ve them to you at once. I wish you
would go to your dictionary and look for the word 'homely.' That seems
to be such a bugbear to you."

Much surprised, Alida crossed the room and opened the ponderous volume
on her writing-table. While she ran her finger slowly down the page,
the doctor continued: "It has several definitions, but the original
meaning was home_like_, and it is only in that archaic sense that I
want you to take it. Now, what is given as the definition of
homelike?"

"Comfortable; cheerful; cozy; friendly," read Alida.

"Now look for comfortable," directed the doctor. "Not any modern
meaning. I want the good old ones that have become obsolete."

"Strong; vigorous; serviceable; helpful," read Alida again.

"Now just one word more," said the doctor. "Find cozy, the meaning
that the English give it."

Alida searched the columns a moment and then read: "Chatty; talkative;
sociable."

"There!" exclaimed the doctor, taking the girl's feverish wrist in her
firm, cool hand. "That is my prescription for you. Take those
definitions faithfully to heart for a year, and you will become so
homely, in the good old sense of the word, that by another St.
Valentine's day you will find yourself admired by everybody."

Alida shrugged her shoulders so incredulously that the doctor took out
her watch and showed her a picture inside the case. "There is my
proof," she said. It was the picture of a sweet, kindly old face,
plain in features, but with a beauty of expression that made Alida's
eyes soften as she looked at it.

"My mother," said Doctor Agnes, gently. "She might be called a homely
woman in both senses of the word. Every one feels the cheer of her
presence as of a warm, comfortable fire-side. Nobody can come into
contact with her without being helped by her sunny, friendly interest.
People feel at home--at their easiest and best--with her, and she is
the 'cozy corner' they naturally turn to, old and young alike."

"Then she must have been born with such a nature," interrupted Alida.

"No, she was as reserved and timid as you are--always worrying about
her appearance and thinking that people were criticising her, until
she went to visit an eccentric old aunt, who spent her time in finding
employment for friendless young girls.

"Aunt Winifred soon found that mother was in as great need of
employment as the poorest little seamstress on her list. So she
interested her in her charities, drawing her by degrees