the best I could, and
I've tried to trust."

"No one can solve a problem for another, but, I think, when it's time to
act, one knows what to do and the way is clearly opened for one to do
it. Don't you feel better for having come here and talked to me?"

"Yes, indeed," said the young woman, gratefully. "So much was right--I'm
sure of that. The train had scarcely started before I felt more at peace
than I had for years."

"Then, dear, won't you stay with me until you know just what to do?"

Edith looked long and earnestly into the sweet old face. "Do you mean
it? It may be a long time."

"I mean it--no matter how long it is."

Quick tears sprang to the brown eyes, and Edith brushed them aside, half
ashamed. "It means more trunks," she said, "and your son----"

"Will be delighted to have you with us," Madame concluded.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." Madame was not at all sure, but she told her lie prettily.

"Then," said Edith, with a smile, "I'll stay."

IX

A Spring Day

[Sidenote: Alden's Idea of a Trunk]

With the tact that seems the birthright of the gifted few, Mrs. Lee
adjusted herself to the ways of the Marsh household. Some commotion had
been caused by the arrival of four more trunks, of different shapes and
sizes, but after they had been unpacked and stored, things went on
smoothly.

Alden's idea of a trunk had hitherto been very simple. To him, it was
only a substantial box, variation in size and in exterior finish being
the only possible diversions from the original type. When it fell to his
lot, on a Saturday morning, to superintend the removal of Mrs. Lee's
empty trunks to the attic, he discovered the existence of hat trunks,
dresser trunks, and wardrobe trunks, cannily constructed with huge warts
on all sides but the one the trunk was meant to stand upon.

"Why so scornful?" a sweet voice asked, at his elbow.

"I'm not scornful," he returned. "I'm merely interested."

[Sidenote: In the Hall]

"You're fortunate," she smiled, "to be so easily interested."

"We're out of the world here, you know, and unfamiliar varieties of the
trunk species make me feel much as Crusoe did when he came upon a human
footprint in the sand."

"I wonder," mused Mrs. Lee, "how he really did feel. It must have been
dramatic beyond all words."

She sat down on the window-seat in the hall and leaned back against the
casement of the open window. The warm Spring wind, laden with the sweet
scent of g