" Margery had kindled a cheery little wood fire on the library hearth, and 
 coaxed Muriel into a deep reclining-ehair in front of it." P 24.
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 BV 
 
 MARGARET VANDEGRIFT. 
 
 AUTHOH OF " DORIS AND THEODORA," " THE QUEEN'S 
 BODY-GUARD," ETC., ETC. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 HENRY T. COAXES & CO.
 
 Copyright, 1 886, 
 
 BY 
 
 PORTER & COATES.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. ALONE, i 
 
 II. SEEKING A CLUE, 26 
 
 III. FINDING, 46 
 
 IV. A MORAL 73 
 
 V. TAKING IT PATIENTLY, 94 
 
 VI. MAKING FRIENDS, ...... 113 
 
 VII. A PEACEFUL VICTORY, 132 
 
 VIII. SOUNDING THE DEPTHS, 150 
 
 IX. ENLISTING 176 
 
 X. A SMALL BEGINNING, ..... 195 
 
 XI. A NEW OPPORTUNITY 213 
 
 XII. THE NEXT STEP 233 
 
 XIII. DISCOURAGEMENT, 250 
 
 XIV. THE WAY OPENS 268 
 
 XV. ADVICE ASKED AND UNASKED 287 
 
 XVI. UNSATISFACTORY, 305 
 
 XVII. AND LAST, 323
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ALONE. 
 
 " Some lose not only joy, but memory 
 
 Of how it felt ; not love that was so dear 
 Lose only, but the steadfast certainty 
 
 That once they had it. Doubt comes on, 
 
 then fear, 
 And after that, despondency." 
 
 JEAN INGELOW. 
 
 IT was the evening of one of those beguiling February 
 days which convince us that this year, at least, we are 
 going to have an early spring. Two days of mild air and 
 warm sunshine had swelled the buds on the ever-ready 
 maples almost to bursting, had turned the bare willow- 
 branches a golden yellow, and conjured up patches of 
 astonishingly green grass. The grounds about a handsome, 
 dignified-looking house in one of the charming suburbs of 
 Boston were always in spotless, or rather flawless order, and 
 now to this was added an indefinable aspect of glad ex- 
 pectancy, which neutralized the slight primness of their 
 arrangement. The house was of dark-gray stone, with a 
 high-pillared, square porch over the wide front door ; a bay 
 window, two stories high, on either side of the porch, and 
 that modern abomination, a " French roof," doing all it 
 could to dwarf the appearance of a large house. But, fortu-
 
 4 W A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 nately, a little slope had been allowed this particular French 
 roof, so that it did not glower over the eaves as if about to 
 fall upon the first person daring enough to ring the bell, 
 and three old-fashioned dormer windows did much to make 
 it look easy and comfortable. Windows to the floor opened 
 from the third story upon the roofs of the bay-windows, and 
 a light iron railing rose above the stone coping sufficiently 
 high to make these attractive little balconies reasonably i;afe 
 for any one but die adventurous small boy, and it was many 
 a long year since one of his tribe had been vouchsafed 
 opportunities of adventure either within or immediately 
 without those gray walls. 
 
 The sun had set, but a golden radiance, unbroken by the 
 smallest cloud, still lingered in the west, so that the sickle 
 of a very young moon shone pale, and almost invisible, by 
 contrast, and the larger stars came out slowly, and with 
 apparent reluctance. 
 
 Inside the house was a strange stillness strange, in view 
 of the fact that all the shutters were open, and that a few of 
 the rooms showed signs of very recent occupation. Only a 
 few. The majority, although very fully furnished, and 
 arranged as if an occupant were momentarily expected, were 
 too evidently " spare rooms." The wide front of the house, 
 ample as it was, gave no idea of the number and size of the 
 rooms within it. Very deep double back- buildings, only 
 one story lower than the front part, afforded half the num- 
 ber of rooms contained in the four-storied square, which 
 showed from the front gate. As the house faced west, one 
 side of this back building had a southern exposure, and 
 here were by far the most pleasant rooms, if the least stately. 
 1A small house, connected with the large one by a covered 
 passage-way, had been built for the sleeping accommoda- 
 tion of the servants, and for the indispensable trunk-and- 
 lumber rooms, so that every part of the mansion was
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 5 
 
 arranged as if for occupation by the owner and his family. 
 This arrangement had been one of the many peculiarities 
 which had marked, and too often marred, the life of the 
 recent owner, Anthony Hardcastle. He had inherited the 
 house, together with an ample fortune, when he was no 
 longer a young man, and had married, soon after entering 
 upon his inheritance, the woman who, for fifteen years, had 
 been patiently waiting until he should consider himself able 
 to support a wife. Whether or not he would ever have so 
 considered himself, but for this unlooked-for stroke of good 
 fortune, many people doubted. His proposal to Janet Gor- 
 don had been the one unguarded and unforseen action of 
 his life, and had scarcely been made when his native caution 
 re-asserted itself, and he offered to release her, upon the 
 score of his poverty, and the length of the time which must, 
 in all probability, elapse before he could marry her ; but 
 she, young, unsuspicious, and unhappily circumstanced, 
 had considered this only a proof of his generosity and 
 nobility, and had proudly declared that she would wait for 
 him, if need be, until death, instead of marriage, put an end 
 to the waiting. She had come to doubt, before her mar- 
 riage, the wisdom of this decision, yet had not had the 
 courage to break her engagement, and so had drifted on, 
 from year to year, a poorly-paid, because not very efficient 
 teacher, waiting, rather hopelessly, as years went by, for 
 her release from a distasteful servitude. It came at last, 
 when she was nearly forty years old, and she counted upon 
 spending the rest of her life in tranquil contentment ; all 
 romantic ideas of happiness had long since vanished. But, 
 if more actual sermons on the subject were needed, here 
 was one more upon " the vanity of human wishes." The 
 old affection between Anthony Hardcastle and his wife 
 revived into almost youthful fervor, before the birth of their 
 child ; one thing alone filled Janet with grave apprehension ;
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 her husband spoke always, and with serene confidence, of 
 " the boy ; " and when a little wailing baby-girl was at last 
 laid in his arms by the grave-faced nurse, the look upon his 
 face was one never to be forgotten by his sorrowful wife. 
 It was just before the birth of this poor little unwelcome 
 daughter, that the house had been remodeled to suit the 
 fancy of the new owner, and in every change he had seme 
 reference to the future life and prospects of "the boy." 
 
 He was never actively unkind to his patient and spiritless 
 wife, and as time went on he provided without remon- 
 strance or hesitation for the wants and then for the wishes 
 of his only child, but he saw her as little as was at all pos- 
 sible without exciting remark from servants and outsiders, 
 and was greatly relieved when at an early age she made a 
 perfectly suitable and proper marriage. Then, once more, 
 his hope of an heir revived and once more crushing dis- 
 appointment extinguished that hope. His daughter, who 
 from a sickly child had grown into a delicate and fragile 
 woman, returned to her home a widow, with a little daughter 
 of her own two years after her marriage, and when the little 
 Muriel was five years old, her mother's long expected death 
 left her solely to the care of her grandparents. And then 
 occurred a curious thing. " Old Mr. Hardcastle," as every 
 one called him by this time, who had, as nearly as might be 
 ignored his daughter and her child, began suddenly to 
 notice Muriel. Stuart Douglas, her father, had been a 
 handsome man, in robust health up to the time of his sud- 
 den death, and she seemed to have inherited his strength 
 and activity, instead of the frail constitution of her mother. 
 The heavy, silent atmosphere of the house had apparently 
 no effect upon her, and as she grew larger her grandmother 
 trembled day by day at her increasing noisiness and general 
 troublesomeness, dreading the sharp, cold reproof upon this 
 subject, which fell to her lot upon too many others. Her
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 7 
 
 terror culminated upon the evening when Muriel, escaping 
 suddenly from the hands of Margery, her Scotch nurse, 
 made a successful dash for the door which separated the 
 back building from the front part of the house, and before 
 her breathless pursuers could lay hands upon her, had 
 " ridden " down the massive mahogany rail of the balusters, 
 and landed, a laughing, screaming heap of red flannel and 
 bright curls on the thick fur rug which, most fortunately, 
 lay at the foot of the stairs ; for, to add to her grand- 
 mother's horror, she was simply, if warmly, clad in her flan- 
 nel night-gown when she made her escape. The slamming 
 of the entry door had brought Mr. Hardcastle from his li- 
 brary, and by the time that his wife and Margery had reached 
 the foot of the stairs, he stood there regarding the culprit, 
 for the first time in her short life with actual interest. Some 
 long-silent chord of fun and adventure in his disappointed, 
 contracted heart was suddenly touched, and he with dif- 
 ficulty repressed the laughter which, for the first time in 
 many years, assailed him. 
 
 " Were you trying to break your neck, child? " he asked, 
 grimly, at the same time raising her from the rug and hold- 
 ing her cautiously in his arms. 
 
 " No, grandpa, I was only trying to ride," answered the 
 small sinner, audaciously, " and my horse was too slippery. 
 And I'm Muriel ; I'm not ' child ! ' ' 
 
 The twinkle in Mr. Hardcastle's eyes made her perfectly 
 fearless, and she did not see the frantic signs made to her 
 by her grandmother and Margery. 
 
 " Very well, I'll try to remember," he said, in the same 
 grim tones, but he drew her closer, and to the infinite as- 
 tonishment of the two anxious spectators, carried her into 
 the library and closed the door. At the end of an hour 
 he rang the bell, demanded Margery's presence, and handed 
 her charge back to her with the remark :
 
 8 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " You were not to blame, possibly, upon this occasion, 
 but you can take it as a warning to be more careful of Miss 
 Douglas in future ! " An indignant rejoinder rose to the 
 lips of the sorely-tried nurse, but she wisely repressed it, 
 courtesied meekly and haled " Miss Douglas " off to her 
 bed. 
 
 The child was glowing and sparkling with excitement, 
 the cause of which she poured forth as Margery, mindful of 
 bare feet and possible croup, carried her, heavy as she was, 
 up the broad stair-case down which she had come with 
 such startling suddenness and unexpected results an hour 
 before. 
 
 " I'm never to do it again, Margery. I promised I 
 wouldn't, honor bright! And I don't really want to it 
 wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be, because it 
 didn't last a second, and oh, what do you think ? Because 
 I promised, I'm to have the biggest, highest rocking-horse 
 grandpa can find, and then, if I'm very good, next summer 
 I am to have a real, real little pony, all. my own! Oh, 
 Margery ! " 
 
 "You needn't choke me, Miss Muriel," said Margery, 
 crossly ; " I'd rather you'd say you were sorry for the fright 
 you gave you grandmamma and me, than all the hugging 
 you can give me." 
 
 " Well, then, I am sorry, as sorry as I can be, when I'm 
 so glad, Margery, dear ! " and with this somewhat mixed 
 apology, Margery was fain to content herself. She had 
 nursed Muriel's mother nearly thirty years ago, and had 
 lived in the house ever since, as maid and seamstress to 
 Mrs. Hardcastle, until Mrs. Douglas returned ; then once 
 more as nurse, to Muriel, this time. She had come of a 
 very respectable and fairly educated Scotch family, and, 
 being both quick and observant, had long since lost all 
 marked peculiarities of speech ; a very sweet voice and
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 9 
 
 pleasant accent she would never lose. Her faithful service 
 had been one of the few bright threads in the woof of Mrs. 
 Hardcastle's colorless life, and her devotion to Muriel knew 
 no bounds. Janet Gordon, herself, was of not very remote 
 Scotch ancestry, and this made the affection between mis- 
 tress and maid all the warmer. 
 
 From the day of Muriel's startling " ride," a curious 
 friendship sprang up between the child and her grand- 
 father ; the very things which annoyed and distressed Mrs. 
 Hardcastle her fearless courage, her irrepressible love of 
 fun, her readiness to be amused and led into all sorts of 
 pranks, seemed to awaken the formal, silent old man to a 
 new life, while, at the same time, his lasting regret that she 
 was a girl held him back from any thing like tenderness ; 
 and Muriel, quick, as all children are, to discern the lack of 
 it, accepted him as a comrade, a desirable friend, later, as 
 a teacher and adviser, for he had read and thought much ; 
 but he never reached the inner shrine of that warm little 
 heart, nor did her grandmother. Long repression had pro- 
 duced fretfulness, and the poor lady would have been much 
 shocked, could she have known how Muriel, as the only 
 person really and wholly in her power, was selected as the 
 victim of this fretfulness. Only a very bright and sunny 
 temperament could have withstood, as Muriel's withstood, 
 the daily captious fault-finding about trifles, and complaint 
 about nearly every thing which it fell to her lot to hear. 
 Her mother had been a very quiet, gentle woman, speak- 
 ing little, and shrinking from all attempts to discipline her 
 only child; the memory of her own unhappy childhood was 
 all too fresh, and she resolved that, if she might not posi- 
 tively contribute to Muriel's happiness, she would at least 
 do so negatively. So it was no wonder that Muriel, as time 
 went on, helping her fading memories with a portrait of her 
 young mother's delicately-sweet face, enshrined that mother
 
 10 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 in the most sacred corner of her heart, and magnified her 
 own loss as she contrasted the dead mother with the living 
 grandmother. Not that she in the least doubted the latter's 
 affection for her ; she only grieved that it manifested itself 
 in so many painful and distressing ways. The dull still- 
 ness of the great house, the monotony of her daily life, 
 could not fail to crush out much of the overflowing spirit 
 of her childhood. Perhaps, had she been sent early to 
 school, and allowed to form acquaintance and friendship 
 with children of her own age, she might have held her own 
 in this respect ; but her grandmother, having seen school- 
 life on its seamy side, spoke her views upon this subject 
 more positively than she usually dared to utter them upon 
 any thing, and Mr. Hardcastle did not care enough about 
 the matter to resist her ; so every day, from her eighth 
 birthday to her fifteenth, Muriel studied, and recited, and 
 practiced, quite alone, under the care of a highly recom- 
 mended and nearly faultless governess. Then she was 
 allowed to go for three years to a " finishing school," and 
 here, it seemed to her, in the mimic world of school-room, 
 play-ground, parlor and dormitory, her real life began. 
 By this time, Mrs. Hardcastle considered, her mind and 
 " manner " were sufficiently formed to resist vulgarizing 
 influences. Competition would waken her to fresh effort, 
 and there were advantages in the excellent school which 
 had, fortunately, been recommended and selected, which 
 could not be obtained, even with the best teachers, at home. 
 In looking back upon her life, Muriel always felt a thrill 
 of thankfulness for the influence which the principal of 
 this school exercised, almost without an exception, over her 
 scholars. She was a woman of unusual mind and character; 
 her " reason firm and temperate will " made themselves felt 
 in every department of the large school which she governed, 
 and she had one of the governing faculties clear insight
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. II 
 
 as to character. Much as she was loved, she was also 
 slightly feared, by all whose intentions were not of the most 
 true and upright, and Muriel, growing daily fonder of, and 
 more reverent toward the governor of her small world, un- 
 consciously tried to form her own character upon the model 
 she so admired ; and Mrs. Willis, seeing, as she could not 
 fail to see, the bent of Muriel's mind, and her strong ten- 
 dency to hero-worship, tried to lead her pupil on to the 
 heights where only a Heavenly Exemplar seems worthy to 
 be imitated. 
 
