"It's an egg--a fresh egg," she said resignedly. "I sent her out to
get me one for the French toast and I suppose she forgot to give it to
me. Never mind, Shirley, it's nothing to sit on an egg, dearie; the
mother hen does it every day. For goodness' sake, what are you
laughing at, Hughie?"

CHAPTER VI

WINNIE IS NERVOUS

When Doctor Hugh went back to the Eastshore house Sunday night, in
order to be ready for an early Monday morning appointment, he took his
mother with him. There were several things which their brief residence
at Rainbow Hill had demonstrated would be immediately required,
noticeably more frocks for Sarah. That small girl tore and wore out
and soiled an amazing number of dresses within a day. Winnie, too, had
a list of necessities and Mrs. Willis had proposed that she go in with
Hugh and gather frocks and utensils; then Hugh would bring them back in
the car and her, too.

"You'll be alone only one night," Mrs. Willis said to Winnie. "And if
you are the least bit nervous, I'm sure one of the boys will come up
and sleep in the house."

"Now don't you worry about us," was Winnie's reply. "I guess I can
take care of things all right. There's nothing to be afraid of--and
anyway I don't see that two women in a house makes it any safer than
one."

Winnie, though she would have been the last to admit it, had been
slightly timid at first about the sleeping arrangements. She had never
lived in the country in her life and she privately thought the farm a
lonely place, especially at night when, to quote her own words, "there
was nothing nearer than the moon." As a matter of fact Rainbow Hill
was not an isolated place at all, there were telephone connections to
the outside world and a private system of communication with the tenant
house. No one ever locked the house doors in that section and
gradually Winnie's unexpressed fears wore away.

Mrs. Willis, in her wholesome nature, was seldom frightened and to her
the country meant peace and seclusion. All the girls had been trained
from babyhood to regard the dark as "kind to tired people" and each had
been taught to go to bed alone as a matter of course. They had never
been terrified by foolish stories and silly myths and so were not
afraid. Rosemary could lock up a house as competently as the doctor
and thought nothing of going downstairs after the lights were out for
the night to see if a window catch had been fastened.

When bed-