ed her from concentrating,
and as she had a very expensive room there was nothing for the landlady
to do but make Phyllis stop.) Phyllis had come out in the hall to find
old Maggie listening rapturously.

"Oh, Miss Braithways!" she had murmured, rolling her eyes, "you
certainly does equalize a martingale!"

It had been a compliment Phyllis never forgot. She smiled to herself as
she found the bathroom door open. Why, the world was full of a number of
things, many of them funny. Being a Liberry Teacher was rather nice,
after all, when you were fresh from a long night's sleep. And if that
Mental Science Lady _wouldn't_ let her play the piano, why, her
thrilling tales of what she could do when her mind was unfettered were
worth the price. That story she told so seriously about how the pipes
burst--and the plumber wouldn't come, and "My dear, I gave those pipes
only half an hour's treatment, and they closed right up!" It was quite
as much fun--well, almost as much--hearing her, as it would have been to
play.

... All of the contented, and otherwise, elderly people who inhabited
the boarding-house with Phyllis appeared to have gone off without using
hot water, for there actually was some. The Liberry Teacher found that
she could have a genuine bath, and have enough water besides to wash her
hair, which is a rite all girls who work have to reserve for Sundays.
This was surely a day of days!

She used the water--alas for selfish human nature!--to the last warm
drop and went gayly back to her little room with no emotions whatever
for the poor other boarders, soon to find themselves wrathfully
hot-waterless. And then--she thoughtlessly curled down on the bed, and
slept and slept and slept! She wakened dimly in time for the one o'clock
dinner, dressed, and ate it in a half-sleep. She went back upstairs
planning a trolley-ride that should take her out into the country, where
a long walk might be had. And midway in changing her shoes she lay back
across the bed and--fell asleep again. The truth was, Phyllis was about
as tired as a girl can get.

She waked at dusk, with a jerk of terror lest she should have overslept
her time for going out. But it was only six. She had a whole hour to
prink in, which is a very long time for people who are used to being in
the library half-an-hour after the alarm-clock wakes them.

* * * * *

Some houses, all of themselves, and before you meet a soul who lives in