tude that forced them to eat and when they had finished she sent
them into the other room.

"I'll wash up. It won't take me a minute."

So, because she told them to, Mr. and Mrs. Bracken drifted into the
other room and left her alone with Jenny Lind. Mr. Bracken did not
take his hat and mutter that he would be back for dinner. He walked
over to the window and stood looking down the street. At last he
turned around and looked at his wife who was sitting on the davenport
as if she were tired.

"Elsie," he said abruptly, "what ever became of your niece?"

She looked up in surprise. "You mean Harriet White? She's living with
the Norrises in Prairieville."

"Wouldn't you like to have her here?" he asked suddenly. "It doesn't
seem just right--decent--to let strangers look after your own
relations."

Her eyes opened wider. He had never seemed to think whether it was
decent or not until now. "But we can't have her here. That was the
trouble after her mother died. Children aren't allowed in the house
and we didn't want to move."

"How old is she?"

"Thirteen or fourteen. I'm not just sure which."

"A girl of thirteen isn't a child. Send for her, Elsie, and if anyone
objects, we can move. But I guess a tenant means something to a
landlord and there won't be any objections. We need her, Elsie, as
much as she needs us. We need someone young with us. That kid," he
nodded toward the kitchen where Mary Rose was lustily singing the many
verses of "Where Have You Been, Billy Boy?" "has made me realize what
we are missing. Why she fussed around me as if--as if," he colored
slightly, "as if I were her father. No, it isn't anything new. I've
been thinking for some time that we aren't getting all we should out of
life. You give your time and strength to clubs and I give mine to
business and what does it amount to? What are we working for?
Abstract people aren't the same as your own flesh and blood. What we
need is something to bring us together and if Hattie White is anything
like that kid she'll keep us good and busy."

Mrs. Bracken slipped across the room and put her hand on his arm.
"I'll be glad to send for her, Joe. I haven't felt just right to leave
her with the Whites but I thought you didn't want her and I told myself
that my first duty was to you. I'll write today. No, I'll go for her,
if you don't mind."

"That's a good girl." His arm slipped around her waist.

Out in the kitchen Mary Ros