ouisa shook her head.

"It's a silly idea, anyway," she declared resolutely. "I haven't any
business to be thinking about curtains when the whole house is as
shabby as my old winter coat. If Mrs. Robinson does come and see new
curtains she'd know right away that I'd spent money I couldn't afford
on them. She might even get the idea that I was trying to make an
impression."

"You have a perfect right to try and make a pleasant impression!"
flared Rosemary hotly. "Of course you have. And I'll tell you how to
make new curtains and they won't cost a cent--except money you have
already paid. Use the blue and white gingham!"

Louisa stared. She had bought, almost as soon as Alec had told her the
good news of the farm's rental, a dozen yards of neat blue and white
checked gingham to make Kitty and June some much-needed frocks and
herself an apron or two.

"But I never heard of gingham curtains!" Louisa protested.

"They're very fashionable for bedrooms," Rosemary assured her. "We
have some at Rainbow Hill--I can show you those. And Mother has a
magazine with heaps of pictures in that show checked casement curtains.
You'll love them when you see them made and hung, Louisa."

"Well--the children can wait for the dresses, I suppose," said Louisa.

And, with Rosemary's help, the curtains were made and hung before the
circus agent's wife paid her promised visit. They were a great success
and Louisa was inordinately proud of them.

Now they went back to the kitchen to look again at the gingham.

"I wish there was some way I could earn a little money," said Louisa
wistfully.

The knitted face cloth on the back of the kitchen chair was responsible
for Rosemary's idea.

"You could knit a bedspread, Louisa!" she said with enthusiasm. "I'll
show you how; Miss Clinton told me they sell for lots of money and
Warren has a cousin who is a domestic science teacher in a large city;
he said she was out here last summer and offered to get orders for Miss
Clinton, but she wouldn't agree to sell her spreads. She doesn't need
the money, but you do."

Louisa was as excited as Rosemary and before an hour had passed the two
girls had, in imagination, knit four elaborate spreads and disposed of
them for eighty dollars apiece.

Then Louisa came down to earth and spoke more practically.

"It will take a long time to do a full-sized spread," she said, "but I
will have plenty of time to knit this winter. You show me how and Mi