er temporary home. The place was frankly third-class, with a
large sign stating that boarders were wanted by the day or week. On the
porch were young women coifed according to the latest and most extreme
bushiness and young men with their feet on the railing, socks and
toothpicks much in evidence.

Josie noted the address: 126 East Centre Street. She also noted the
odors that exuded from the basement dining room.

"A veritable Todgers'," she said to herself. Dickens was Josie's
favorite author and she could usually find a parallel from him to suit
every case. "All the greens that were ever cooked there were evergreens
and flourished in immortal strength," she quoted. "A funny hole for my
lady of the high arches to choose to live in. And those kiddies--who
and why are they? Anyhow, I'm going to keep my eye on the bunch of
them."

Josie reported what she had discovered to Mary Louise, who was duly
impressed by her friend's cleverness.

"Not a bit of it," said Josie, repudiating anything more than just an
ordinary amount of knowledge of human nature. "I saw from the woman's
shoes that she thought something of her feet and the way she walked and
those very feet made me feel somehow she was accustomed walking on the
stage. I told her about the sale at Temple & Sweet's, feeling almost
sure the lure of bargain shoes would prove strong. There she was to be
sure and she had a big wad of money, which makes me think she is doing
those little kids dirt, not to have them better dressed. They were not
even clean and so ragged it was pathetic. They are more folksy than she
is, too. Something about their accent made me feel it. She had a
well-modulated voice, but that is because she is evidently an actress as
well as dancer; but there is something in her mode of speech that made
me feel she was not exactly the same class as the children with her.
She is some 'beaut,' though. You should see her in her glad rags."

Mary Louise spent a busy afternoon with her lawyer, Mr. Peter Conant,
going over her affairs and having him look into the necessary deeds for
the transfer of her old house to the Children's Home Society.

"And what does your young husband say to all of this giving away of
good money and land?" asked Uncle Peter.

"Danny thinks it is exactly as it should be. He takes a kind of pride
in being able to support me himself and he didn't have any too soft and
easy a childhood, so he is anxious to help some little ones to
happ