fawkes—only an amiable Guy Fawkes—manner, Ruth?" asked Phyllis. "One would think there were something funny about it, and we were talking quite seriously. Bab and I are out of the joke; what is it?"
"You have gained a kitten, haven't you?" hinted Ruth.
Barbara flushed quickly, but Phyllis smiled frankly, and said: "Yes, and a perfect one too, and we have gained the friendship of Nixie and Nixie's master, and I suppose Tom is more than even Truce; at any rate, I owe Truce to him. All that is not mysteriously funny, though; what is amusing you?"
"Phyllis owns the kitten; that is her personal gain."
"Yes; so far, maybe, Phyllis has rather the heaviest score to her credit of all the family. The matter with me, Phyl, is that I am aching to tell you girls something, and I don't know whether I ought to or not. It wasn't told me; I found it out, and yet it is a secret, and perhaps you won't thank me for telling," said Ruth.
"Does it concern us, and what has happened to us in the past year?" asked Phyllis, mystified.