ed her.

"Our father let you--us, I mean?"

"All summer, if he thought we wanted to; but it won't be that long."

"Only two weeks."

"Until Miss Davis gets back--or Mrs. Goodale."

"Do you think Mrs. McKittrick would leave the----"

"I don't know," confessed the older girl in worried accents. "It's a
chance for him. I believe she'll take it. I'm sure we are old enough."

"And know enough about keeping house."

"They would be perfectly safe with us two."

"Supposing we ask her."

Impulsively, Tabitha started for the house with Gloriana at her heels;
and the children, though not understanding the drift of the
conversation they had just overheard, fell in behind the two, and
marched in solemn procession up the path, feeling sure that something
was about to happen which would clear away the heavy cloud of despair
hovering over their household.

Again Mrs. McKittrick was sitting beside the battered kitchen table
with her head on her arms as they had found her the day before, but
this time Tabitha did not hesitate. Breathlessly, excitedly, she
began, almost before she was inside the house:

"Oh, Mrs. McKittrick, Mercy has told us all about it--how Miss Davis
and Mrs. Goodale are away and you can't find anyone to leave the
children with. But you mustn't stay here on that account! Glory and I
will take charge of the house. Really, we know how to cook and can
manage splendidly, I'm sure, if you will let us try. Miss Davis will
soon be back and then she can look after everything. Two weeks isn't
very long. No harm can come to us in that time, I know. We'd love to
do it. Say you will go. It means so much to you----"

She had not intended to say just that, but misreading the look of
wondering surprise in the tear-stained face lifted to hers, she
blundered, hesitated, and stood silent and distressed in the middle of
the floor, shifting uneasily from one foot to the other, and looking so
much like the frank, outspoken, bungling Tabitha of old, that Mrs.
McKittrick could not refrain from laughing. It was an odd, hysterical,
little laugh, to be sure, more pathetic than mirthful, but it relieved
the sharp tension of the situation; and Gloriana, quick to take
advantage of auspicious moments, broke in, "All you need to do is to
say yes. We will be model housekeepers and take the best of care of
the family."

"But--but--what about your father? He won't listen to such a plan, I'm
sure."

"Now, don't you f