after. You'll put it off from day to day and at last you'll go, and
then you'll never think of it again and poor Jarge'll come down here on
Thanksgiving expecting to find you, and then we'll have to tell him."

This is what Rosie wanted to say. But she restrained herself. When she
spoke, it was in a different tone. "All right, Ellen, I won't bother you
again. What dad says is true: you and Harry are married and that's all
there is about it. I hope you'll both be happy." Rosie hesitated a
moment, then walked over to Harry's chair. "And, Harry, I'm sorry I was
rude to you when you tried to kiss me. You see, I didn't know you were
Ellen's husband."

Rosie hadn't intended to be funny, but evidently she was, for a shout of
laughter went up and Harry gathered her in with a hug and a kiss.

"You're all right, Rosie!" he whispered. "I like you for the way you
stand up for George!"

_For the way she stood up for George!_... Tears filled Rosie's eyes. She
had tried faithfully to guard George's interests like the little
watch-dog Ellen had called her. But George would never know. How could
he? All he would know now was that he had been betrayed.

CHAPTER XLI

THE GREATEST TEACHER IN THE WORLD

Rosie kept her promise faithfully. During the week that elapsed before
Ellen's departure, she was careful not to mention George Riley's name.
The time for discussion of any subject that might prove unpleasant to
Ellen was past. Ellen was going, never to return--at any rate, never as
one of them in the sense that she had been one of them and, for their
own sakes as well as for hers, it behooved them all to make those last
days as frictionless as possible. The approaching separation did not
bring Rosie any closer to Ellen nor Ellen any closer to her, but it made
them both strangely considerate of one another and also a little shy.

Like Rosie, Terence and Jack regarded Ellen's going with deep interest
but with very little feeling. Between them and her there had always been
war and there probably always would be if they continued to live under
the same roof. They had their mother's word for it that Ellen was their
own sister and that they ought to love her, but they did not for that
reason love her nor did she love them. Yet they did not question that
pretty fallacy which their mother offered them as an axiom, namely,
that love is the inevitable bond between brothers and sisters, since
boys and girls, like men and women, have a