 It was at this school that Muriel began, for the first time 
 in her life, to make friends. At first, her shy, stiff manner 
 put her at a painful disadvantage ; she was considered 
 " proud," and this idea was fostered by the unwisely rich 
 clothing with which her grand-parents had provided her. 
 She was not long in seeing the difference between herself 
 and the other girls, in this respect, but the effect was en- 
 tirely an opposite one from that which would have been 
 produced upon many girls. A great dread that she was 
 supposed to be " showing off " took possession of her ; she 
 ripped trimmings away with a reckless hand, hid in her 
 trunk the most plainly unsuitable of her garments, and 
 wrote pleadingly to her grandmother for some " quiet," 
 inexpensive gowns, which would not render her conspicu- 
 ous. It was owing solely to Mr. Hardcastle's very positive 
 intervention, that her request was gratified, but before its 
 results arrived, her comrades were beginning to revise their 
 hastily-formed opinions of her. The life of utter seclusion, 
 which she had heretofore led, had saved her from all arro- 
 gance concerning the wealth and standing of her family. 
 Neither of her grandparents was in the least purse-proud, 
 and although, she had always been amply supplied with 
 pocket-money, she had also been supplied with every thing 
 necessary to her daily living, and often the coming of one
 
 12 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 month's allowance found that of the previous month almost 
 untouched. She was not naturally ungenerous, but her 
 pity and sympathy had been appealed to so seldom, that 
 they were dormant, and, even after her life was broadened 
 by the change from home to school, things remained much 
 the same, in this respect, for a good while. Then, as Mrs. 
 Willis divined more and more the life which had cramped, 
 and well-nigh dwarfed, Muriel's mind and heart for so many 
 years, she began quietly to draw out the feelings which 
 she hoped to find had been merely repressed and not ut- 
 terly stifled. She knew that Muriel was to inherit her 
 grandfather's very large fortune ; this Mrs. Hardcastle had 
 mentioned, when she placed Muriel at the school, having a 
 dimly defined idea that a knowledge of this important fact 
 would secure consideration, if not privilege, for her grand- 
 child, above that shown to her comrades. In this she was 
 totally mistaken ; it was one of the chief aims of Mrs. Wil- 
 lis's daily life to give her girls a standard of judgment 
 quite unbiased by such considerations as this, and, being 
 very much in earnest, she was, in the main, successful. A 
 suspicion that Muriel was purse-proud had been the cause 
 of her unpopularity for some few weeks after she entered 
 the school, and as her shyness increased with the knowledge 
 that she was not liked, it seemed as if the fate of isola- 
 tion, which she had so fervently hoped to escape when she 
 left her lonely home, was pursuing her even into the midst 
 of the throng which now surrounded her. She was intensely 
 miserable while this lasted, and even home-sick, for her 
 grandfather had made her more and more his comrade in- 
 tellectually, as she grew older, and her mind expanded, and 
 she missed even his cold and limited sympathy. But, as 
 time went on, the prospect brightened. The more observ- 
 ant among the girls soon decided that no one with Muriel's 
 face and manner could be really " proud." Her eager ac-
 
 W. I YS A ND ME A NS. 1 3 
 
 ceptance of the least proffer of friendliness confirmed this 
 decision, and the change in her dress was not without its 
 effect. Mrs. "\yillis encouraged acquaintance between her 
 day-scholars and boarders, and allowed the exchange of 
 visits when it did not interfere with school duties, and in 
 this way, more than in any other, Muriel's shyness grad- 
 ually wore off, and the joyous, hopeful nature, which was her 
 birthright, began to assert itself. But it grieved Mrs. Wil- 
 lis to see how, after every vacation, much of this work of 
 expansion must be done over again, for these vacations, 
 passed, as they always were, in the silence and seclusion of 
 that unhomelike home, undid the good work of her school- 
 life, in very large measure. One change, however, made 
 such sturdy growth that it resisted the dwarfing influence. 
 She had been awakened to the power of good which lay in 
 rightly-spent money, and her vacations, with Margery for 
 a willing helper, began to be brightened with the blessed- 
 ness of giving. Margery's escape from the stifling quiet 
 of the house had been a general friendliness with the maids 
 of neighboring houses, and with all the " butchers and 
 bakers and candlestick-makers" whose business brought 
 them within her ken. She was no scandal-monger, but it 
 could not be denied that she loved a good gossip, which 
 her kindly nature and keen sense of humor saved from any 
 harmful tendency. Piloted by her, Muriel began to make 
 adventurous little voyages into other people's lives, vainly 
 attempting, as she did so, to take with her at least the in- 
 terest and sympathy of her grandparents. And here, once 
 more, her grandfather came to her rescue. Mrs. Hard- 
 castle, in the very beginning of this new departure, tried to 
 put a stop to the proceedings ; she was sure that Muriel 
 would be imposed upon ; that she would run risks of catch- 
 ing " all sorts of dreadful diseases ; " that contact with 
 " such people " would " hopelessly vulgarize " her. Mr.
 
 14 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 Hardcastle summoned Margery to one of the rare inter- 
 views which always filled that good woman with awe ; he 
 questioned her closely, charged her strictly, and dismissed 
 her from the library to make room for his wife, who, dread- 
 ing reproof for some unconscious dereliction, was greatly 
 relieved to find that she was only to receive a fresh com- 
 mand. 
 
 " You will oblige me, Janet," said her husband, coldly, 
 " by not interfering with Muriel's disposition of her allow- 
 ance. She will one day have a large fortune at her dis- 
 posal, and unwise restrictions laid upon her now will make 
 her a spendthrift when the opportunity arrives. I have 
 given Margery instructions which will, I think, sufficiently 
 guard and protect Muriel, and you will please understand 
 that the matter is settled." 
 
 It was so far as actual restraint was concerned, but poor 
 Mrs. Hardcastle, irritated by the iron hand from which the 
 velvet glove had long since dropped, could not, or did not 
 refrain from harassing Muriel with dismal prophecies and 
 dire forebodings as to the effect of " indiscriminate alms- 
 givings," so that what promised to be a deep and heartfelt 
 pleasure, was too often turned into actual pain. The pleas- 
 ure revived, however, with her returns to school, for Mrs. 
 Willis never lost an opportunity to interest her girls in 
 whatever good work was going on in the large town, in one 
 of the suburbs of which her school was situated, and Muriel, 
 confiding more and more in the love and sound judgment of 
 this true friend, gained fresh opportunities for helping and 
 sympathizing. 
 
 There had never been the slightest religious influence in 
 her home since her young mother's death. Mrs. Douglas 
 had been a real, if a very timid, Christian, and young as 
 Muriel was at the time of her mother's death, she could re- 
 member the prayer she had been taught, and the beautiful
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 1 5 
 
 patience and forbearance of her mother's character. Mr 
 and Mrs. Hardcastle were members of a wealthy congrega- 
 tion, and the former gave with tolerable liberality to the 
 various charities under its charge, but neither professed an 
 interest which they did not feel. Muriel was regularly 
 taken to church, and her grandmother sometimes set her a 
 Sunday task of hymn or Bible verses, and that was all. 
 Margery was a staunch and bigoted " kirk " woman, and 
 had been straitly charged by Mr. Hardcastle not to attempt 
 to transmit her "views" on this subject to her nursling, so 
 that Muriel's idea of religion, until she had come under Mrs. 
 Willis's care, had been that it was a somewhat irksome 
 bondage, necessary to respectability, but otherwise not to 
 be desired. The warm, vital faith which governed every 
 province of Mrs. Willis's life, surprised and puzzled her, 
 but the counteracting home influence swayed her away 
 from it, time after time, just as its attraction had nearly 
 asserted itself. Mrs. Willis watched the struggle with lov- 
 ing and prayerful interest, never refraining from the word 
 in season, but carefully avoiding the mistake, made by too 
 many good people, of invading the " sanctuary heart," 
 which, in Muriel, was peculiarly shrinking and sensitive. 
 
 It was at the beginning of Muriel's last school-year that 
 she was summoned to her grandmother's bedside. Mrs. 
 Hardcastle had so long been ailing that even Margery sus- 
 pected no immediate danger until the end was very near. 
 Perhaps, had the poor lady felt any great desire for con- 
 tinued life in " this troublesome world," the desire would 
 have worked its own fulfillment, but disappointment, repres- 
 sion and physical distress had done their work. A gradual 
 weakening, happily without much pain; then a sudden fail- 
 ure of the tired heart, and she was gone. 
 
 She had recognized Muriel with a faint smile, and an 
 eager embrace, and with the recollection of this the poor
 
 X 6 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 child tried to be as sorry as she blamed herself for not 
 being. That curious change which sometimes follows 
 death, stamped a beauty and dignity upon the poor, pale 
 face, which, to Muriel, were startlingly new ; to Mr. Hard- 
 castle were a reproach so bitter that his grief surprised 
 himself fully as much as it did his household. He saw once 
 more the girlish face which had caught his fancy, and sur- 
 prised him out of his prudence. He recalled the happy, 
 confiding belief in him which had marked the first year of 
 their engagement ; then the gradual change to weariness 
 and sadness, as he still failed, year by year, to deliver 
 her from her bondage; then the brief glow of revived love 
 and youthful happiness, and then he groaned in bitterness 
 of spirit as he remembered how that had ended; how his un- 
 reasonable anger and disappointment had developed into 
 the still more unreasonable severity which had gradually 
 warped their daily life out of all beauty and comeliness. If 
 the dead could return to life after the work of the Great 
 Revealer has been wrought, would the lesson, one often 
 wonders, be acted upon ? There is no reason to believe 
 that it would. 
 
 Muriel was touched to the heart by her grandfather's 
 stricken face, and urged him, in all sincerity, to allow her to 
 remain with him for the present, even should he wish her to 
 make up later the time taken from her last school year. 
 But to this he would not listen. His grief produced no 
 added tenderness toward his grandchild ; indeed, in his 
 efforts to conceal it and to appear as usual, his manner be- 
 came even more cold and indifferent than it had been, and 
 it was with a thrill of thankfulness for which she bitterly 
 reproached herself, that she made ready to return to her 
 beloved school. 
 
 This was late in the winter. During the two weeks' holiday 
 at Easter there was a slight change. He seemed to like to
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. l^ 
 
 have her with him ; he talked to her more freely than he 
 had ever before talked about her prospects as heiress of his 
 house and large fortune, and although he immediately and 
 finally vetoed her timid suggestion that certain of her rela- 
 tives were entitled to some part of the latter, he was not 
 angry with her for making it, and even took great pains to 
 convince her that he was acting in the matter after a full 
 consideration of all the circumstances. He had never en- 
 couraged her in any intimacy with the relatives in ques- 
 tion. Formal calls, and still more formal dinners and tea 
 drinkings, had limited her acquaintance with them. Her 
 mother's three aunts, the Misses Sabina, Clarissa and Jessie 
 Gordon and their brother, Arthur Gordon, had been in- 
 clined to assert their relationship to and interest in Muriel, 
 and perhaps had she found them very attractive, she might 
 have succeeded in influencing her grandfather to allow her 
 more intimacy with them ; but the two older Misses Gordon 
 were elderly, formal women, who had long since forgotten 
 their own youth, and ceased to tolerate that of any one else, 
 and their step-sister and brother, Jessie and Arthur, al- 
 though many years younger, and in some respects more 
 attractive, had chilled Muriel's slight overtures of friendship 
 by a tendency to ridicule her youthful beliefs and enthusi- 
 asms. Her cousins, Kate and Julia Hardcastle, daughters 
 of a younger brother of her grandfather's, were lively, fash- 
 ionable girls, well educated, but considering themselves 
 " finished " while she was still at school ; and, while very 
 ready to be friendly with her, voting her, between them- 
 selves, "tiresome." Their father's and mother's very com- 
 fortable circumstances kept them from any thing but an 
 occasional passing feeling of envy toward Muriel; it would 
 be " so nice," they agreed, to have money quite in their own 
 right and without any parental strictures or restrictions, but 
 while all their real and most of their fancied wants were
 
 18 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 gratified, they did not think it worth while to be openly 
 jealous of Muriel ; it would do no good ; of that they were 
 well persuaded, for their uncle was notorious for his dog- 
 ged determination in all his purposes, and when she did 
 " come into " her fortune, and that handsome, if stiff and 
 formal looking home, she would be worth claiming as 
 a cousin and friend. Muriel liked them very well. Their 
 lively talk amused her and they dressed with admirable 
 good taste. One other cousin, her father's niece, May 
 Douglas, she would love, she thought, if she might only 
 have the chance. This May Douglas was also an orphan, 
 within a year of Muriel's age. She lived with her aunt, 
 Miss Agnes Forsythe, in a small, old-fashioned house in a 
 quiet quarter of the city. Miss Forsythe was book-keeper 
 in a large millinery establishment, and May taught in the 
 excellent private school in which she had been educated. 
 She had just begun teaching when Muriel entered upon her 
 last school year, and though the girls met but seldom, a 
 warm liking existed between them, ready to ripen into a still 
 warmer feeling should the opportunity occur. 
 
 Knowing, as she did know, how useless it would be to sug- 
 gest that even a small legacy would be a great assistance 
 to May Douglas, Muriel resisted the temptation to speak of 
 it, but she sometimes found herself evolving plans for be- 
 stowing comforts and luxuries upon May, in such a manner 
 that they could not possibly be refused, and then blushed 
 to think that the plans which gave her so much satisfaction 
 were dependent, for their carrying out, upon her grand- 
 father's death. But then, she reasoned, was he not himself 
 continually speaking of the time when she would be the 
 owner of his house and money ? And had he not urged 
 her to prepare herself for that time and not " let her head 
 be turned " when it should come ? " If my brother had a 
 son," he said to her one day, after one of these talks, " I
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 19 
 
 should leave you merely a comfortable maintenance, and 
 the house with the bulk of the fortune to him. As it is, I 
 elect you, rather than Julia or Kate, for my heir, because 
 you have more sense and a better education than both of 
 them put together, and I think I can trust you not to 
 squander the money or make a public fool of yourself. But 
 of one thing I must strongly warn you. As soon as the 
 amount of your fortune, which is more, I can tell you, than 
 you imagine, becomes known, you will have no lack of so- 
 called lovers, and I would willingly wager the whole of it 
 that, out of them all, not one would keep his place were you 
 suddenly to become penniless. Not that you are ill-looking, 
 or at all to be despised, Muriel, but simply that, at the pres- 
 ent day, money is the chief if not the only consideration, 
 and while, no doubt many of your suitors will honestly be- 
 lieve themselves in love with you, they will be unconsciously 
 influenced by the thought of your money, while others less 
 fastidious will not attempt to hide from themselves at least 
 their real motive in seeking you." 
 
 This bitter and cynical talk was not without its effect 
 upon Muriel, both at the time when it was uttered, and long 
 afterward, but Mrs. Willis's wholesome influence did much 
 to counteract the mischief, and, in the absorbing occupa- 
 tion of her last year at school, it was, for a time, entirely 
 forgotten. She graduated with honor, but it was with a 
 curious feeling of dismay that she bade good-by to Mrs. 
 Willis and her schoolmates, to return to the large, silent 
 house, and the life which seemed, at each fresh resumption 
 of it, more completely to hedge her in. She had intended 
 writing to her grandfather, and asking permission to bring 
 home with her the girl with whom, for some time past, she 
 had been most intimate, Lena Fairfax, whose home was in 
 a distant city, but her courage had failed in the matter, and 
 the friends parted only with a general hope of some day
 
 20 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 meeting again, and ardent promises to " write very often " 
 in the mean time. 
 
 The summer dragged slowly by. Muriel added garden- 
 ing to her other occupations, but she was still feeling lan- 
 guid with the reaction from that exciting " last year," and 
 all she did seemed objectless and futile. Even her pen- 
 sioners no longer interested her as they had done at first, 
 and although she faithfully followed up Margery's informa- 
 tion and suggestions, it was in a dull and spiritless fashion 
 of which she was herself ashamed. 
 
 She longed unspeakably for a thorough change for the 
 free, open country, the mountains, the sea, but when she 
 ventured to suggest to her grandfather that they should 
 "go somewhere," if only for a few weeks, his cold and 
 decided negative to the proposal made her wonder at her 
 own daring. 
 
