! The grass had been carefully cut,--the
father-minister had seen to that. The parsonage, to Prudence's
gratified eyes, looked homey, and big, and inviting. In fact, it was
very nearly gorgeous! It needed painting badly, it is true. The
original color had been a peculiar drab, but most of it had disappeared
long before, so it was no eyesore on account of the color. There were
many windows, and the well-known lace curtains looked down upon
Prudence tripping happily up the little board walk,--or so it seemed to
her.

"Two whole stories, and an attic besides! Not to mention the bathroom!
Oh, father, the night after you wrote there was a bathroom, Constance
thanked God for it when she said her prayers. And I couldn't reprove
her, for I felt the same way about it myself. It'll be so splendid to
have a whole tub to bathe in! I spent half the time bathing this last
week at Aunt Grace's. A tub is so bountiful! A pan is awfully
insufficient, father, even for me! I often think what a trouble it
must be to Fairy! And a furnace, too! And electric lights! Don't you
think there is something awe-inspiring in the idea of just turning a
little knob on the wall, and flooding a whole room with light? I do
revel in electric lights, I tell you. Oh, we have waited a long time
for it, and we've been very patient indeed, but, between you and me,
father, I am most mightily glad we've hit the luxury-land at last. I'm
sure we'll all feel much more religious in a parsonage that has a
bathroom and electric lights! Oh, father!"

He had thrown open the door, and Prudence stood upon the threshold of
her new home. It was not a fashionable building, by any means. The
hall was narrow and long, and the staircase was just a plain
businesslike staircase, with no room for cushions, and flowers, and
books. The doors leading from the hall were open, and Prudence caught
a glimpse of three rooms furnished, rather scantily, in the old
familiar furniture that had been in that other parsonage where Prudence
was born, nineteen years before.

Together she and her father went from room to room, up-stairs and down,
moving a table to the left, a bed to the right,--according to her own
good pleasure. Afterward they had a cozy luncheon for two in the
"dining-room."

"Oh, it is so elegant to have a dining-room," breathed Prudence
happily. "I always pretended it was rather fun, and a great saving of
work, to eat and cook and study and live in o