“It's hard to say,” Janet replied, after a moment. “It gave me such a feeling of peace—of having come home, although I lived in Hampton. I can't express it.”
“I think you're expressing it rather well,” said Mrs. Maturin.
“It was so beautiful in the spring,” Janet continued, dropping the coat she held into the drawer. “And it wasn't just the trees and the grass with the yellow dandelions, it was the houses, too—I've often wondered why those houses pleased me so much. I wanted to live in every one of them. Do you know that feeling?” Mrs. Maturin nodded. “They didn't hurt your eyes when you looked at them, and they seemed to be so much at home there, even the new ones. The new ones were like the children of the old.”
“I'll tell the architect. He'll be pleased,” said Mrs. Maturin.
Janet flushed.
“Am I being silly?” she asked.
“No; my dear,” Mrs. Maturin replied. “You've expressed what I feel about Silliston. What do you intend to do when the strike is over?”
“I hadn't thought.” Janet started at the question, but Mrs. Maturin did not seem to notice the dismay in her tone. “You don't intend to—to travel around with the I. W. W. people, do you?”
“I—I hadn't thought,” Janet faltered. It was the first time Mrs. Maturin had spoken of her connection with Syndicalism. And she surprised herself by adding: “I don't see how I could. They can get stenographers anywhere, and that's all I'm good for.” And the question occurred to her—did she really wish to?
“What I was going to suggest,” continued Mrs. Maturin, quietly, “was that you might try Silliston. There's a chance for a good stenographer there, and I'm sure you are a good one. So many of the professors send to Boston.”