 " You will find no more healthful location than that of 
 this house," he added, " so it must be merely a foolish rest- 
 lessness and desire for novelty which prompts you to make 
 this proposal, but I can assure you that no summer resort, 
 however luxurious, can afford you the comforts of such a 
 home as this, and I should advise you to occupy your 
 mind with reading and study, and then you will find less 
 time for discontent and idle wishes." 
 
 It was impossible for her to say more on the subject, 
 after this, and Margery's openly-expressed pity and sym- 
 pathy did harm rather than good. Muriel was beginning 
 to pose to herself as a martyr, and to exaggerate, rather 
 than courageously face, the disagreeables of her daily life. 
 
 About the middle of the summer Mr. and Mrs. Hard- 
 castle and their daughters returned home for a few days, 
 in transit from sea--$h>re to mountains, and Mr. Hardcastle, 
 who was a fussy, good-natured little man, was seized with a 
 fit of righteous indignation that Muriel should be " mewed
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 21 
 
 up " all summer with no companion save her grandfather, 
 and he made a determined attack upon his brother in her 
 behalf, and, unfortunately, in her presence also. She saw 
 the unusual look of hurt feeling which swept across her 
 grandfather's face as his brother, in a few and plain words, 
 " freed his mind," and asked that Muriel might be allowed 
 to come with them for the rest of the summer. 
 
 " I am an old man," said the elder Mr. Hardcastle, 
 slowly ; " I do not think I shall require any thing of Muriel 
 much longer, but she is at liberty to go with you, Andrew, 
 if she chooses to do so." 
 
 " Do you really care would you really miss me, grand- 
 papa ? " asked Muriel, eagerly. 
 
 " Yes," he said, slowly, " I should miss you because I 
 am used to seeing and hearing you about the house, but I 
 do not actually need you, Muriel ; the servants are used to 
 attending to my physical comfort. Go, if you wish to go." 
 
 Muriel wavered ; six weeks of freedom and fun with 
 those gay, laughter-loving cousins, and their too-indulgent 
 father and mother, placed side by side with six weeks of 
 stagnation and hopeless dulness in that silent house, pre- 
 sented a contrast so brilliant, so captivating, that her uncle 
 had nearly won his cause, when, looking once more, and 
 with unwonted keenness, at her grandfather to try to dis- 
 cover his real feeling about the matter, she noticed how 
 rapidly he had failed since his wife's death. His thin hair 
 had grown perfectly white ; his cheeks were hollow and 
 pale, and his dim eyes somehow, for the first time, im- 
 pressed her as having grown more dim from secretly shed 
 tears. 
 
 " I will not leave you, grandpapa ! " she cried, crossing 
 the room, and taking his trembling hand between her warm, 
 strong ones. " I did not know you would care, but I am 
 so glad to find you would, that I shall not mind in the least !
 
 22 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 Thank you, very, very much, uncle, and please thank aunt 
 and the girls for wanting me, but I can not go ! " 
 
 " And really, Matilda," said the younger Mr. Hardcastle, 
 when he told the result of the interview to his wife, " what 
 troubles me most is the uselessness of the sacrifice. An- 
 thony might as well have been a stone post, for all the grati- 
 tude he expressed for that dear, warm-hearted little thing's 
 sacrifice. It provokes me whenever I think of it ! " 
 
 But to Muriel, the quick, clinging pressure of her grand- 
 father's hand contradicted his impassive face ; she was 
 satisfied, even then, and far more than satisfied, when, a few 
 months later, she found that he had at that very time been 
 suffering with disease which he knew to be incurable. He 
 died early in the following February, and the last few days 
 of his life obliterated, for the time being, the memory of 
 much that had gone before. He slept a good deal of the 
 time, but whenever he was awake, he seemed uneasy and 
 distressed if she were not present, and pleased when she 
 held his hand, or gently stroked his face. He was too weak 
 for any connected talk, but a look of distress often crossed 
 his face, and once she heard him murmur : 
 
 " Treasure in Heaven ! If I had only a little, little more 
 time ! " 
 
 And another time, when she was bathing his face, he 
 looked at her appealingly, and said : 
 
 " You II lay it up there, Muriel ? And who knows, per- 
 haps no, no, it will not be credited to me. ' Whatsoever 
 a man soweth ' " 
 
 And while Muriel struggled agonizingly with her shyness, 
 and a sense of her utter unfitness to speak upon such sub- 
 jects, he fell into the uneasy sleep from which she dared 
 not wake him. He had listened politely to the brief words 
 of exhortation and prayer offered by the clergyman of his 
 parish, who called two or three times during his illness, but
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 23 
 
 it distressed Muriel beyond measure to see that he looked 
 upon the visits as a mere matter of form, and seemed to 
 attach no meaning to the words. But on the night of his 
 death, as she sat patiently by his bedside, holding his cold 
 hand, and speaking gently to him whenever he seemed to 
 be awake, he suddenly opened his eyes and gazed earnestly 
 at her, and said, in a clear, firm voice: 
 
 " I am sorry ! " 
 
 Conquering herself by a violent effort, she answered : 
 
 " That is all God asks, Grandpa. He will forgive 
 you." 
 
 " Perhaps, perhaps," said the old man, in failing tones, 
 and before Muriel could call the nurse, he was gone. 
 
 And now the funeral was over. The clear, business-like 
 will had been read, and Muriel, with an over-burdened, too- 
 responsible feeling, understood that she was mistress of an 
 income which, under any circumstances, would reach thirty 
 thousand dollars a year, and might, with careful manage- 
 ment, far exceed that sum. 
 
 Mr. Hardcastle had invested in real estate which was 
 daily rising in value ; and in stocks and bonds of the safer 
 kind, and his lawyer explained and expounded to Muriel, 
 until it seemed to her that the effort to understand had 
 fairly benumbed her brain. 
 
 She had very quietly, but very firmly, resisted the efforts 
 made by her relatives to induce her to stay with them, and 
 close the house, " at least for the present." It seemed to 
 her that, if she might not have peace and silence, and a 
 chance to settle matters with herself, she should lose her 
 reason. And at last they left her, making characteristic 
 comments on the strangeness of her behavior as they went. 
 She had assured her Aunt Matilda, who had been the most 
 pertinacious, and difficult to escape of them all, that she 
 would send for a companion, should she feel the need of
 
 24 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 one, and that Margery should, for the present, sleep in a 
 room adjoining her own. 
 
 The funeral and reading of the will had taken place in 
 the morning, but it was three o'clock before she was left 
 alone. Margery had kindled a cheery little wood-fire on 
 the library hearth, and coaxed Muriel into a deep reclining- 
 chair in front of it, hovering about the room, in her loving 
 anxiety, until Muriel could bear it no longer, and gently 
 dismissed her. 
 
 And then it seemed to the overwrought girl that the 
 battle really began. Despite her recent loss of rest, she felt 
 as if she should never sleep again, and the days of her life 
 marshaled themselves past, in bewildering procession. Had 
 it been, after all, she wondered, her own fault that her life 
 was such a loveless one ? Might she not, if she had sooner 
 showed tenderness and feeling, have awakened them in her 
 grandparents ? No although in her present frame of mind 
 it would have comforted her to heap reproaches upon her- 
 self, she recalled, against her will, the manner in which all 
 her childish advances had been met, until, almost uncon- 
 sciously to herself, they had ceased. She found herself 
 even doubting the affection which her grandfather had re- 
 cently seemed to feel for her. 
 
 " It was only because he was dying and felt afraid, and 
 had no one else to turn to ! " she said to herself, bitterly. 
 " If he had recovered from this illness, he would have been 
 cold, and stern and cynical again. He has never really 
 loved me. Nobody has ever loved me. Oh, what hateful, 
 hateful thoughts, when but why should I thank him for 
 leaving it all to me, when he could not take it with him ? 
 It is like a millstone round my neck already I should be 
 far, far happier if I had to work as May and Miss Forsythe 
 work. Suppose I should grow like him, valuing money 
 just for it's own sake ? And I don't know how to spend it
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 25 
 
 rightly ! I must give account of it ; it is crushing me even 
 now. Oh, I thought I wanted to be alone, but this is worst 
 of all, worst of all ! " 
 
 She rushed to the writing-table, and, controlling with 
 difficulty her repugnance to disturbing its arrangement it 
 was just as her grandfather had left it she found pen and 
 paper, and wrote a hasty note. 
 
 DEAR MAY : Can you come and stay with me to-night ? 
 Come at once, if you can. I am all alone. I am very 
 lonely. Yours, MURIEL. 
 
 She would not wait to write more to explain. She could 
 do that after May came, for she felt no doubt as to the re- 
 sponse to this appeal ; and her faith was justified. Neither 
 Miss Forsythe nor May had been at the funeral ; the hour 
 at which it took place made the attendance of either im- 
 possible, and May, longing to offer sympathy, yet fearing 
 to intrude, should she go too soon, waited only to read the 
 note, and obtain her aunt's hearty sanction, and then hast- 
 ened to Muriel.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SEEKING A CLUE. 
 
 " I do not know the use or name 
 
 Of that I spin ; 
 I only know that Some One came 
 
 And laid within 
 
 My hand the thread, and said, ' Since you 
 Are blind, but one thing you can do." " 
 
 H. H. JACKSON. 
 
 THE cousins met in perfect silence, but when Muriel felt 
 the warm pressure of May's arms, the soft touch of 
 her cheek, the whirl of bewildering thought seemed suddenly 
 to stop, and tears came instead. May drew her "down on 
 the lounge, and held her fast, murmuring loving words, but 
 making no attempt to stop those healing tears. And 
 somehow Muriel felt a sense of perfect safety ; had it been 
 possible for her to cry before any other member of the 
 family, she would have felt that she must explain, or be 
 branded as a hypocrite, for no one had ever suspected 
 Anthony Hardcastle of the least tenderness of feeling. But 
 when, after sobbing a few minutes, she gasped : 
 
 " Oh, it's all so miserable, so miserable ! " May answered 
 quietly. 
 
 " I know what you mean, dear," and Muriel cried on till 
 she could cry no more. Then May " settled '"' her on the 
 lounge, as tenderly as a mother could have done it, made 
 up the sinking fire, lighted the reading-lamp and drew the
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 2 7 
 
 curtains, for daylight was fading by this time, and she did 
 not mean Muriel to have any twilight to-night. 
 
 Muriel watched her as she moved deftly about the room, 
 with an indescribable sense of rest and comfort, and when, 
 having succeeded in making it cosy and cheerful, May said: 
 
 " I wonder if Margery would let us have our tea here, 
 to-night ? " 
 
 Muriel eagerly caught at the suggestion. May had guessed, 
 from Muriel's wan face and trembling hands, that the lat- 
 ter had eaten little or nothing that day, so, when Margery 
 came, in answer to her ring, so promptly as to show that 
 she had staid as near her child as she dared stay, May 
 said pleasantly : 
 
 " Will you let us have our tea here to-night, Margery, 
 and let me mention that I had only a rather light lunch to- 
 day ? " 
 
 Margery bestowed a b< iming smile of gratitude on May 
 and then hurried to the kitchen to give private instructions 
 to the cook, returning to spread a tray with daintiest napery, 
 and glass and silver, so that, when Muriel found herself 
 seated at the little round table which Margery noiselessly 
 brought in, she also found that she was faint with hunger, 
 and ate enough to satisfy both her loving watchers, anx- 
 ious as they were. Then May coaxed her back to the 
 lounge, establishing herself near it in the easy-chair, and 
 for awhile they watched the fire in that restful silence which 
 can only exist between true friends. It was Muriel who 
 spoke first. 
 
 " It is dreadfully humiliating, May," she said, with a 
 little sigh, " to discover that much which we attribute to our 
 minds and hearts is almost entirely physical ! " 
 
 May saw at once what she meant. The change in her 
 expression, since she had been strengthened with food and 
 rest, made the remark quite intelligible.
 
 28 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 " No, I don't think it's exactly humiliating," said May, 
 thoughtfully ; " it's rather suggestive, though, it seems to 
 me." 
 
 " Suggestive ? " Muriel raised her head with a quick 
 look of interest. She had often wished for a " good talk " 
 with May. 
 
 " Yes. You know that verse I can't remember the exact 
 words about, saying, ' depart in peace, be ye warmed and 
 filled,' when we aren't doing any thing toward it ? It 
 seems to me reformers take hold of the blade, instead of 
 the handle often. If we want the unpeaceful people to 
 ' depart in peace,' we must do all we can to make it possible. 
 And when we feel ourselves as you are feeling now, the 
 difference that it makes, when we take the right sort of 
 care of our 'vile bodies,' it brings it home to us as nothing 
 else could. And Muriel, I don't think one should be un- 
 just, or cruel to one's self any more than to any one else. I 
 may be wrong of course, I do not know all about it, nobody 
 can know all about any thing, but it seems to me that, 
 even if you really have any thing on your mind left over 
 from the past, about which you might reproach yourself, 
 you'd better try to forget it. I often think of that text 
 ' Thy sins, and thy iniquities will I remember no more.' I 
 know that it isn't the way we forgive each other usually, but 
 what a comfort it is to think that it is God's way of forgiv- 
 ing ! I don't mean that we should forget to be really deeply 
 sorry to be careful about doing the same thing again ; but 
 that's different, isn't it, from brooding and worrying over a 
 thing until we unfit ourselves for the next thing ? There 
 is so much to do and so little time, for each of us, in which 
 to do it." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose that's all true ; it must be true ; and it 
 makes me think of something Mrs. Willis said. She used to 
 read to us in French twice a week, and we took turns in
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 29 
 
 giving her the English of as much as we could understand, 
 and one day she caught my eye and laughed a little ; I used 
 to sit in a sort of petrified state, all but my ears, and when 
 it was over, I would actuall be out of breath ! She so 
 often seemed to guess our thoughts, and that day she said : 
 ' There is only one way Muriel ; do not puzzle over what 
 I have said ; give your mind to what I am saying.' And 
 afterward, when we were alone, she said there was a ' moral ' 
 that sins repented of, and as we humbly trusted, forgiven, 
 should be resolutely forgotten, too. And she quoted that 
 hymn : 
 
 ' Why should the children of a King 
 Go mourning all their days ? ' 
 
 " And I thought how beautiful it was, and that I should 
 always remember it, and now, when I need it, it's all " 
 
 Her voice broke into a little quivering sigh, but presently 
 she spoke again : 
 
 " We've wandered off from what we began with. If it's 
 really true, as the Autocrat says, that a great deal that is 
 labeled ' Theology,' should be labeled ' Piecrust,' where is 
 the use in any thing ? If our bodies, and not our minds 
 and souls, are the governing-power, we may just as well 
 give up first as last, and be as comfortable as we can ! " 
 
 "You don't think that, Muriel I know you don't ! But 
 I'll own that the same temptation has attacked me, over 
 and over again, and it is only lately that I have settled 
 myself about it." 
 
 " And how did you settle yourself, tell me?" 
 
 And in her eagerness, Muriel sat up and grasped May's 
 hand. May gently pulled her down again, but kept her 
 hand, as she said: 
 
 " I can't put it into good words ; I never can say things 
 exactly as I think them, but it was something like this at 
 first, our bodies really do have the upper hand ; when we are
 
 30 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 babies, and very little children, we cry out if we are hurt, 
 and laugh when we ' feel good,' and then as we grow older, 
 we find that it doesn't always answer to cry and laugh with 
 every passing feeling that we must have some regard for 
 the feelings of other people. That is a great step. But 
 very often I think we stick fast on the next level ; we re- 
 press the crying and laughing, but we take it out in other 
 ways. But, if we keep on up, after awhile we begin to find 
 that the soul and mind can conquer ; if they couldn't, how 
 could the martyrs ever have borne their martyrdom ? I 
 don't know whether it's wrong or not, but sometimes I really 
 think, Muriel, that some of them the ones who had climbed, 
 and been lifted, highest, didn't feel the pain at all ! What 
 first put that in my mind, was something that happened to 
 us to aunty and me. My apron caught fire, and she 
 crushed out the flames with her bare hands, and actually 
 didn't know she had burned them, till she took hold of 
 something and found that each hand was a great blister. 
 You see, she was so frightened about me that she never 
 felt the fire. And if human love can lift a person up so 
 high, it seems to me that Divine Love " 
 
 She paused, as if she could not find fitting words for her 
 thoughts. 
 
