"Well, I shall; that is, if she doesn't mind."
"She will. It will make her seem too old."
"I don't believe she would mind that, and any one can see she isn't a bit old. I think we are very fortunate, as long as papa was going to marry again, to have him find such a nice, lovely woman."
Edith did not reply. She finished her braid and tied it up. Then she said:
"Of course, it is a great deal harder for me than for the rest of you. I thought I was always going to help father, and now I can't."
"Of course it's hard, Edith, but—but don't you think you could still help him if—if you were nice to his wife?"
"I don't want to help him that way," said Edith, honestly, as she blew out the light.
The next day when Cynthia asked somewhat timidly if she might call her step-mother "mamma," she was surprised and touched by the expression that came into Mrs. Franklin's face.
"Oh, thank you, Cynthia!" she said. "I thought I would not ask you, I would just leave it to you, but I should like it so much."
And so they all called her by her new title except Edith.