en_--sitting at the kitchen table eating boiled
eggs and drinking tea. Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from
him and was telling him of Mifflin. Jenny Lind's cage was between them.

[Illustration: "Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from him and
was telling him of Mifflin."]

"Why--why," gasped Mrs. Bracken. She could not say another word. She
forgot all about the big piece of her mind that she was going to give
Mary Rose and stood there staring with bulging eyes.

Mary Rose jumped to the floor. "Here's Mrs. Bracken!" she cried in
delight. "Isn't it a pity we didn't know she was coming? I could just
as well have boiled another egg. But there's plenty of tea. It's like
a party, isn't it? Except that we haven't any birthday candles. In
Mifflin I always had candles on my birthday cake because daddy said a
birthday should be like a candle, a light to guide you into the new
year. Shall I boil an egg for you, Mrs. Bracken?"

Mrs. Bracken sat down suddenly in the chair Mary Rose had vacated and
murmured helplessly: "Well, upon my word!"

"That's what I said," smiled Mr. Bracken, which wasn't exactly true
although the words he had used meant the same thing, "when I came home
and found a girl and a bird on the davenport."

"I locked myself in," Mary Rose explained with a shamed face. "I was
careless and left the key on the outside. Mr. Bracken should have
scolded me but he didn't. We've been the best friends and had the
nicest time together and now it's going to be nicer because you're
here."

She beamed on first one and then the other as she bustled about finding
a plate and a knife and fork, making the toast that Mrs. Bracken
thought she would prefer to bread and all the time talking in a
friendly fashion. She never doubted that what interested her would
interest others.

At first Mrs. Bracken regarded her helplessly, as Mr. Bracken had done,
but gradually the look of irritation disappeared and at last a smile
took its place. It was strange to share a lunch of boiled eggs and tea
on the kitchen table with Joseph Bracken. She had not done that since
they were first married and were moving into their first home. She
hadn't thought of it for years but now it was oddly pleasant to
remember the little details of a time before she had been absorbed by
clubs and he by business. Neither she nor Mr. Bracken had much to say
but Mary Rose talked enough for three. She waited on them with a
solici