 Muriel had listened with an intent face. " That's beau- 
 tiful ! " she said, when she found that May was not going 
 to finish her sentence. " I wonder if Tennyson's thought 
 was any thing like that, when ne said: 
 
 ' That men may rise on stepping-stones 
 Of their dead selves, to higher things.' 
 
 " But May, I haven't any right to any of it. You know I've 
 never I've always thought I'd better wait, and be sure ; I 
 was so afraid of bringing reproach, and things never seemed 
 quite clear." 
 
 Muriel wondered, afterward, how May had understood
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 31 
 
 this incoherent sentence. But she did, as her answer evi- 
 denced. 
 
 " I wouldn't wait any longer if I were you, Muriel, " she 
 said, with tender earnestness. " It will only grow harder, I 
 think. And it seems to me that you'll need so much help 
 now ! And don't you think its the worst ' reproach ' any 
 body can bring, to stand utterly outside to refuse alle- 
 giance, as if we thought we knew a better way ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I never meant it that way, never ! " Muriel's face 
 showed how much the suggestion shocked her. 
 
 " No, I don't suppose any body quite means that," said 
 May ; " but isn't that what it amounts to, after all ? If we 
 enroll ourselves ' under Christ's banner,' at least, we show 
 that we believe His is the strongest power that we want 
 to belong to Him." 
 
 " I wish I could see things as clearly as you can, May," 
 said Muriel, with a perplexed, troubled look on her face, 
 which made May stoop to kiss her. 
 
 The striking of the hall-clock startled them both. 
 
 " Eleven," said May, springing up, " and I must be at 
 home at half-past seven to-morrow, and at school by half- 
 past eight. How thoughtless I've been ; you should have 
 been in bed an hour ago, you poor, tired child ! " 
 
 " No, I've been resting a great deal better than I should 
 have rested if I'd gone to bed early, but I ought to have re- 
 membered about you ; you'll not have half enough sleep I'm 
 afraid. I wish you didn't have to go to that school ! " 
 
 " So do I, once in a while, but only once in a while. I 
 like it too well really to wish to give it up." 
 
 " You'll come back again to-morrow afternoon ? Miss 
 Agnes will lend you to me for one more night ! " 
 
 " Yes indeed for two or three more, if you like we al- 
 ways ask Miss Post to come and 'substitute,' when either of 
 us wishes to go away for a night, and she seems to like it ;
 
 32 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 she counts it as ' visiting,' and it's such a comfort to have 
 her." 
 
 " Miss Post ? " said Muriel, inquiringly. 
 
 "Oh, I forgot you don't know who she is, of course. 
 She's such a nice old lady, with not a single relation, not 
 even a cousin, in the world. She ' keeps room ' near our 
 house, and takes in sewing and fancy work, and she has 
 rheumatism in her arm half the time, but she's the cheerful- 
 est soul come, Muriel, we must go to bed ! If I begin to 
 talk about Miss Post, I shall keep us both awake all night ; 
 she's one of my specialties." 
 
 Margery's' anxious face at the door emphasized May's 
 exhortation. 
 
 " My bairn," she said, with an unconscious lapse of both 
 speech and accent, " you're in sair need of sleep ; " and she 
 glanced somewhat reproachfully at May. 
 
 "We're coming right away, Margery," said Muriel, 
 meekly, " and May, the front room is all ready, if you'd 
 rather sleepthere ; but if you don't mind, I wish you'd sleep 
 with me." 
 
 May answered with a kiss. And that night, for the first 
 time in many days and nights, Muriel slept soundly and 
 sweetly, and woke refreshed. 
 
 It seemed to her such a very few minutes since she fell 
 asleep, that she was astonished when Margery, stealing 
 in for the fifth or sixth time that morning to see if her 
 " bairn " had wakened yet, told her that May had been gone 
 two hours or more. She let herself be coaxed to have her 
 breakfast brought before she rose, and did not at all object 
 to Margery's gentle " fussing." 
 
 " How many years is it since you washed my face for me, 
 I wonder," she said, with a smile that gladdened her old 
 nurse's heart. And all day, the tender cares which had the 
 day before tortured her overwrought nerves, soothed and
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 33 
 
 comforted her, and helped her to wait patiently for May's 
 return. The faithful love of the true-hearted old Scotch 
 woman seemed to her more valuable now than it ever had 
 seemed before ; it stood between her and the world, which, 
 looked at from this new point of view, appeared so large, so 
 heartless, so totally uninterested in her and her concerns. 
 It was not, however, the latter, as she was very soon to 
 find. From the lawyer, who for many years had managed 
 her grandfather's affairs, down to Margery herself, she was 
 obliged to run the gauntlet of " judicious advice," until she 
 ceased to wonder that the hunters of the " snark " had con- 
 sidered it a " rousing " agent. Her great-uncle, Andrew 
 Hardcastle, and his wife, began by taking for granted that 
 she would immediately close "that immense house," and 
 either bestow herself upon the family of some one of her 
 relatives, or board in a sufficiently select and sheltered 
 "establishment." 
 
 Her three great aunts and their brother went even further 
 than this ; they said it would be a very bold and unlady- 
 like thing for a girl of Muriel's age to " set up for herself 
 in that immense house ; if she must needs stay there, she 
 should at once provide herself with a proper chaperone." 
 This, to tell the truth, Muriel had intended to do, not so 
 much for propriety's sake, as because shr found the loneli- 
 ness and silence of the great house almost intolerable, but 
 she felt that her choice must be no hasty and ill-advised 
 affair, soon to be repented of ; she did not fancy either 
 horn of the dilemma in which a mistake about this matter 
 would place her ; continued association with a distasteful 
 person, or the painful duty of dismissing the companion as 
 if she were an unsatisfactory servant. 
 
 All the great aunts called upon her the day after the 
 funeral, and all urged their views and opinions decidedly, if 
 not eloquently, but Muriel would commit herself to nothing.
 
 34 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " May Douglas is kind enough to say that she will dine 
 and sleep with me for at least the rest of this week," she 
 answered to the various exhorters, " and I must have a little 
 time for quiet thinking before I decide upon any thing." 
 
 " May Douglas ! " said Miss Jessie to Miss Sabina, as 
 they went dissatisfiedly home. " I've thought for some time 
 that she was trying to work herself into Muriel's good 
 graces. I suppose she thinks, now, that nothing would be 
 more natural and proper than for Muriel to ask her and 
 that prim aunt of her's to come and let the pleasure of their 
 society offset their board ! I've the greatest mind in the 
 world to write Muriel a note and warn her to be careful 
 how she commits herself ; if she once takes them in, she'll 
 never be rid of them." 
 
 " I don't suppose there is any use in warning you, Jes- 
 sie," said Miss Sabina, sharply, " but you'll be neither more 
 nor less than a fool if you set the girl against you by such 
 barefaced meddling as that. She's not a child ; she must 
 be all of nineteen, and she has the Hardcastle jaw ; if you 
 once make an enemy of her, you'll not only cut off your 
 own nose to spite your face, but you'll cut all of us off from 
 a very desirable visiting place, for it's plain to me that she 
 has no idea of closing the house. She enjoys her position 
 of lady of the manor too much already to be willing to give 
 it up. Sp, for your own sake, you'd better keep on friendly 
 terms with her." 
 
 The discussion was renewed that evening in full family 
 conclave. Sabina was apprehensive that Jessie's unguarded 
 tongue might do them all a mischief with Muriel, and she 
 wished to enlist Arthur, who alone seemed to have any 
 influence over Jessie on the side of prudence. This was 
 easily done. He considered any thing approaching a family 
 quarrel unpardonably vulgar, and he spoke to Jessie with so 
 much more decision and authority than he usually exhibited
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 35 
 
 under any provocation, that she gave the promise he de- 
 sired, or rather demanded of her, positively, if somewhat 
 sullenly, and with that they were all content. He was fond 
 of Muriel, after his own fashion, although he had never 
 quite forgiven her for being his great-niece. He was only 
 her senior by about fifteen years, and the relationship had 
 always seemed to him a sort of absurdity ; the more, per- 
 haps, because he had an annoying consciousness of appear- 
 ing to be much older than he really was. He was slightly 
 bald and very near-sighted, and, even when he was much 
 younger, his face had not worn a youthful expression. An 
 exaggerated self-consciousness had led him into an exag- 
 gerated idea of his own defects, and that curious sort of in- 
 verted vanity which sometimes makes very insignificant peo- 
 ple uncomfortable with the idea that they are being closely 
 watched and unkindly criticized. A really bright mind and 
 a very fair amount of talent in two or three directions had 
 been dwarfed and defeated by this unhappy temperament, 
 so that now, at thirty-five years old, he was a bank clerk 
 with a salary which fully supplied his wants, if not his wishes, 
 and with no aspiration to be any thing more. His two 
 elder step-sisters still spoke of and to Jessie and Arthur as 
 if they were children, although Jessie was now about forty 
 years old, and Arthur, as has been said, thirty-five. A cer- 
 tain sort of cross-grained affection held them together, 
 although sometimes, when differences of opinion waxed 
 warmer than usual, Arthur would talk vaguely of taking 
 Jessie and leaving his half-sisters " for good." But there 
 were other considerations besides family affection. The 
 house they occupied was theirs collectively ; a separation 
 would necessitate either it's sale or an arrangement of 
 money-matters which would greatly straighten all their re- 
 sources. Each had a small income, which, living as they 
 now lived, was amply sufficient, but which would pinch them
 
 36 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 not a little should they separate. And so common sense 
 stepped in, when other considerations failed, and kept them 
 together. Miss Jessie had never been allowed to meddle 
 with the housekeeping, and, fortunately for the general 
 peace, had never wished to do so. She drew a little, and 
 played a little, and read a good deal, and went out when 
 she was invited " to suitable places." But her life was in 
 reality more empty than that of her sisters, for they gave 
 the whole of their minds to the housekeeping, which they 
 regarded with never-varying interest, while Jessie did not 
 seem to be particularly interested in any thing, and Muriel 
 always had, when she was with her Aunt Jessie for any length 
 of time, a sort of hopeless feeling that nothing was " worth 
 while." 
 
 The visits of so-called condolence from the various mem- 
 bers of the family, were almost more than Muriel could 
 bear. It was too evident to her that all of them, without a 
 single exception, really felt that she should be congrat- 
 ulated, rather than condoled with, and she knew that, should 
 she express to any one of them the terrible sense of alone- 
 ttess, which made her long for a return of the time which, 
 in passing,.had seemed so dreary and hard to endure, she 
 would be considered a hypocrite. 
 
 Her uncle's wife and daughters were announced just as 
 the Gordons were leaving, and she was obliged, with what 
 poor patience she could muster, to listen to and answer 
 arguments, or rather, perhaps, statements and entreaties, 
 until her uncle's entrance really seemed a release. He had 
 stopped on his way home from his place of business, not at 
 all expecting to find his wife and daughters there, and he 
 wisely decided to defer the talk which he had intended hav- 
 ing with Muriel to a time when they two could be alone. 
 Her flushed face and look of excited weariness touched 
 him, and he was not long in finding a pretext for carrying off
 
 W 'A YS AND MEANS. 37 
 
 his women folk. He was a kind-hearted, thoroughly well- 
 meaning little man, and although, very probably, had he 
 found Muriel alone, he would have wearied her quite as 
 much as her aunt and cousins had done, she kissed him 
 good-by with a fervor of affectionate gratitude which did 
 not escape him, and which stood her in good stead within 
 the hour. 
 
 " I do think," said Mrs. Hardcastle, as she took her 
 husband's arm outside the door, " that these quiet, self- 
 contained people, who don't say what they're going to do 
 until they're driven to it, are a thousand times harder to 
 manage than the talkative ones, who say so much that they 
 don't mean half of it ! " 
 
 " My dear Matilda," replied Mr. Hardcastle, " I really 
 can't see that it comes within your province to ' manage ' 
 Muriel. If my brother had wished us to act as her guar- 
 dians, nothing would have been easier than for him to say 
 so, but he showed how entirely he trusted in her good sense 
 and judgment, by leaving her that large property uncondi- 
 tionally. I can't blame her for wishing to stay independ- 
 ently in a home of her own, rather than take the uncom- 
 fortable position she must take, if she enters the home of 
 any one else ; but it will be highly necessary for her to pro- 
 vide herself immediately with a suitable companion, and 
 this I shall advise her to do." 
 
 " Yes, that's the way you'll try to ' manage ' her, papa ! " 
 said Julia, with a saucy little laugh. "Well, I hope you'll 
 have better luck than the rest of her dear relatives have 
 had ! I do wish I could have heard what the Gordon 
 sisterhood had been saying to her ! They looked even 
 more like three thunder clouds than they usually do which 
 is quite unnecessary." 
 
 " If I were Muriel," said Kate, " I should coax that nice 
 little May Douglas and her aunt to come and live with me.
 
 38 W 'A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 May is agreeable I mean to cultivate her when I have a 
 little more time and the aunt seems a quiet, ladylike body, 
 who would do very well to play propriety, and yet would 
 not do it aggressively." 
 
 " They wouldn't be coaxed, if I know any thing about it," 
 replied Julia. " They're the 'crust of bread and liberty' 
 sort, and their home is cosy enough much more agreeable 
 than that mausoleum of poor uncle's. If Muriel stays there 
 alone, she'll be a raving maniac in a week or so ! " 
 
 " My dear Julia ! " said Mrs. Hardcastle, plaintively, " I 
 do wish you would break yourself of talking in that man- 
 ner ! It is really distressing to me ! " 
 
 " Poor mamma ! " said Julia, compassionately, " You 
 shouldn't be so sensitive, dear." 
 
 " Well, all I have to say is, that I think Muriel has a 
 right to judge for herself in this matter," said Mr. Hard- 
 castle, as they entered the handsome, cheerful-looking 
 house which did, indeed, by contrast, make the one theyliad 
 just left seem tomb-like, "and now that you've all had your 
 say, and she knows what you 'think, you'll be wiser and 
 kinder, too, to let her alone." 
 
 " Dear me, papa, we're not perishing to have her here. 
 I think we were very benevolent to ask her at all ! " was 
 Julia's parting shot, as she vanished up the broad stairway. 
 
 And, in their own fashion, they were ; for her presence in 
 the house would have made it necessary to observe the 
 days of ceremonial mourning for their uncle much more 
 strictly than they would consider it necessary to observe 
 them without her. They intended, " of course," to wear 
 black for three months, and to give up every thing but 
 "very quiet" afternoon teas and walking-parties, but, as 
 Lent had, by a happy coincidence, just begun, they were 
 quite resigned to the dispensation, and expected to utilize 
 it largely in improving their minds.
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 39 
 
 It seemed to Muriel's over-excited fancy that the very 
 sound of May's voice, when she came with the gathering 
 twilight, was soothing and comforting ; and May, whose 
 warm heart had gone out to Muriel as freely as it went out 
 to every one whose sorrows she could share or lighten, was 
 deeply gratified by the loving reception accorded her. 
 
 " I began to be afraid that something had happened to 
 keep you from coming," said Muriel, as she removed May's 
 bonnet and cloak, and drew her to a chair in front of the fire. 
 
