to stay
cooped together in the house! I wouldn't mind it a bit with Laura and
Ivy. We could do lots of things inside--but the Ramsey girls!"

"There's the tower room and the wide halls. Surely you can play some
games there! It does seem unfortunate how things turn out sometimes,
but we must just bear it!" said Mrs. Major.

"That's what makes it so much harder, we _must_ bear it! Ivy says if
we could take our burdens just because we wanted to for a noble cause,
like some of the martyrs did, it wouldn't be half so hard as when they
are put on one!" grumbled Alene. "But there, I'm not going to cry
about it!"

"I wouldn't, either," cried Kizzie, broom in hand, her face glowing
from an attack on the upstairs carpets. "It would only make things
damper!"

The smiling visage of the plump little maid seemed to have captured
some of the sunshine hidden away by the clouds; it radiated from her
blue eyes, her yellow hair, her round rosy cheeks; Alene, turning from
the depressing outside where the rain was steadily falling, felt an
answering glow when she met that sunny gaze, and retorted gaily:

"Does she mean to be profane or funny, or only puny!"

"I mean to tell you what I was thinkin' about! Wouldn't it be fun for
you and the girls to make taffy this afternoon?"

Alene clapped her hands.

"Oh, Kizzie, the very thing! And please, _please_ let me be chief
cook--I think it would be lovely to potter round the pans and things!"

"I could come in and show you how, only Mrs. Major let me off this
afternoon and my sister's expecting me--but I might send her word,"
said Kizzie.

"No, you mustn't do that. Just tell me how much to use and where to
find the stuff--but I don't want anyone to help me!"

So Alene listened solemnly, with a delightful sense of responsibility,
to the directions given by Kizzie and the housekeeper. It seemed so
easy, just so many cups of sugar, so much vinegar and water, a lump of
butter not too large and enough vanilla to make it taste; then the
greased pans and the flour to use in pulling it.

"Oh, I know it by heart! Don't say another word till I bring you some
upstairs to the sewing-room this afternoon! And I'll save some for
Kizzie when she comes."

As the girls intended coming at one o'clock to stay not later than
five, Alene felt secure in having provided something that would pass
the greater part of the time, so she paid no more attention to the
weather. It could not interfe