"You know that I never bother about styles, Uncle. I just wear whatever mother gets for me," said Mary, with a tired little smile.
"Well, you are very much in style just now. I have been talking with Mrs. Burns and Mrs. Lee, and they tell me that Hazel and her brother and Marian have measles."
Mary gave a pitiful cry.
"And I have them, too, Uncle? And will I have to be sent away somewhere? But I will go—I will do anything to keep the darling babies from catching them, and—and—don't let Mother come near me! I want her—oh, I do want her! but she mustn't come on account of the babies."
"There, there, pet, you haven't the small-pox! Who has said anything about sending you away? Of course, Mother must not be with you, just as you say, nor Aunt Mandy, either; but Father and I shall come in to see you very often——"
"But you might carry the measles to the babies——"
"Oh, we shall go out and run around the block after our visits to you; so don't worry any more about it. I shall get the very best nurse I know. All my little patients who have had her to take care of them, love her very much."
"But can't I be moved to the little back room so as to be as far away from the babies as I can be?"
"An idea popped into my head as I came up from the telephone. I am glad now that Mother insisted on giving the third floor a house-cleaning two weeks ago, though, at the time, I did not enjoy being ordered to clear out my old den up there. That big front room had been my private property since my twelfth birthday, and the treasures which I had hoarded there would make a junkman happy. Of course, I had not been near the room for years, and it was high time that I should put things in order. So I spent several evenings destroying more than I saved.
"Out of curiosity, I went up there last Sunday, and what do you think? But I suppose you have seen it for yourself. I thought I was in the wrong house when I saw my old den dressed up in pale blue walls and white woodwork. It seems to me that is the very room in which to get over measles quickly, and you will have no reason to worry about the babies. The third floor is not an attic, you know, though it has always been used for storing away old things. It is what is called a mansard roof."