 " Yes, I was sorry to be so late," replied May, " but I was 
 detained after school by two unfortunates who had missed 
 some of their lessons, and then I wanted to see aunty for a 
 few minutes, and make sure that she was all right, and that 
 Miss Post was there." 
 
 " And was she ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and jubilant over some sewing from a new cus- 
 tomer, just as an old one had left her, and because her arm 
 has been ' almost perfectly well ' for a week ! Aunty will 
 read to her this evening, and she can sew nearly twice as 
 fast, she says, when she is listening to reading, as she can 
 when she is alone. Dear soul ! I think she's about the 
 happiest person I know. She's in a constant state of 
 amazement at the number and choice quality of her friends 
 and ' happenings,' and I'm in a constant state of amaze- 
 ment at her." 
 
 " Did you say she was a dressmaker ? " inquired Muriel, 
 abruptly. 
 
 " She likes plain sewing best," replied May, " because, as 
 she says, ' there's so much less responsibility,' but she's a 
 very good dressmaker, we think aunty and I. She makes 
 all our gowns, and it's amusing, and touching, too, to see 
 how anxious she is to have them ' in the very latest style,' 
 so that they may not look old-fashioned before they are 
 worn out."
 
 40 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " Will you please ask her to come and speak with me 
 about some work, as soon as she has finished what she is 
 doing now ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed ; I'll be delighted to do it. I think you'll 
 like her sewing, and I know you'll like her. Are we to 
 have our dinner here? How nice! It's so much cosier 
 than that big dining-room, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I can't stand that great empty room, just yet, any- 
 how. I always did like this one better than any in the house, 
 and my very pleasantest memories of grandpapa are all 
 here. I would apologize to any body but you, May, for the 
 shabby meal I gave you last night. Grandpapa always 
 liked dinner at one o'clock, but I think I shall prefer it at 
 five or six, it seems to give one so much more time, some- 
 how. So it is a ' real dinner ' to-night, and I only hope 
 you are hungry." 
 
 " I am, very ; and I'm glad you know enough not to 
 apologize ! Aunty and I laugh sometimes over our regard 
 for titles we do in reality dine at half-past six, for she 
 can't be sure of getting home in time for six o'clock dinner, 
 and we neither of us can take the time for more than a 
 lunch in the middle of the day, but we always call it sup- 
 per, and finish with a cup of tea, by way of justifying our- 
 selves ! " 
 
 The very respectable old colored waiter, who had lived 
 with Mr. Hardcastle since Muriel was a baby, had been 
 noiselessly bringing in dinner while the girls talked ; and 
 arranging it on the round table at one end of the room, 
 which, cosy as it undoubtedly was, by comparison with the 
 dining room, was by no means small. Margery had per- 
 mitted Rogers to resume his duties this evening, but she 
 hovered about the door in a manner which would have dis- 
 turbed the nerves of any one less sedate than Rogers, and 
 the dainty little dinner, to which the cousins were presently
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 4* 
 
 summoned, was the result of a general consultation in 
 which Muriel had had no share, beyond saying to Margery 
 that she would like to have a dinner at six o'clock in the 
 library, and on a table rather larger than the one on which 
 tea had been served the night before. 
 
 The cook and housemaid had been " in the family " 
 nearly as long as Rogers had. Mrs. Hardcastle had never 
 taken any active interest in the housekeeping, and had left 
 much of the ordering and arranging to Margery, under 
 whose wise and liberal management the servants had been 
 well content, and after Mrs. Hardcastle's death, her hus- 
 band had voluntarily raised Margery's wages,*and given 
 her entire control of the household. It was most fortu- 
 nate for Muriel, from one point of view, that the well-estab- 
 lished routine did not need even daily supervision from her ; 
 she was a boarder, with the privileges of a householder. 
 But, perhaps, had she been called upon to take the reins of 
 government in earnest, and give some thought to the man- 
 agement of the house, she would have been saved a good 
 many hours of loneliness and useless regret. 
 
 When dinner was over, the fire once more asserted its 
 attraction, and Muriel, refusing May's entreaty that she 
 should lie on the lounge, drew up a chair, and plunged at 
 once into the talk for which she had been waiting all day. 
 
 " I have been assailed all over again by all the family, 
 May," she said, " about staying here. They all seem to 
 think that my intention to do so argues incipient, if not 
 actual, insanity, and I'm quite anxious to hear whether or 
 not you agree with them." 
 
 " No, I don't, at all," replied May, with consoling prompt- 
 ness, " and aunty doesn't, either. We were talking about 
 it, in the few minutes I spent with her this afternoon, and 
 she said she should think you very foolish if you consented, 
 against your wishes, to turn yourself out of your home.
 
 42 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 But then, if I tell you that much, perhaps I ought to tell 
 you the rest. We've built a great many castles, aunty and 
 I, about having a home large enough for us to entertain at 
 least two or three people at a time. I fairly ache some- 
 times, to make friends with some of those poor, tired-look- 
 ing girls in the shops, and the gentle-looking, sad-faced 
 women one sees in the street-cars, carrying home great 
 bundles of sewing. Just think what it would be to them 
 to be taken, only for a few days or a week, out of their for- 
 lorn lodging and boarding-places into a real home, and given 
 a pretty room to sleep in, and nice things to eat, and little 
 sprees in tKe evenings ! And what aunty said was that she 
 never knew any body in all her life, who had fallen upon 
 such an 'opportunity' as this lovely big house and your 
 money have made for you." 
 
 " If one could only see just one side of a thing, and not 
 the least glimpse of the other ! " said Muriel, with a per- 
 plexed, anxious look in her eyes, " it seems to me that 
 taking people that way, just for a little while, and then 
 sending them back, would make it ten times worse for them 
 by contrast. And then, no matter how much money one 
 has, the limit is reached long, long before one comes to the 
 last of the people who need help. And there's no telling 
 where to begin. My head fairly whirls when I think of it." 
 
 " It is confusing," assented May, " but when I was a 
 small child, I read a fairy story which made a lasting 
 impression on my mind, and perhaps I can transfer it to 
 yours. I don't remember the details at all, but the gist ot 
 it was, that a flock of fairy-geese was to be caught, and that 
 the boy who had to catch them succeeded very well so long 
 as he tried to catch the nearest one first, but whenever he 
 reached beyond and overlooked that nearest one he utterly 
 failed. It seems to apply to almost every thing in life, 
 doesn't it ? And if you take things up as they come to
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 43 
 
 you, one at a time, it will not seem so overwhelming, I 
 think. It's only in Wonderland that people can take two 
 or three days at once for warmth, or any thing else." 
 
 " Yes, I think I see what you mean, but somehow it 
 doesn't help me. Just suppose now, for an instance, that 
 I had as many visitors here as the house would hold, and I 
 were to come upon somebody to whom such a visit would 
 mean as much as it could mean-*-I couldn't ask any body 
 to go away, and " 
 
 " My dear, excuse me for interrupting you," said May, 
 energetically, " but there is less than no use in supposes of 
 that kind, and nobody is called upon to do more than she 
 can do ! I don't think any body who is in real earnest is 
 ever put into a hole there'sa way out, and a way of find- 
 ing it. I wish you'd let aunty come and talk to you. She 
 has the clearest head, and the warmest heart of any one I 
 know, and I am only muddling you more and more, instead 
 of helping you ! " 
 
 " No, you are not ; you shall not say that ! But I should 
 be only too glad to let Miss Forsythe come and talk to me, 
 if she would not think it too much trouble." 
 
 " She wouldn't ! And I am so glad you have stood 
 firm about giving up your home. And Muriel, do you 
 mind my asking a question ? " 
 
 " 1 mind your asking that question, very much indeed 
 you might know I should but not any other." 
 
 " Thank you ! Do you mean to stay here quite alone, or 
 shall you try to find some one to live with you ?" 
 
 Muriel was silent for several minutes. She was sorely 
 tempted to pour out her heart, and let May know that if 
 she and her aunt would come there to live, she, Muriel, 
 would have courage for any thing. But somehow she felt 
 that to give utterance to her wish would be a terrible mis- 
 take. A sturdy independence brightened May's honest
 
 44 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 face, and had impressed itself on Muriel from the first 
 moment of their meeting ; and besides that, she knew from 
 various small signs and tokens, that both Miss Forsythe 
 and her niece dearly loved their small, old-fashioned home. 
 So she repressed herself and merely said : 
 
 " I suppose it will be better for me to have some sort of 
 companion for various reasons. But I dread the idea. I 
 may stumble on some one who will make me perfectly 
 wretched, and yet give me no excuse for sending her 
 away ! " 
 
 " Do you know the Raymonds ? " inquired Marion, 
 apropos of nothing, apparently. 
 
 " No ! you must remember that I don't know any body ! 
 I never could summon courage to ask grandpapa's permis- 
 sion to invite any one to the house, not even the girls I 
 liked best at school, and I could scarcely be more, not only 
 friendless, but even acquaintanceless, if I had been brought 
 up in a convent." 
 
 " I mean that you shall know them, then," said May, with 
 decision. " You'd like them ; they live in the next block to 
 us, in a ' flat ' two sisters and a younger brother, and a 
 delightful old aunt. Her name isn't Raymond it's Miss 
 Sarah Bowne, though every body who knows her calls her 
 Aunt Sally. There is an older sister, a lovely soul, married 
 to that young Mr. Osborne who is considered such a prom- 
 ising artist, and living in a suit of rooms in the building 
 where he has his studio. You must know them, too but 
 that isn't the point. If you could capture Aunt Sally, your 
 fortune would be made, but I don't know whether Alice 
 and Marion and Dick Raymond would have you arrested 
 or boycotted, if you were to attempt it ! " 
 
 " Then I'd better not ! " and May noted, with keen 
 pleasure, the smile which accompanied Muriel's reply. 
 
 " I'm not so sure of that. They don't really need her
 
 IV 'A YS AND MEANS. 45 
 
 now, as they did a few years ago, when they first came to 
 Boston, and I can't think of any body who would be such a 
 clear comfort to you, and such a magnificent prime minis- 
 ter, so to speak, as Aunt Sally would be ! But come, I am 
 going to make you go to bed, because I must, and we can 
 finish our talk to-morrow evening. I can be here earlier 
 than I was this evening, I hope." 
 
 " You're sure your aunt can spare you for a few nights 
 more, dear ? " 
 
 " Very sure ! I am always quite comfortable about her, 
 when Miss Post is there. And you don't know how it 
 pleases me to have you \vant me. I like to be wanted ! " 
 
 " Most people do, I fancy," said Muriel, rather sadly, 
 " but some of us are more wantable than others." 
 
 Muriel felt a pang of self-reproach as she realized how 
 pleasant the evening had been, and what a sense of free- 
 dom was already stealing over her. It seemed to her that 
 she must be utterly heartless, and that it was treason to 
 take possession of all the good things left her by her grand- 
 father, when she was unable to grieve for his death. Some- 
 thing of this she expressed to May, and was comforted by 
 the latter's quiet, sensible view of the matter. 
 
 And another night of sound sleep went far toward 
 destroying morbid thoughts and fancies. Her strong 
 young frame was quickly re-acting from the strain which 
 had been put upon it, and Margery's heart rejoiced as she 
 saw the color returning to the cheek and the light to the 
 eye of her " bairn."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FINDING. 
 
 " But tire/ has taught me this if hope's a cloud, 
 
 Changing its color till it melt away, 
 Fear is as fanciful. Our hearts are cowed 
 By their own conjuring. The riper day 
 Finds hopes and fears but battlements of snow, 
 
 Wind-built, sun-gilt, which one night's rain lays low " 
 
 T. W. PARSONS. 
 
 MURIEL soon saw, or fancied she saw, that May was 
 over-fatiguing herself in her effort to be in two 
 places, if not exactly at once, yet too nearly so for her own 
 comfort and convenience. She would not discuss the mat- 
 ter with May, but when, at the end of three or four days, 
 she found that Miss Post was ready to begin sewing for her, 
 she proceeded promptly to carry out a plan which she had 
 been revolving in her mind ever since May's first talk about 
 the seamstress, and which seemed to her to be her first 
 " opportunity." She ascertained that Miss Post spent her 
 mornings in her own home, and of this May had given her 
 the address, not suspecting that she meant to do more than 
 engage the seamstress for some temporary work. But 
 Muriel had a larger design than this, and although it pre- 
 sented difficulties, she silenced them with the thought that 
 in every plan and arrangement there is something to be 
 "made straight," in order to its carrying out. 
 
 Muriel had gone through a sort of secondary " engage-
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 47 
 
 ment " with her great-aunt Matilda, concerning mourning. 
 Mrs. Hardcastle's idea, freely imparted to her niece, was 
 that, in view of " all she owed to her grandpapa," no black 
 could be too " dead," no crape too costly, or profusely used, 
 as a mark of gratitude and respect, if not of love. 
 
 " My dear child," she said, " you really must have a veil. 
 I am surprised that you have the slightest doubt about it ! 
 The best English crape, of course, and reaching to the top 
 of the lowest ruffle on your skirt. After the first Sunday or 
 two, when you will wear it over your face, it can be draped 
 back over your bonnet, and permanently fastened with jet 
 pins dead jet, mind ; not the kind that shines. And if I 
 were you, I would have the basque and overskirt of your 
 street-dress entirely covered with crape." 
 
 Muriel had waited patiently for the end of the sentence to 
 come, and when at last it came, because Mrs. Hardcastle, 
 being, in her own phrase, " a little stout," was obliged to 
 pause for breath, Muriel said quietly, but with much deci- 
 sion : 
 
 " Aunt Matilda, grandpapa spoke to me one day, during 
 his illness, about this very thing. He said he hoped nobody 
 would ever wear what is called ' mourning ' for him ; that 
 he saw no reason why people should not dress in quiet 
 colors, or even in black, after a death in the family, if it 
 made them any more comfortable to do so, but that he 
 wished all the ' parade part of it,' as he called it, could be 
 put a stop to forever. And you must see that I cannot 
 bring myself to disregard one of his very last wishes. I 
 could not, even if it were something very hard and distaste- 
 ful to me, as I will not pretend this is, for I quite agree 
 with him about it." 
 
 " But Muriel ! " said Mrs. Hardcastle, looking very much 
 shocked, " just think what people will say ! You can't go 
 about telling every one what you have just told me, and
 
 48 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 they wouldn't understand it, if you were to. And, my 
 dear, wherever your dear grandfather is, it is surely most 
 unlikely that he will know any thing of what is going on 
 here." 
 
 Muriel's eyes filled with tears. Her grandfather had 
 never made it possible for her to love him, but it seemed to 
 her that she came nearer doing so just now than she had 
 ever done before ; and she answered with a warmth and 
 decision that silenced even Mrs. Hardcastle on that sub- 
 ject, and in Muriel's presence. At home, and in various 
 other places, she did not feel called upon to be silent, and, 
 told as she told it, the story really sounded quite well. 
 
 " My brother-in-law had a prejudice against mourning," 
 Mrs. Hardcastle would say, feelingly, " and we must admit 
 that it often is a sad travesty, and among the last utterances 
 which Muriel of course holds most sacred, was a request 
 that it should not be put on for him. He quite saw the 
 suitableness of dressing in black after one has met with 
 such a loss as Muriel has suffered, and this she will of 
 course do, but I can not blame the dear child for adhering 
 so rigidly to her grandfather's wishes, when she owes so 
 much to him ! " 
 
 So Muriel was left in peace upon this subject, and, grad- 
 ually, upon many others. For it dawned upon Mrs. Hard- 
 castle, after awhile, that, while Muriel listened politely to 
 all she chose to say, it did not appear to have any effect 
 upon her, beyond that of frequent annoyance. 
 
