her sew some. She can run the machine, and I don't
believe in girls who can't do any sewing. I'd be ashamed to bring up one
so helpless. Here's my Jenny making most of her weddin' things. We don't
count on having a dressmaker till the last, to put on the finishing
touches."

"About the clothes," began Mrs. Dayton in a persuasive tone, "I have two
or three lawn dresses that would make over nicely for Helen. And you
know I did quite a bit of dressmaking through Mr. Dayton's long illness.
And there's my machine. She would have some time to sew. Oh, you could
depend on me not to let her waste her time."

Mrs. Dayton had certainly been a thrifty woman, if it was on higher
lines than anything Mrs. Jason aspired to. She had money in the bank,
beside getting her house clear.

Aunt Jane's arguments seemed over-ruled in such a pleasant yet decisive
manner that she began to feel out-generaled. Uncle Jason had said
yesterday, "You'd better let her go. If they wanted her in the shop
right away you'd send her. So what's the difference!"

"There's a great deal of difference," she answered sharply, but she
couldn't quite explain it. For Helen the three dollars a week really won
the day. Aunt Jane tried to stand out for the rest of the week, but Mrs.
Dayton said she would come over on Wednesday, and she knew she could fix
Helen up, without a bit of trouble.

"Don't let her fool away her money," said Aunt Jane. "You'd better keep
it until the end of the month."

Mrs. Dayton nodded and rose. The carriage was coming slowly up the road.

Aunt Jane did not go out in the kitchen, but upstairs, and looked over
Helen's wardrobe. A white frock, a cambric, blue, with white dots, and a
seersucker, trimmed with bands of blue. Then, there was the striped
white skirt of Jenny's she meant to make over. They could do that
to-morrow. She could conjure some of it out before supper-time, and put
in the shirts and collars, though at fourteen Helen ought to know how to
iron them. She would forget all she had learned. It really wasn't the
thing to let her go.

Helen went on ironing. 'Reely's white frock fell to her share; indeed,
it seemed as if 'most everything did to-day. She was hot and tired, and,
oh! if she could not go!

"I don't see why those young ones don't come back. 'Reely hasn't a bit
more sense than Fan. She needs a good trouncing, and she'll get it, too.
You leave off, Helen, and shell them beans; they ought to have been on
half an