were
wall closets full of ginghams and boxes of buttons and braid, and more
Mission furniture. On the left each door opened into a bedroom, one
occupied by Miss Toland and littered by her possessions, one empty and
immaculate. The two were joined by a shining little bath. Julia looked
at the white bed in the unoccupied room, the white bureau, the white
chairs, the white dotted curtains at the windows, the dark-blue rugs on
a painted floor, and a gasp of honest admiration broke from her. Miss
Toland gave her a quick approving glance, but said nothing.

Through the big double door they stepped straight on the stage that
filled one end of the tiny auditorium, Miss Toland touching an electric
button that flooded the room with light, for Julia's benefit. There were
wide windows, curtained in crisp dotted white, all about the hall, and a
door at the far end that gave, as Julia afterward learned, on a side
street. An upright piano was on the stage, and at one side a flight of
three or four steps led down to the hall. The main floor was broken by
tables and benches, a hundred sewing bags of blue linen hung on numbered
hooks on the wall, and at the far end there were two deep closets for
kindergarten materials and sewing supplies.

The tour of inspection was ended in the kitchen, where Miss Toland put
several paper bags on the table, dropped into a chair, and asked Julia
also to be seated.

"Well, what do you think of it?" she said, reaching behind her to get a
knife from a drawer. With the knife she cut a spongy crust from a loaf
of bread, without fairly withdrawing it from the bag, and subtracting a
thin pink slice of ham from some oiled paper in another bag, she folded
it into the crust and began to eat it. "I picnic here--when I come,"
said Miss Toland, unembarrassed. "You've had your dinner?"

"Oh, yes," said Julia, "but do let me--" And without further words she
took two plates from the dresser, served the ham neatly, cut a slice or
two of bread, and removed the bags.

"Ah, yes, that's _much_ better!" Miss Toland said. "There's tea there. I
suppose you couldn't manage a cup?"

A deep and peculiar pleasure began to thrill through Julia. She stepped
to the entrance hall, laid aside her hat and jacket, and returned to set
about tea-making with deftness and quickness. She found a wilted slice
of butter in a safe, and set out cups and sugar beside it. Miss Toland
stopped eating, and watched these preparations with great