 Mr. Hardcastle had taken his turn at remonstrating and 
 suggesting, and Muriel seeing the reasonableness of his 
 wish that she should not undertake to live entirely alone, 
 had assured him that she would provide herself with a 
 companion as soon as she could find some one even mod- 
 erately suitable. But when he suggested that she should 
 advertise she begged to be excused, and he was too glad of
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 49 
 
 the concession just made, as he thought, to his wishes to 
 push his attempt at influencing her too far. 
 
 Muriel left the house for the first time since the day of 
 her grandfather's funeral, when, not quite a week afterward, 
 she went to see Miss Post. Many misgivings had attended 
 her concerning the step she was about to take, and she was 
 very glad that she had taken no one into her confidence 
 about it, and so was still free to change her mind should 
 she wish to do so. But she did not wish to, after a few 
 minutes' talk with Miss Post, for the old lady's gentle, dep- 
 recating manner and fragile appearance entirely won Mu- 
 riel's heart, and her only difficulty now was a fear that she 
 might state her proposal awkwardly, or in such a manner 
 as to hurt Miss Post's feelings. 
 
 But there are a few people in the world who have the 
 blessed gift of taking no offense where no offense is meant, 
 and Miss Post was among the number. She listened with 
 increasing surprise, as Muriel said : 
 
 " I wished to ask if you would be willing to give up your 
 room, and come to s'tay permanently with me at four dol- 
 lars a week. My house is very large, and I could give you 
 a nice, sunny bedroom and a sitting-room, quite to yourself. 
 Your meals would be sent up to the sitting-room so that 
 whenever you wished to have a friend to dinner or tea, you 
 would be free from interruption, and I have so much sew- 
 ing to be done for I do not like to sew at all, and never 
 do it if I can help it that you need not fear not having 
 enough to do. There is a very good sewing machine, I 
 believe, or you could sew by hand if you preferred it." 
 
 " But I do not think I should be worth that much ! " 
 replied Miss Post, after an astonished pause, " I am only 
 paid a dollar a day for dressmaking, and I can very seldom 
 get more than three days' work in one week, so you see 
 that leaves me four days' board, and the rent of my room
 
 5 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 to pay all the time. And then, sometimes, when my arm 
 is very bad, I am obliged to stop working entirely for a 
 day or two. I would like it very much I would accept at 
 once, if I thought it fair to you but I do not." 
 
 The gentle, wistful expression of her face, as she spoke, 
 went to Muriel's heart. 
 
 " Will you let me be the judge of what your services 
 would be worth to me ? " she asked gently, adding, as Miss 
 Post remained silent : 
 
 " You have been very highly recommended to me, and 
 what I chiefly want is some one in whom I can feel entire 
 confidence." 
 
 " If you are sure," said Miss Post, flushing at Muriel's 
 words, " I should like it very, very much. This is a cold 
 room you see it faces north ; but I can not afford to pay 
 any more rent than I am paying here, and I am not able to 
 find a better room for that ; indeed, few that I have looked 
 at are so good. I think, if I were in a sunny room all the 
 time, that I should be disabled much less often, perhaps 
 not at all, after a while. How soon would you wish me to 
 come ? " 
 
 " To-morrow, or the next day, if you could be ready," 
 answered Muriel, " and I should like to send some one to 
 help you pack your things, and dispose of any you do not 
 wish to keep. Perhaps you would like to bring some articles 
 of furniture with you. If there is any thing you are 
 fond of, and do not wish to sell, just tell me, and I will have 
 space left for it in your rooms." 
 
 " You are very kind you are more than kind," said Miss 
 Post, gratefully, " and there are three or four things with 
 which I should hate to part ; that armchair, and the chest of 
 drawers, and the little work-table, and the candlestand. 
 They were my mother's. About the rest of the furniture I 
 do not care at all, and I will just send it to be sold. You
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 51 
 
 see I have heard of you, too, and I do not feel afraid to 
 1 burn my ships.' " 
 
 " You need not, I think," responded Muriel, greatly 
 pleased by the old lady's confiding acceptance of the bar- 
 gain, and, to tell the truth, with having so easily got over 
 the part of the arrangement which she had dreaded, that 
 about the private table. 
 
 She had thought the matter over very carefully, and had 
 come to the conclusion that it would be better and more 
 conducive to the comfort of both to settle it beforehand in 
 this way, but she had been afraid that Miss Post would 
 misunderstand her, and construe what she said into a slight. 
 Just now, while she was quite alone, she would have pre- 
 ferred having almost any one at the table with her to the 
 dreariness of solitude, but she foresaw that the time might 
 come when even so gentle and unobtrusive a companion 
 might be an embarrassment. 
 
 Fortunately for her project, Miss Post was not "thin- 
 skinned ; " indeed, she would have felt the constraint quite 
 as much as Muriel would, for in most of the places where 
 she worked her meals were sent to the sewing-room, and 
 she had grown accustomed to eating alone, from this, and 
 from the many days passed in the solitude of her room. So 
 it was settled that, with Margery's help, she was to be ready 
 the next day but one, and Muriel went home well satisfied 
 with her day's work. She had made a beginning, and " it 
 is the first step that costs." 
 
 She told May at dinner of what she had done, and was 
 greatly cheered by her cousin's warm approval and hearty 
 interest. 
 
 " You must take your release as soon as Miss Post is 
 established here, dear May," said Muriel, " for I know how 
 much your aunt must miss you, and I will not let you stay 
 when there is no real necessity for it."
 
 52 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 " If you steal my substitute, I suppose I must take you 
 at your word," said May, smiling, " but I shall hate to 
 leave you. I do wish I could catch Aunt Sally for you ! " 
 
 " Tell me more about Aunt Sally, please," replied Muriel, 
 in whom, each day, new interest, and even excitement in 
 the life before her awakened more and more. " I have 
 heard you mention her so often since we have been together, 
 that I am growing quite curious concerning her, and even 
 beginning to think seriously of trying to ' capture ' her, as 
 you suggest. Now, you are going to lie on the lounge oh 
 yes, you are ! You may have ' all the pillys,' if you like, to 
 bring your head up to the level of mine, and I will sit in 
 this low chair, but you shall put your feet up, and take a 
 thorough rest, or else I will not say another word to you, or 
 let you say one to me ! There it quite rests me to look 
 at you. Now you can tell me all about Aunt Sally, please." 
 
 May had laughingly yielded to Muriel's despotic ar- 
 rangement of her, for she was indeed very tired, and, being 
 herself the care-taker at home, care and comforting were 
 doubly grateful to her. 
 
 " I hardly know where to begin," she said, " for Aunt 
 Sally is one of my specialties, too, and I am afraid of bor- 
 ing you, if I once get fairly started with her for my text." 
 
 " ' Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the 
 end,' " quoted Muriel, " there's a sound piece of advice 
 fresh from Wonderland." 
 
 " Very well, then on your own head be it, if you are 
 bored ! I suppose the beginning will be when I first saw 
 her, although I did not know who she was then. I shall 
 never forget the tableau it was extremely 'vivant!' I 
 was walking along Commonwealth Avenue one bright 
 afternoon, and the world and his wife were walking there, 
 too, for it was one of the first bright days of spring. I 
 met several people who were smiling in an amused sort of
 
 " Aunt Sally was holding a big, clumsy boy of twelve or thirteen by the arm." 
 
 P. 53.
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 53 
 
 way, ind then I came upon the tableau. Aunt Sally was 
 standing very erect, holding a big, clumsy boy of twelve or 
 thirteen by the arm, and in front of them was a little fellow 
 about half the size of the other, rubbing his knuckles into 
 his eyes and sobbing. I couldn't help stopping to look and 
 listen, and Aunt Sally was just saying : 
 
 " ' if you'd take a boy of your size, but to pretend to be 
 fighting with a little mite like that, when in reality you were, 
 only thrashing him, proves you a liar as well as a coward ! ' 
 
 " ' He sassed me ! ' said the big boy, sullenly. 
 
 " ' And suppose he did ? ' answered Aunt Sally, severely. 
 " ' If his sass was true you've no right to complain, and if 
 it wasn't, you need not mind it.' Then, with a ludicrously 
 sudden change of tone, she said, very kindly : 
 
 " ' Now, my boy, you know that in this country every body 
 has the chance of being president some day, and the very 
 first step toward governing other people, or being thought 
 worthy to do it, is to govern yourself. I often see you, and 
 I often think what a good, big, strong body you've been 
 given, and how much you ought to do in the world, but 
 you'll not do one thing that's worth while until, with God's 
 help, you take yourself in hand and do battle with your 
 own badness. Will you try?' 
 
 " I can't remember her exact words, but what she said 
 was something like this, and I thought how she was wast- 
 ing her ammunition ! But you ought to have seen that 
 great, lumpish fellow straighten up, and lift his eyes to 
 her face. It made me think of a light coming into a dark 
 room. 
 
 " ' Nobody never talked to me like that before,' he said, 
 ' and I don't know as I could do it, but if you'd let me 
 bring you a paper sometimes not to pay for it, I don't 
 mean, but if I've one left over and you'd sort of go over 
 it again to me, may be I could try. And I'm sorry I
 
 54 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 whopped him ; it wasn't no lie, what he said. Shake hands, 
 will you, Billy ? ' 
 
 " 1 began to feel like an eavesdropper, and so, to use an 
 expressive piece of slang, ' I came away then," but I 
 thought how I should like to know that old lady ! She was 
 rather tall, and very straight-backed, with piercing dark- 
 gray eyes, as I found afterward I thought they were black, 
 while she was talking to the boy and nearly white hair, 
 arranged in a round curl on each side of her face. She had 
 taken a step or two forward in her eagerness, and I saw 
 that she was quite lame, but I never saw any one who so 
 impressed me with a sense of her energy ; there was a sort 
 of abounding life in every motion she made. So you may 
 think how delighted I was when I met her, not two weeks 
 after witnessing her engagement with the newsboy. One of 
 my friends asked me to go with her to call on the Ray- 
 monds, who had just come to Boston, she said, from a 
 delightful old home in the country, and had gone to house- 
 keeping in a very nice flat in a private house, with a very 
 entertaining old ' cousin, or aunt, or something' to matron- 
 ize them, and this ambiguous person proved, of course, to 
 be Aunt Sally. I have liked her more and more, every day 
 that I have known her since then, and I flatter myself that 
 she likes me a little, for she is the soul of sincerity, and I 
 know she would not pretend to if she didn't. It seems that 
 these Raymonds were left, after their father's and mother's 
 death, without enough money to carry on the place, and yet 
 they did not wish to sell it, for the boy was only waiting till 
 he should be old enough to take charge of the farm ; but in 
 the meantime, it was necessary for the older girls to do 
 something, and for the younger girl and the boy to finish 
 their education. So they hit upon this plan of keeping 
 house in a few rooms, as being cheaper than boarding, and 
 persuaded Aunt Sally to take the helm. Alice, the oldest
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 55 
 
 girl, spent the first winter with her uncle and aunt, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hamilton she was not in very good health, I believe, 
 but I've always had a little uncharitable corner in my heart 
 about it and Rose found a very good situation in a private 
 school, and Marion was taken there as a pupil, with an 
 arrangement that she should teach afterward, and she's 
 doing it now. It was and is the most charming place to 
 visit. I always go there if I feel low in my mind, or ar.y 
 thing is worrying me, and somehow it doesn't seem worth 
 worrying over, when I've been there a little while. The 
 three sisters are very unlike. Rose, who is married, you 
 know, to that nice, clever Mr. Osborne, the artist, is a sweet, 
 gentle, spirited creature, with a great deal of sympathy for 
 every body, and Alice is gentle, too, and perhaps more intel- 
 lectual than Rose, but she always looks to me as if she were 
 inclined to fret over trifles, and dislike to be disturbed in 
 any way. Marion is best described by the word square 
 not that she's square-looking, for she isn't ; she's by far the 
 prettiest of the three, now, but she's so incorruptibly 
 honest ! I don't think I ever knew any one so sensitive 
 about truth. And yet she is not given to judging other 
 people she is rather inclined to the mistake of imagining 
 that every one comes up to her own standard. She's the 
 most guileless creature ! The boy is something like her ; 
 he's a nice fellow, and seems to be managing to grow up 
 without inflicting the proverbial ' awkward age ' on every 
 body connected with him. Indeed, I often wish that some 
 of the grown-ups I could mention were half so chivalrous 
 as he is. He's about fifteen, I think, but very tall and 
 strong for his age, and he hates city life cordially. It shows 
 how strong his sisters' influence over him is, that he has 
 promised to go to school until he is at least eighteen, before 
 he takes entire charge of the farm, but he spends all his 
 vacations there now, and he and Marion have a great deal
 
 56 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 of talk about what they will do when he is eighteen, and 
 settles there permanently. They always spend their sum- 
 mers there, and Mr. and Mrs. Osborne go with them, and 
 Mr. and Mrs. Craig, too, for part of the summer. Mrs. 
 Craig is their first cousin ; she was Fanny Hamilton. And 
 while they are there, Aunt Sally and Marion and Rose 'put 
 up' incredible quantities of every thing, and manage so 
 beautifully that they really have only to buy their meat and 
 groceries in the winter, and yet they keep the nicest table. 
 I said that Aunt Sally was so lame, the first time I saw her, 
 but she's much better now. Dr. Osborne, the girls' uncle, 
 who lives not far from Dovedale that's the name of their 
 country- place took her in hand the first summer they had 
 her there, and nearly cured her. He says he could quite 
 cure her if she had only one lazy bone in her body ! But I 
 am not going to wear you out talking about her any more 
 she's my eighth wonder of the world, aunty says, and an 
 inexhaustible subject." 
 
 " You're not wearing me out yet," replied Muriel, as 
 May paused. " I'm deeply interested in all you've said, 
 and my mind has only wandered to the extent of wondering 
 whether these charming people would be willing to come 
 and see me and be my friends. Do you think they would, 
 if you were to tell them how much I want them to ? " 
 
 " I know they would," answered May, confidently, 
 " though I will confess," she added, laughing a little, " that 
 they would take more immediate pleasure in doing so, if 
 you were a destitute stranger, without any friends or rela- 
 tives in Boston, and they thought they could put you in the 
 way of finding congenial employment ! " 
 
 A shadow swept over Muriel's face. 
 
 " If they only knew " she said, and made a pause of 
 which Mc-y hastened to take advantage by saying brightly : 
 
 " I think, if you will let me, I will bring Aunt Sally by
 
 IV A YS AND MEANS. 57 
 
 herself, first of all, for if she should strike you as she 
 struck me, and you should really wish to have her come 
 and live with you, it would be easier for you to make 
 friends with her, and enlist her sympathy, if you had her 
 all to yourself." 
 
 " I don't believe she'd be willing to leave her nieces 
 and nephew, and the home she's so fond of, to come 
 to a perfect stranger," said Muriel, doubtfully, " and 
 to tell the truth, I should hardly have the face to ask 
 her!" 
 
 " Of course, you would not ask her at the very first inter- 
 view, dear, but if you knew her as well as I think I do, you 
 would also know that, were she once to believe it her duty 
 to come and live with you, the fact of having to give up 
 her pleasure to do it would not have a feather's weight 
 against you, but would, on the other hand, be a strong 
 factor in your favor ! I sometimes think that if Aunt Sally 
 had been a man, she would have been a sort of pioneer 
 missionary. She'd have gone to the extreme west, most 
 probably, and taken up land, and planted a school-house, 
 and a church, and a sewing-society, and then, when every 
 thing was fairly going, and likely to prosper, she'd have 
 ' moved on ' to fresh fields and pastures new. I can fancy 
 her civilizing and enlightening a whole territory, advancing 
 serenely through a howling wilderness, and conquering all 
 before her. And her very first secular instruction would 
 always be in the art and mystery of making home-made 
 yeast. I do believe she thinks that good bread is only sec- 
 ond to good morals and manners. Her motto ought to be : 
 ' Let me make the bread of a nation, and I care not who 
 makes its laws ! ' ' 
 
 " Now, May, don't set me to work at that vexed question 
 again, for pity's sake ! It has tormented me quite enough, 
 foi it will not stay settled ! I thqught, after our talk about
 
 5 8 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 it the other evening, that it would never worry me again, 
 but it's a perfect jack-in-the-box ! " 
 
 " Then shut the lid, and fasten it down, my dear, and you 
 are at least safe for the present." 
 
