I said, 'what do you want to eat stale jam
for, when you might have fresh?' The two get competing which will be
furthest ahead in their work; from the way they talk, I shouldn't
wonder if before long their fall house-cleaning would be done in the
spring. It makes me think of what Pa used to tell about his uncle
Alick Colquhoun--how he was earlier and earlier with the milking, till
at last the evening milking was done in the morning, and the morning's
was done the night before. Then there was Eva Meldrum; you remember
she had all her marriage outfit ready before she was asked--sheets,
tablecloths, and everything. As soon as Fred Healey proposed, she got
right to work with the final preparations, and when she found herself
left with nothing else to do--she just sat down and wrote out notes of
thanks for the wedding gifts, leaving blanks for the names of the
articles. I laughed till I was sore when she told me. 'You're a
Colquhoun,' I said, 'though you do only get it from your grandma;
you're a Colquhoun by nature if not by name.' You know I always say it
comes from having such a name. It's enough to make an anxious streak
in the family, having to spell it, one generation after another."

Mary Ann laughed so heartily that the sound reached her sisters, who
wondered what "Ma'n'Mary Ann" were at now. And still the little cloud
lingered, and the smile only flitted waveringly.

"I called at the library, Ma, and brought home the magazine. Now we'll
find out for sure whether Lady Geraldine marries the earl--I don't
believe but what she's in love with the private secretary."

"Did you do the shopping?" her mother whispered.

"Yes, and if you feel rested with your sleep, I'll show you what I
got. Mr. Merrill opened out such a heap of pretty things, I didn't
hardly know what to take. I was thinking, Ma, it wouldn't be a bad
idea to have Miss Adams in to sew, the first week you're downstairs,
when we've got to be in the house anyway."

At this moment Jane and Selina came into the room to see what the
sounds of merriment meant. They looked at patient and nurse with
disapproving gloom. Jane settled herself at once to her knitting;
Selina, who never worked in the afternoon when she was wearing her
widow's collar and cuffs, sat regarding her mother with an expression
of grieved wonder. Mrs. Colquhoun was uncomfortably conscious of being
judged by something in her own child of other heritage than hers--one
of the strangest sensation