room first, and then get me a good
substantial meal, for I can tell you I am starving."

Helen rang the bell.

"Alice," she said to the parlor maid, who speedily answered the summons,
"will you get the rose room ready as quickly as possible? My aunt, Mrs.
Cameron, will stay here for the night. And please lay supper in the
dining-room. Tell Mrs. Power--oh, I forgot--see and get as nice a
supper as you can, Alice. You had better speak to Miss Polly."

"Yes, Miss," said Alice. Then she paused, hesitated, colored slightly,
and said, in a dubious manner, "Is it the rose room you mean, Miss
Helen? That's the room Miss Polly is getting ready for Miss Virginy, and
there ain't no curtains to the window nor to the bed at present."

"Then I won't sleep in that bed," said Mrs. Cameron. "I must have a
four-poster with curtains all round, and plenty of dark drapery to the
windows. My eyes are weak, and I don't intend to have them injured with
the cold morning light off the moor."

"Oh, Aunt Maria, the mornings aren't very light now," answered Helen.
"They are----"

But Mrs. Cameron interrupted her.

"Don't talk nonsense, child. In a decent place like Bath I own the day
may break gradually, but I expect everything contrary to civilized
existence here. The very thought of those awful commons makes me shiver.
Now, have you, or have you not, a four-poster, in which I can sleep?"

Helen smothered a slight sigh. She turned once again to Alice.

"Will you get my father's room ready for Mrs. Cameron," she said, "and
then see about supper as quickly as possible? Father is away for a few
days," she added, turning to the good lady. "Please will you come up to
Polly's and my room now to take off your things?"

"And where is Polly?" said Mrs. Cameron. "And why doesn't she come to
speak to her aunt? There's Kate, too, she must be a well-grown girl by
now, and scarcely gone to bed yet. The rest of the family are, I
presume, asleep; that is, if there's a grain of sense left in the
household."

"Yes, most of the children are in bed," replied Helen. "You will see
Polly and Katie, and perhaps the twins, later on, but first of all I
want to make you comfortable. You must be very tired; you have had a
long journey."

"I'm beat out, child, and that's the truth. Here, I'll lay Scorpion down
in the middle of your bed; he has been a great worry to me all day, and
he wants his sleep. He likes to get between the sheets, so if you don't
mind I'll