 " But isn't that cowardly ? " 
 
 " That depends. Courage sometimes consists, I think, 
 in acknowledging oneself a coward, and taking precautions 
 accordingly. You know the suggestion that, instead of 
 stopping to battle with a specific temptation, we should just 
 try to rise to a higher level, where the temptation has no 
 place ! So we will not attack your vexed question all over 
 again just now, if you please ; I must confess to being 
 sleepy, humiliating as the confession is, and though I some- 
 how feel as if we were each to start on a long journey day 
 after to-morrow morning, in opposite directions, and so 
 ought to say a great deal more to each other to-night." 
 
 " Oh, please don't say that," exclaimed Muriel, with a 
 sort of terror, " it's hard enough to give you up, without 
 any such horrid suggestion as that and we will see each 
 other very often, will we not ? " 
 
 " Indeed, we will! " replied May, cordially, " I mean to 
 come and dine and sleep with you at least once a week, 
 ' until further notice,' if you will lend Miss Post to aunty, 
 for those evenings." 
 
 " I'll try to spare her ! And I'm glad you said that ; it 
 reminds me of something I wished to ask you. You know 
 Miss Post is to be installed day after to-morrow evening, 
 and I mean to ask her to take dinner with me the first 
 night it will make her feel more at home, I think, and I 
 want you and Miss Forsythe to come too. Will you ? And 
 do you think she will ? " 
 
 " I will, with much pleasure, and I have no hesitation in 
 promising for her ; we're sufficiently intimate for me to 
 take that liberty. And you were going to show me Miss
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 59 
 
 Post's rooms, and we've talked the whole evening away, 
 and I hear Margery coughing about the hall, with an admo- 
 nition in every cough ! Well, I can see the rooms day after 
 to-morrow evening, and see Miss Post's delight and sur- 
 prise, too. She will be lost in wonder over every single 
 arrangement you have made for her comfort, dear soul ! 
 She's a case in point, Muriel just look at all she hasn't, 
 and but I will not raise the lid again ! Come." And 
 May marched her cousin off to bed with a great show of 
 authority. 
 
 They quite agreed that it was " absurd " to talk about part- 
 ing the next morning but one, yet May felt very regretful, 
 and Muriel very desolate when the good-byes had been said. 
 For the frequent meetings which they promised themselves 
 would not be quite the same as these few days of close 
 companionship had been, and they both knew it." 
 
 Muriel pleased herself, for awhile, with arranging in her 
 mind what she would send May, very soon certain books 
 and music of which they had spoken ; a chair like the one 
 which stood in front of the library hearth ; flowers every 
 two or three days ; and then came sorrowfully the irresist- 
 ible conclusion that, at least, for the present, she must 
 deny herself this gratification. Their intimacy had sprung 
 up so suddenly, that a little going back would be necessary, 
 before all was made even. May might take the alarm, if 
 Muriel should be incautiously generous, and draw back, 
 even now, after coming so near ; for, sturdy and healthy as 
 her common-sense evidently was, it might not be proof 
 against the imputation of interested motives in " culti- 
 vating" Muriel's acquaintance and friendship. And she 
 would, Muriel knew, appreciate the abstinence from any 
 thing that would place her in an embarrassing position, and 
 not ascribe it to any mean or sordid motive, and this was a 
 great comfort. So she turned from her vain imaginings to
 
 6o WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 the practical pleasure of overseeing the arrangement of 
 Miss Post's rooms. Margery had put them in spotless 
 order, and it only remained to have removed the articles of 
 furniture which would be in the way when the few treasures 
 possessed by the new resident should arrive, and to fill one 
 of the windows with flowers from a neighboring florist's. 
 The order for these Margery was to leave on her way to 
 help the dressmaker with her final preparations. 
 
 They came promptly, and it was while she was arranging 
 them, with keen pleasure, in the deep window-seat of the 
 sunniest window, that Muriel suddenly realized that the 
 conservatory, for which she had timidly and vainly peti- 
 tioned a year ago, was now within her power, and as soon 
 as she was satisfied that the rooms were as attractive as 
 they could, at such short notice, be made, she went back 
 to the library and beguiled the rest of the day in drawing 
 plans and making estimates, and was agreeably surprised 
 by the flight of time, when Margery came to tell her that 
 Miss Post had arrived, and was crying ! 
 
 In great consternation Muriel flew to the rescue, but 
 she was quickly reassured as to the state of Miss Post's 
 feelings. 
 
 The contrast between the barren poverty of the room 
 she had left, and the prettiness and cheerfulness of her new 
 abode had overcome her, but only for a moment, and by 
 the time Muriel had knocked and been admitted, the tears 
 had been resolutely banished, and May's prophecy was 
 quickly fulfilled not a detail of the arrangement of the two 
 rooms escaped recognition and heartfelt gratitude. 
 
 Muriel often thought, in after days and years, of the 
 lasting effect which this reception of her first independent 
 effort to give pleasure had. It saved her from discour- 
 agement many a time, when she seemed to have failed, or 
 when a rude rebuff took the place of gratitude, and made
 
 WA YS AA'D MEANS. 6 1 
 
 her realize, as she came to know more of the world in which 
 she lived, how the " rough places " had been " made plain " 
 for her untried feet. 
 
 Margery was beaming with delight at the awakening of 
 interest and pleasure in her " bairn's " heart, and made the 
 ample excuse of a cup of tea for Miss Post, to get the bene- 
 fit of the happy change. 
 
 " I'm so glad you thought of that, Margery," said Muriel, 
 gratefully. " I was just going to ask you," she added, 
 turning to Miss Post, "to dine with me in the library this 
 evening, for Miss Forsythe and May are coming, and I 
 don't belive you stopped to eat your dinner to-day, you 
 must have been so busy." 
 
 " I had a substantial lunch," said Miss Post, apologeti- 
 cally, " but it will be none the less pleasant to dine with you 
 and my dear friends this first evening. And I will not try 
 to tell you how happy you have made me, Miss Douglas 
 happier than I ever hoped to be in this world. I never 
 dreamed of having such a home as this." 
 
 " I am very glad you are pleased," said Muriel, simply. 
 "We tried to make it pleasant for you, Margery and I. 
 But now I am going to leave you, for when you have had 
 your tea you must lie down and rest until dinner time. We 
 shall not dine until seven, because Miss Forsythe could not 
 come any earlier, May said. So good-by for the present." 
 
 Muriel long remembered the evening which followed, as 
 one does remember the bright places in life, sometimes 
 using them to illuminate the dark ones. It was the first 
 lifting of the heavy strain which had been imposed upon 
 her, not only during her grandfather's illness, and since his 
 death, but for months and years before, when, unconsciously 
 to herself, her mind and character had been warped by the 
 unnatural life of her home. She found herself talking 
 freely to Miss Forsythe of her vague plans and ideas, and
 
 62 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 the difficulties which seemed to spring up, like ill weeds, 
 about every project, until she was almost afraid to venture 
 upon any thing, for fear of doing more harm than good. 
 
 " I would not encourage that spirit, my dear, whatever 
 you do," said Miss Forsythe. " It would be better for you to 
 make all sorts of blunders at first than to sink into the 
 would-be-irresponsible state of so many rich people. We 
 are all inclined to fly to extremes, because they seem the 
 shortest way out of our difficulties, but they are not, really. 
 And the trouble wilh all anxious people, or so it seems to me, 
 is perfectly useless anticipation. We are seldom, if ever, at 
 a loss to know what we should do to-day, but we fret 
 because we foresee trouble for to-morrow, or the next day. 
 For you, just now, a little waiting and finding out seems 
 the best thing. I am far from wishing to meddle " 
 
 " Oh, please don't even suggest that you could ! " inter- 
 rupted Muriel, eagerly. 
 
 " I will not, then. But I was about to suggest that you 
 should begin by having a good talk with your lawyer, and 
 gaining a thorough, practical knowledge of all your affairs. 
 Then you will know just where you stand, and how far out 
 you may venture." 
 
 " I don't know the first thing about business ! " exclaimed 
 Muriel, in dismay. 
 
 " All the more reason for proceeding to know without 
 further loss of time ! " replied Miss Forsythe, inexorably, but 
 with a very kindly smile. " It will save you a vast amount 
 of future time and trouble to do this, and be good for you, 
 besides. I think May told me that old Mr. Keith had taken 
 charge of all your grandfather's business, and still had 
 charge of yours ? His firm is noted for honesty and fair 
 dealing, and you would run no danger, so far as any one 
 an see, of getting into trouble, should you leave every 
 jthing to them, and just ask for your money as you want it ;
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 63 
 
 but do you not think, yourself, that it would be much more 
 satisfactory, both to them and to you, to begin with a clear 
 knowledge of your affairs ? For one thing, if there is any 
 real estate, you should know all about that whether 
 there are houses on it, and what sort of tenants you have, 
 if there are. That, it seems to me, is of the first im- 
 portance." 
 
 " I never thought of that," said Muriel, brightening as 
 she spoke ; " that would really be interesting, and would 
 make up, perhaps, for having to listen to so much that 
 would seem stupid. Thank you, dear Miss Forsythe, for all 
 you have said. May told me you could help me. I suppose 
 the first thing will be to write a note to Mr. Keith, and 
 ask him to come and have a talk with me. I will do that 
 to-morrow. I had been thinking a little of trying to find 
 some nice, bright woman, with an arithmetical head, for a 
 sort of clerk, b.it I am afraid you think that I might be my 
 own clerk. Do you ? " 
 
 " For the present I do," replied Miss Forsythe, with that 
 unhesitating decision which was so comfortable to Muriel, 
 so surprising, and at times almost disconcerting, to gentle 
 little Miss Post. " After awhile," she added, " when you 
 are thoroughly conversant with your own affairs, and have 
 work in hand of more value and importance, you may find 
 some such person a necessity, but that has nothing to do 
 with to-day." 
 
 " I wish," said Muriel, wistfully, " that I could my keep 
 head as clear as you keep yours ! It must make every 
 thing go so much more easily. Did you always do it, or 
 did you have to learn how ?" 
 
 " I had to learn how, very decidedly," said Miss For- 
 sythe, " and I do not by any means keep it as clear yet as I 
 would like to. But I have learned, I hope, the uselessness 
 of forecasting. I don't mean that one should be heedless
 
 64 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 and careless about the future far from that ; but merely 
 that, having done whatever seems for the best to-day, we 
 should simply and reverently leave the result in God's 
 hands. I often long to give a very simple recipe to anx- 
 ious people let them write out, over night, what they 
 expect to have happen to them the next day, going as much 
 into detail as they can ; and then, the next evening let 
 them write what really did happen. I do not mean that 
 it will, necessarily, be either better or worse than their 
 anticipations, but only that it will be so utterly different 
 nine times out of ten, as to prove the futility of fore- 
 casting." 
 
 Muriel did not reply, because she felt incredulous, but 
 she made up her mind to try the " recipe " at once, and 
 that night after her guests had left her, and Miss Post had 
 said good-night, and several other things, she sat down at 
 the writing-table, found a piece of blank paper, and then, 
 smiling a little at the suggestion her hunt for it had given, 
 she wrote : 
 
 " I expect to breakfast at eight o'clock to-morrow morn- 
 ing ; to go into town about nine, and do some shopping ; 
 to be back, certainly, in time for a one o'clock lunch ; to 
 write a note to Mr. Keith, asking him to come as soon as 
 he can and let me have a talk with him ; to dine alone at 
 six o'clock ; to spend the evening writing letters and read- 
 ing." 
 
 Muriel read this over, and then smiled again, as she 
 thought of merely affixing " Fulfilled " to it the next even- 
 ing, and handing it to Miss Forsythe at the first opportu- 
 nity. She did not at all intend to give way to vain fore- 
 bodings, but she thought Miss Forsythe's zeal had carried 
 her a little too far. Margery knocked and entered softly 
 while she was still pondering over the programme, but 
 her gentle : " Are you not coming away to bed, Miss
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 65 
 
 Muriel? It's long past ten," somehow annoyed Muriel 
 a little. Was she never to be free, in small matters, 
 to follow out her own inclinations ? So she answered 
 kindly, but perhaps rather more decidedly than was nec- 
 essary : 
 
 " Not yet, Margery. I had a nap this afternoon, you 
 know, and I'm not at all sleepy. Don't wait for me, please. 
 You can shut the door between the rooms, and I will open 
 it softly when I am ready for bed." 
 
 Margery lingered a moment as if about to speak again, 
 but seemed to change her mind. 
 
 " Good night then, my deary," she said, and closed the 
 door upon herself as softly as she had opened it. 
 
 The fire was still bright upon the hearth, and the read- 
 ing-lamp, scrupulously cared for by Margery, who would 
 trust it to no one else, threw a circle of mellow light around 
 it. For the first time since her grandfather's death 
 Muriel felt like reading, and took from the low revolving 
 bookcase, which stood near her chair, a book which she had 
 begun some weeks before, and never finished. 
 
 It was one of the modern controversial books, of the mak- 
 ing of which the wise King might have prophesied, when he 
 said there was " no end," but it was cleverly written, and 
 aroused Muriel's thinking powers in a way which she found 
 very pleasant ; so she read on, quite unconscious of the pas- 
 sage of time, until she had finished the last page, and then, 
 glancing up at the noiseless mantle-clock for her grand- 
 father never would have a striking clock in any of the 
 rooms he occupied she was startled to find that it was 
 nearly one. The gas was always left burning, slightly 
 turned down, in both the upper and lower halls at night, so 
 she had only to put out her reading-lamp and hasten up- 
 stairs, trying to shake off the feeling that this unwonted 
 liberty-taking with time would bring a reprimand upon
 
 66 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 her in the morning. The door between her room and 
 Margery's was shut, according to her order, and she opened 
 it with burglar-like caution, when she was ready for bed, 
 listened a moment, and then, assured by the darkness and 
 silence that she had not disturbed her faithful attendant, 
 was asleep almost as soon as -her head touched the pillow. 
 
 She had given no orders about being called in the morn- 
 ing, for she had of late been waking unnecessarily and 
 annoyingly early, so that it was only when she was nearly 
 dressed, the next morning, that she chanced to look at her 
 watch, and discovered that it was half-past nine o'clock ! 
 She had already made the discovery that it was a rainy 
 day, and now she made a third that her shopping expedi- 
 tion could very well wait for pleasanter weather. She 
 remembered that there was a small stock of paper and 
 envelopes in the little old writing-desk which stood on a 
 table in her room, and for the different materials which were 
 to provide Miss Post with sewing, she could also afford to 
 wait. 
 
 She mildly reproached Margery for not having called 
 her to be not quite so mildly reproached, in turn, for hav- 
 ing sat up half the night! 
 
 " Now Margery ! " she answered, laughing a little, " you 
 don't know how long I sat up, for you were sound asleep 
 when I came to bed I know you were." 
 
 " That may very well be," admitted Margery, gravely, 
 " it was high time for folk to be asleep, but when I went to 
 fill the lamp this morning, it was near empty ! " 
 
 Muriel halted a moment between amusement and vexa- 
 tion, but fortunately the former conquered. After all, she 
 thought, it would be rather forlorn to be absolutely free 
 to have nobody care for one's concerns but just oneself. 
 And certainly, Margery had not allowed her displeasure to 
 affect her darling's comfort so far as breakfast was con-
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 67 
 
 cerned. Muriel dawdled so long over the tempting little 
 meal, that the bell rang not more than five minutes after she 
 had finished, and the tray had been carried from the library 
 and Margery came to say that " Miss Hardcastle was in the 
 parlor." 
 
