ld nurse, she herself gained such an uplift of heart and
mind that it began to counteract that spirit of sullenness that had
entered into the Western girl when she had first come to this house and
had been received so unkindly by her relatives.

Instead of hating them, she began to pity them. How much Uncle
Starkweather was missing by being so utterly selfish! How much the girls
were missing by being self-centred!

Why, see it right here in Mary Boyle's case! Nobody could associate with
the delightful little old woman without gaining good from the association.
Instead of being friends with the old nurse, and loving her and being
loved by her, the Starkweather girls tucked her away in the attic and
tried to ignore her existence.

"They don't know what they're missing--poor things!" murmured Helen,
thinking the situation over.

And from that time her own attitude changed toward her cousins. She began
to look out for chances to help them, instead of making herself more and
more objectionable to Belle, Hortense, and Flossie.

CHAPTER XXI

BREAKING THE ICE

As for Floss, Helen had already got a hold upon that young lady.

"Come on, Helen!" the younger cousin would whisper after dinner. "Come up
to my room and give me a start on these lessons; will you? That's a good
chap."

And often when the rest of the family thought the unwelcome visitor had
retired to her room at the top of the house, she was shut in with Flossie,
trying to guide the stumbling feet of that rather dull girl over the hard
places in her various studies.

For Floss had soon discovered that the girl from Sunset Ranch somehow had
a wonderful insight into every problem she put up to her. Nor were they
all in algebra.

"I don't see how you managed to do it, 'way out there in that wild place
you lived in; but you must have gone through 'most all the text-books I
have," declared Flossie, once.

"Oh, I had to grab every chance there was for schooling," Helen responded,
and changed the subject instantly.

Flossie thought she had a secret from her sisters, however, and she hugged
it to her with much glee. She realized that Helen was by no means the
ignoramus Belle and Hortense said.

"And let 'em keep on thinking it," Flossie said, to herself, with a
chuckle. "I don't know what Helen has got up her sleeve; but I believe she
is fooling all of us."

A long, dreary fortnight of inclement weather finally got on the nerves of
Hortense. Belle co