, but he hardly knew how to plan for a child.

"If Doris was a boy I could put him on the big sofa in my room. Still,
Cato can look after a fire in the guest chamber. It would be too cruel
to put a child alone in that great cold barn."

There was a very obstinate impression that it was healthy to sleep in
cold rooms, so people shut themselves up pretty close, and sometimes
drew the bedclothes over their heads. But Winthrop Adams had a rather
luxurious side to his nature; he called it a premonition of old age. He
kept a fire in his dressing room, where he often sat and read a while at
night. His sleeping room adjoined it.

"Why, we might bring a cot in my room," she said. "I remember how the
child delights in a fire. She's such a delicate-looking little thing."

"She is standing our winter very well and goes to school every day. I'm
afraid she might disturb you?"

"Not if she has a bed by herself. And there is the corner jog; the cot
will just fit into it."

When they put it there in the morning it looked as if it must have taken
root long ago. Then Recompense arranged a nice dressing table with a
white cover and a pretty bowl and ewer, and a low chair beside it
covered with chintz cushions. Her own high-post bedstead had curtains
all around it of English damask, and the curiously carved high-back
chairs had cushions tied in of the same material. There was no carpet on
the painted floor, but a rug beside the bed and one at the stand, and a
great braided square before the fire. It was a well-furnished room for
the times, though that of Mr. Adams was rather more luxurious.

He was very glad that Recompense had assented so readily, for he was
beginning to feel that he ought to take a deeper interest in his little
ward.

There were numberless sleighs out on some of the favorite
thoroughfares. For even now, in spite of the complaints of hard times,
there was a good deal of real wealth in Boston, fine equipages with
colored coachmen and footmen. There were handsome houses with lawns and
gardens, some of them having orchards besides. There were rich
furnishings as well, from France and England and from the East. There
were china and plate and glass proud of their age, having come through
several generations.

And though there were shades and degrees of social position, there was a
fine breeding among the richer people and a kind of pride among the
poorer ones. There were occasions when they mingled with an agreeable