rn-light went the two men of the
party, examining this and that point of interest, their noses turned
to the mysterious inner workings of the wonderful mechanism, while
Julia Cloud sat and marveled that here at last was something which
Herbert Robinson respected.

And Ellen stood upon the steps, really smiling and saying how nice it
had been to have them, for all the world as if they were company, all
the hard lines of her rapidly maturing face softened by kindliness! It
seemed like a miracle. Julia Cloud settled back into the deep
cushions, and lifted her eyes to the dark line of the hills against
the sky. "From whence cometh my help," trailed the words through her
tired brain; and her heart murmured, "God, I thank Thee!"

CHAPTER VIII

They all slept very late the next morning, being utterly worn out from
the unaccustomed work; and, when they finally got down-stairs, they
took a sort of a lunch-breakfast off the pantry shelves again. It was
strange how good even shredded-wheat biscuit and milk can taste when
one has been working hard and has a young appetite, although Leslie
and Allison had been known to scorn all cereals. Still, there were
cookies and wonderful apples from the big tree in the back yard for
dessert.

"When are those men coming back to finish up?" suddenly demanded
Leslie, poising a glass of milk and a cooky in one hand and taking a
great bite from her apple.

"Not till to-morrow," said Julia Cloud, looking around the empty
kitchen speculatively, and wondering how in the world she was going to
cook with all the cooking-utensils packed in the attic.

"We ought to have left the kitchen till last," she added with a
troubled look. "You crazy children! Didn't you know we had to eat? I
told that man not to take any of those things on the kitchen-table,
that they were to stay down until the very last thing, and now he has
taken the table even! I went up-stairs to see if I could get at
things, and I find he has put them away at the back, and piled all the
chairs and some bed-springs in front of them. I'm afraid we shall
have to get some things out again. I don't see how we can get
along."

"Not a bit of it, Cloudy!" said Leslie, giving a spring and perching
herself on the drain-board of the sink, where she sat swinging her
dainty little pumps as nonchalantly as if she were sitting on a velvet
sofa. "See! Here's my plan. I woke up early, and thought it all out.
Let's see," consulting her wee w