your own old room over the dining-room. Here, Reliance, take the
kitten and you, Edna, can come along with your mother."

"There's no need for you to go up, mother," said Mrs. Conway. "I have
been there before, you know, and I think I can find the way." Then the
two smiled wisely at one another.

But grandma would go and presently Edna found herself in a large room
which looked out upon the west. Mrs. Conway stood still and gazed
around her. "How natural it all seems," she said, "even to the pictures
upon the walls. I went from this room a bride, Edna, and when I come
back to it I feel not a day older. This is the same furniture, but this
is a new carpet, mother, and new curtains, and the little cot you have
put in for Edna, I suppose."

"Yes, there are some things that will not last a lifetime," answered
Mrs. Willis, "and we must furbish up once in a while. I thought you
would rather have Edna here with you than elsewhere, and at such a
crowded time we have to stow away as we can. I have put another cot in
my room for one of the other children and Celia is to go in with Becky."

While they were talking Ira brought up the trunks and Mrs. Conway
commenced the task of unpacking, so very soon they were settled and
ready for dinner, which was served in the big dining-room where was
another open fireplace not quite so large as the first, but ample
enough. Reliance waited upon the table and helped to clear away the
dishes afterward.

"When you are through with your tasks, Reliance, you can take Edna out
and show her the chickens and pigs and things," said grandma.

"Reliance is quite a recent addition to the family, isn't she?" said
Mrs. Conway when the little maid went out.

"Yes," Mrs. Willis replied. "Amanda isn't as young as she was and we
thought it would be a good thing to have someone here who could save her
steps and who could be trained to take her place after a while. I think
Reliance promises to be very capable in time."

While her mother talked to the grandparents, Edna walked softly around
the room looking at the different things, the pictures, books and
ornaments. There was a high mantel upon which stood a pair of Dresden
vases and two quaint little figures. In the middle was a china house
with a red door and vines over the windows. Edna had always admired it
and was glad to see it still there. She stood looking at it for a long
time. She liked to have her grandmother tell her its history. "That was
br