“Yes, dear, if you really feel so strongly about the cotton stockings. Haven’t you any money at all in your purse? I have a little, I believe.”
“Well, I never thought of that! Sure I have!” and Helen sprang out of bed, where they were still lolling while the above conversation was going on, and hunted wildly in a very much mussed drawer for her silver mesh bag. “Hurrah! Three paper dollars and a pile of chicken feed silver! I can get cotton stockings for a centipede with that much money.”
It was a very pretty room that Douglas and Helen Carter shared. Robert Carter had brought to bear all the experience he had gained in building other persons’ houses to make his own house perfect. It was not a very large house but every detail had been thought out so not one brick was amiss. Convenience and Beauty were not sacrificed to one another but went hand in hand. The girls loved their room with its dainty pink paper and egg-shell paint. They had not been in the house long enough for the novelty to wear off, as it was only about a year old. As Douglas lay in her luxurious bed while Helen, being up in search of money, took first bath, she thought of the bitterness of having strangers occupy their room. How often she had lain in that soft, comfortable nest and fancied that it must be like the heart of a pink rose. And the charming private bath-room must be given up, too.
She could hear Helen splashing away, evidently enjoying her morning shower as she was singing with many trills and folderols, trying seemingly to hear herself above the noise of the running water.
“Poor Helen!” thought Douglas. “It is harder, somehow, for her than any of us. Lucy is young enough to learn the new trick of being poor very easily, and Nan is such a philosopher; and dear little Bobby won’t see the difference just so he can have plenty of mud to play in; and I—oh, well—I have got so much to do I can’t think about myself—I must get up and do it, too. Here I am selfishly lying in bed when I know Nan and Lucy want to hear the news from Father just as much as I did.” So, slipping on a kimono, she ran into the room across the hall, shared by the two younger girls.
They were up and almost dressed. “Lucy and I thought maybe we could help, so we hurried. I know you’ve lots to do,” said Nan.
“That was dear of you both. Of course we won’t have so much to do right now, as we have to wait for Dr. Wright to come home; and then if we can rent the house furnished, we must get everything in order. But first listen to the good news!” and she read the telegram.
“Isn’t that splendid and wasn’t it kind of Dr. Wright to send it to you?”
“I think so. If only Helen would not feel so unkindly to him! She utterly refuses to like him,” and Douglas sighed.