en. "Linda has got mighty good taste. Any dress
she admired was sure to be right. She said there was a beautiful dress
at 'The Mode'. I went and looked, and sure enough there was, a perfect
beauty."

"But she wanted the dress for herself," said Katy.

"It was not a suitable dress for school," said Eileen.

"Well, it strikes me," said Katy, "that it was just the spittin' image
of fifty dresses I've seen ye wear to school.

"What do you know about it?" demanded Eileen.

"I know just this," said Katy with determination. "Ye've had one new
dress in the last few days and you're not needin' another. The blessed
Virgin only knows when Miss Linda's had a dress. She thought ye'd done
yourself proud and sent it for her, and she put it on, and a becoming
and a proper thing it was too! I advanced her the money myself and sent
her to get some shoes to match it since she had her car fixed and could
go in a hurry. A beautiful dress it is, and on her back this minute it
is!"

Eileen was speechless with anger. Her face was a sickly white and the
rouge spots on her cheeks stood a glaring admission.

"Do you mean to tell me--" she gasped.

"Not again," said the daughter of Erin firmly, "because I have already
told ye wance. Linda's gone like a rag bag since the Lord knows when.
She had a right to the dress, and she thought it was hers, and she took
it. And if ye ever want any more respect or obedience or love from the
kiddie, ye better never let her know that ye didn't intend it for her,
for nothing was ever quite so fair and right as that she should have it;
and while you're about it you'd better go straight to the store and get
her what she is needin' to go with it, or better still, ye had better
give her a fair share of the money of which there used to be such a
plenty, and let her get her things herself, for she's that tasty nobody
can beat her when she's got anything to do with."

Eileen turned on Katy in a gust of fury.

"Katherine O'Donovan," she said shrilly, "pack your trunk and see how
quick you can get out of this house. I have stood your insolence for
years, and I won't endure it a minute longer!"

Katy folded her red arms and lifted her red chin, and a steel-blue light
flashed from her steel-gray eyes.

"Humph!" she said, "I'll do nothing of the sort. I ain't working for ye
and I never have been no more than I ever worked for your mother. Every
lick I ever done in this house I done for Linda and Doctor Strong an