n finish it."

"Yes'm." Mary Rose stared at the drawing which was a very wonderful
thing to her. "Don't you believe Mr. Bingham Henderson 'll be pleased
with it? It's a beautiful picture of Jenny Lind."

"It's a beautiful picture of you, if I do say it," laughed the artist.

Mary Rose drew closer until she could whisper into Miss Thorley's ear.
"I wish Mr. Jerry could see it."

Miss Thorley rose abruptly and pushed her away. "He can. He'll have
lots of opportunity to see it when it is on the back of a magazine.
Run along, now. Skip!" She fairly pushed Mary Rose out of the door
before she could say anything more about Mr. Jerry. Sometimes it
seemed to Mary Rose that Miss Thorley was afraid to hear about Mr.
Jerry.

She went down the stairs slowly and hesitated when she came to Mr.
Wells' door. She knew she should stop and inquire how he was. It
would have been a terrible breach of good manners in Mifflin not to ask
after a sick neighbor, but Mr. Wells had not been like any neighbor
Mary Rose had ever known. Nevertheless he was a neighbor. She tossed
her head and ventured closer to the door. There was no answer when she
knocked timidly and she tried again. The door was slightly ajar and
when her second knock brought no response she ventured to push it open
an inch. Mr. Wells might be all alone and need someone. She would
just slip in and see. If he didn't she could slip out again.

There was a chilly deserted feeling in the hall that made Mary Rose
shiver. She hurried through softly as if in the presence of something
that oppressed her. When she reached the door of the living-room she
stopped and looked across into the amazed eyes of Mr. Wells, who was
lying on the broad couch.

"Oh!" Mary Rose refused to be frightened away by his scowl. "I'm so
glad you're able to be up. You are better, aren't you? I was worried
when Miss Thorley said you were sick and I just stopped to inquire. In
Mifflin when anyone was sick we always went with chicken broth or cup
custard or a new magazine. Why, when Lily Thompson had tonsilitis she
had eleven different things sent in one day. I helped her eat the
eating ones."

"How did you get in?" growled Mr. Wells for all the world like the Big
Bear in the story of Goldilocks. Mary Rose had to think what a
splendid Big Bear he would make.

"The door was open. I knocked but no one came. I was afraid you might
want something. Has your Japanese gentleman gone