 Muriel hesitated ; she had arranged in her own mind 
 that she would see only her intimates present and pros- 
 pective in the library, but the parlor had always seemed a 
 dreary room to her ; it was heated solely by the furnace, the 
 windows were hung with heavy, light-excluding draperies, 
 and to-day, with pouring rain and leaden clouds outside, 
 it would be intolerable. And she liked Julia Hardcastle, 
 so 
 
 " Show her in here, please, Margery," she said, and in a 
 moment Julia's bright, agreeable face made Muriel glad of 
 her decision. 
 
 " My family voted me crazy, without a single dissenting 
 voice, for coming out in such weather, even to see you," 
 said Julia, as she shook Muriel's proffered hand with a 
 hearty friendliness, which Muriel found very pleasant. " But 
 I am always seized with a spirit of restlessness on stormy 
 days, and find that there is some imperative reason for 
 going out, so this morning I said I -knew no one else would 
 be rash enough to brave the pelting of the pitiless for your 
 sake, and that I knew you would mope yourself to death, 
 and felt that it was my mission to keep you from doing it, 
 so here I am ! Are you glad to see me, or were you count- 
 ing on a nice quiet day all to yourself ? " 
 
 " Indeed, I am very glad," said Muriel warmly, " and now 
 you are just going to take off your hat and that wet cloak, 
 and stay to lunch with me. Please don't say you can not ! " 
 
 " I had no idea of saying it ! This room is much more 
 cheerful than the sewing-room at home from which I fled 
 we are having a dressmaker in the house, for our sins and
 
 68 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 I will confess that I told mamma not to be uneasy if I did 
 not appear until somewhere near dinner time. Oh, thank 
 you, Margery it is not so very wet, after all, you see, 
 Muriel." 
 
 She handed her cloak and hat to Margery, who had 
 appeared in answer to Muriel's ring, and stood waiting 
 orders, and well pleased that her " bairn " was not to be 
 left alone this dismal day. 
 
 " Miss Hardcastle will stay to lunch with me, Margery," 
 said Muriel, in a voice so much more cheerful than it had 
 been an. hour ago that Margery at once resolved to reward 
 Miss Hardcastle with a very good lunch indeed ! 
 
 " Oh, do you have it in here ? How charming ! " said 
 Julia, as Rogers went about his duty of laying the little 
 table in his usual silent and deft manner. 
 
 " Yes," replied Muriel. " The dining-room seemed so 
 dreadfully large, just at first, and now I have grown used 
 to eating here, and I like it so much better that I shall not 
 make any change for the present. I always did like this 
 room better than any other in the house ; I think, partly, 
 because it was here that grandpapa first noticed me and 
 made friends with me." 
 
 And she told Julia the story of her introduction to the 
 room. 
 
 Julia laughed heartily. 
 
 " What a little limb you must have been ! " she said, " I 
 wish you had not been obliged to sober down so completely 
 afterward. But I sincerely hope that the quality, whatever 
 It was, that sent you sliding down the balusters that day, 
 has only been scotched, not killed, and that I shall see man- 
 ifestations of it before long ! " 
 
 " I don't know," said Muriel, meditatively. " Sometimes 
 I think one way, and sometimes the other. And I do 
 believe that if I had had a chance, I should have been a
 
 WA YS AND MEANS, 69 
 
 very bad little girl ; so perhaps it was all for the best, as the 
 old lady in the tract said about every thing. Come, lunch 
 is ready but I think a cup of coffee would be nice, don't 
 you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I think so ; but, my dear Muriel, you know it's 
 Lent, and I am pledged against tea and coffee until Easter 
 morning ; but don't, if you please, let that hinder you from 
 having it ; I can enjoy the smell, which is often really better 
 than the taste." 
 
 " Oh, no, I don't care about it at all. I thought I remem- 
 bered that you liked it. It is very good of you to give it 
 up, I think. Do you always give up something ? " 
 
 " I have, for the past few years since I have been con- 
 firmed. But I am not at all clear about the goodness. Mr. 
 Percival our minister, you know asks us all to give up 
 something during Lent, and I chose tea and coffee for two 
 reasons : I like them better than I like any thing to eat, and 
 the giving them up, even for not quite six weeks, has such 
 a charming effect upon my complexion that I only wish I 
 had sufficient strength of mind to do it altogether ! " 
 
 Muriel was silent. She could not think of any adequate 
 answer to this exceedingly frank declaration, that would 
 not, under the circumstances, be impolite ; and Julia, fortu- 
 nately, did not appear to notice the silence, but chatted on, 
 most amusingly, glancing from one subject to another with 
 a rapidity and versatility which seemed astonishing to her 
 quieter cousin. Lunch was finished, the table removed, 
 and still Julia stayed on, honestly enjoying herself, for 
 Muriel, under the unwonted influence, had brightened very 
 much, and, if not taking a fair share in the lively talk, was 
 at least a very evidently appreciative listener. The gather- 
 ing dusk at length seemed to suggest to Julia that dinner 
 time must be approaching, and she rose to go. Muriel felt 
 a sudden shrinking from the loneliness and silence of a
 
 70 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 solitary evening in the library, which, by contrast with the 
 cheerful afternoon, seemed unendurable, and she laid a 
 detaining hand on Julia's arm as she said: 
 
 " Oh, why must you go ? Why can't you just stay all 
 night with me ? " 
 
 The sincerity of the invitation was so evident that Julia 
 looked genuinely pleased. 
 
 " Why, I haven't my tooth-brush, my dear," she answered, 
 laughing, " and besides, although my family, I am thankful 
 to say, is not unduly solicitous, it might consider itself 
 called upon to be alarmed, should I not appear by bedtime." 
 
 " But if you will write aunt Matilda a note, and ask for 
 what you wish for the night, including your tooth-brush, 
 Rogers shall take it as soon as he has brought in dinner. 
 Margery can wait on us." 
 
 " I have no answer to that argument, because I really 
 would like to stay," said Julia, "if I wouldn't, I could in- 
 vent an unanswerable answer ! Do you know, Muriel, I 
 think you are very much to be envied ? Fancy being mon- 
 arch of all you survey, in a great castle like this, with 
 nothing to do but order your servants about, like that man 
 in the Bible ! What good times you ought to have, after a 
 little while, when you begin to go into society again !" 
 
 "If you knew how lonely ," began Muriel; then she 
 stopped herself. Where was the use ? So she added, 
 more lightly : 
 
 " There is no ' again ' about it, for you know I never have 
 been into ' society ' at all. And, from what little I have seen 
 of the outside of it, I am not sure that I shall consider the 
 game worth the candle. It somehow strikes me as being a 
 good deal more candle than game." 
 
 " That depends," replied Julia, " and Muriel, you mustn't, 
 whatever you do or don't do, give yourself the name of 
 being odd or eccentric. The eyes of Boston are upon you,
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 7 1 
 
 or will be, as soon as you emerge, and even if you don't ex- 
 actly pine for it, you must act as if you did, to a certain 
 extent." 
 
 A lively argument followed, which lasted through dinner, 
 and well into the evening ; it was perfectly good-humored 
 on both sides, and left each of them more firmly convinced 
 of the justice of her cause than it had found her. Julia 
 herself proposed going to bed soon after ten. She was not 
 minded to lose any of the benefits of her observance of 
 Lent, and she intended, beside, to go to an early service 
 next morning, but for this she begged Muriel not to disturb 
 herself ; their own breakfast hour was from eight to nine, 
 arid she could easily, she said, reach home in time for break- 
 fast. Muriel had the <*ood ense to accede to this arrange- 
 ment, thereby raising herself still more in Julia's estimation, 
 and the cousins parted with exceedingly friendly good-nights 
 at the door of one of the stately " spare rooms." It had not 
 occurred to either of them, as Muriel remembered afterward, 
 with a smile, that they might sleep together. And it was 
 only when Muriel was alone in her own room that she re- 
 membered her "programme," and read it with some amuse- 
 ment, but not very thorough conviction. " One swallow 
 does not make a summer," and she thought that to-day had 
 been merely an exception. It was only after repeated trials 
 that she allowed herself to be convinced, and this very fact 
 made her all the more thoroughly a convert to Miss Forsythe's 
 view of the matter, when s'..e did yield. The difference was 
 not always so striking, but in one way or another, it was 
 always there. 
 
 The note to Mr. Keith was written and posted early 
 the next morning, asking him to come that afternoon, 
 should he find it convenient to do so. She felt very much 
 as if she were making an appointment with the dentist, 
 and that the sooner she could get it over the better. 
 Still, she sternly determined that she would not allow this
 
 72 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 feeling to influence her judgment or conduct. She had 
 seen, more and more, the sensibleness of Miss Forsythe's 
 advice, and fully meant to carry it out. But how fervently 
 she wished that the gay, handsome face which smiled at her 
 from her treasured miniature of her father were beside her 
 now in life and reality, so that she might, with a clear con- 
 science, feel rid of of all responsibility.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A MORAL. 
 
 " I would not have the restless will 
 
 That hurries to and fro, 
 Seeking for some great thing to do, 
 
 Or secret thing to know ; 
 I would be dealt with as a child, 
 
 And guided where to go." 
 
 MURIEL had, in her note, requested Mr. Keith to send 
 her word should it not suit him to see her that after- 
 noon, and she received her letters at lunch-time, with a 
 cowardly hope that a postponement of the interview might 
 be among them, but it was not. There was an affectionate 
 letter from the schoolfellow with whom she had been most 
 intimate, Lina Fairfax, a note from Julia containing a prom- 
 ised address, and a few words of cordial pleasure concern- 
 ing her impromptu visit, with a hope that it would soon be 
 returned, and another from May Douglas, to say that, should 
 Muriel have no engagement for that evening, she, May, 
 would like to bring " Aunt Sally " to call. 
 
 " I will not tell you to try to make a very good impres- 
 sion in furtherance of our dark design," added May, " for I 
 know what a dreadfully ' contrariwise ' effect such counsels 
 usually have, and I have an idea, moreover, that you and 
 Aunt Sally are a pair of long-sundered kindred spirits, and 
 that it will be a sort of ' Where-hast-thou-stayed-so-long ' 
 meeting, when you do meet. She is deeply interested in
 
 74 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 you and your opportunities, already ; more, I am afraid I 
 must confess, in the latter than the former, but we will soon 
 change all that." 
 
 " So I am to have two ordeals in one day !" said Muriel 
 to herself, as she finished reading May's note, " I almost 
 wish but no, I am not going to make an ordeal of that 
 nice Miss Bowne's visit ; I shall try to fancy that it is just 
 as May says, and that we shall feel well acquainted with- 
 out any preliminary stiffness. Even if she should not 
 care to come to live with me and I am sure I don't see why 
 she should ! she would be a great help just to have for a 
 friend, and to go to whenever I am puzzled and in doubt. 
 But that, I am afraid, will be more than half my time. I do 
 wish one might make a sort of chess-board arrangement of 
 one's life, the lines perfectly clear, and the divisions definite 
 and unmistakable. It would be rather stupid, perhaps, 
 but so much safer and easier than it is now." 
 
 Muriel buried herself in the big chair, and pursued this 
 train of thought, until the subdued voice of Rogers, as he 
 called her attention to the fact that he was, in the most cor- 
 rect manner, presenting her with a card upon a salver, 
 interrupted her meditation. The card was inscribed : 
 " Mr. Douglas Keith," and she laid it down with a passing 
 thought of the coincidence of names, and a confused idea 
 that old Mr. Keith's first name had always, heretofore, 
 been Angus. Her bewilderment increased, when, as she 
 entered the long parlor, or drawing-room, as her aunt 
 invariably called it, a man who was, certainly, not more 
 than thirty-five years old, rose from the easiest of the rather 
 uneasy chairs, and came forward to meet her. She fancied 
 she saw the glimmer of a smile, gone almost before it came, 
 on the very good-looking face to which she raised her puz- 
 zled eyes, and this at once restored her to self-possession, 
 and, in some mysterious way, to the recollection, as well,
 
 IV A YS AND MEANS. 75 
 
 that Mr. Keith had recently taken his two sons into partner- 
 ship with himself this, no doubt, was one of them, and a 
 little feeling of displeasure at the substitution crossed her 
 mind, and, quite possibly, her candid face, for Mr. Keith, 
 after a courtly bow, opened the proceedings with : 
 
 " Miss Douglas, I believe ? Permit me to apologize for 
 having come in my father's place. He is deeply engaged 
 to-day, and will be for some days to come, upon a very 
 important case, and as I was thoroughly conversant with the 
 business connected with Mr. Hardcastle's estate, and as he 
 thought you might have something of importance to com- 
 municate, I ventured, at his request, to substitute him but 
 only to assure you, Miss Douglas, should you prefer to wait 
 until early next week, that he will be quite at your service 
 then. He regrets very much that he should be obliged to 
 disregard your first summons." 
 
 The ease and fluency with which this somewhat long sen- 
 tence was delivered, seemed to deprive it of half its length, 
 and Muriel,felt a little amused wonder as to whether it were 
 " extrumpery, like most triles of patience," or the result of 
 careful and successful composition and study. 
 
 She hesitated a moment before replying a hesitation 
 which called forth again that ghost of a smile for it surely 
 was no more. Here was her reprieve, should she choose to 
 take it, but, if what this serious-looking member of the 
 firm said were true, and it could scarcely be less, why 
 should she ? Four days more of uncertainty did not look 
 attractive. 
 
 " Thank you," she said, far more gravely than she had 
 intended to speak, " you are very kind, but, if you are at 
 leisure, and quite conversant, as you say, with my grand- 
 father's affairs, there is no reason why I should trouble your 
 father. What I wished was, to be told every thing that, 
 were 1 a man, it would be thought needful for me to know
 
 76 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 about the fortune which I have inherited. I understand 
 that there is some real estate, and I think, from one or two 
 things which my grandfather said during his last illness, 
 that he had contemplated buying more, and had even begun 
 the arrangement when he became too ill to attend further to 
 it. I will try not to give you unnecessary trouble, but I feel 
 that I must have a clear understanding of my affairs before 
 I can act, or even plan, intelligently." 
 
 Accepting the theory that "man is like an onion," encom- 
 passed with many concentric layers, but with a savage for 
 the core, it may be stated here that Mr. Douglas Keith 
 whistled. But his firm-set lips remained closed, and the 
 whistle was entirely inaudible. He bowed gravely, as he 
 replied : 
 
 " I shall be happy to furnish you with the fullest informa- 
 tion. But will you allow me to suggest that a memorandum- 
 book might prove of assistance? You will scarcely find it 
 possible, I am afraid, to remember all the details with which 
 I shall be obliged to burden you, without some such help, 
 for I will confess that, thoroughly as I have posted myself 
 upon the main facts, I must ask your indulgence, concern- 
 ing some minor details, until I can return to the office, and 
 look over the papers once more. Your grandfather was 
 strongly impressed with the wisdom of not investing a large 
 sum in any one place, and this will add somewhat, I am 
 afraid, to the trial of your patience, for which I must apolo- 
 gize beforehand." 
 
 " It is I who should apologize," said Muriel, with a bright 
 little smile, " for giving you what may appear to you to be 
 very needless trouble " he bowed a courteous disclaimer 
 " but I think, I hope that this will, in the long run, be the 
 easiest way both for you and myself. Surely it must be 
 to know exactly where one stands, and take no step in the 
 dark, instead of going blindly on until one strikes a wall !
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 77 
 
 Perhaps we had better come to the library, for I shall take 
 your advice, of course, about making memoranda." 
 
 She rose as she spoke, with the " springy motion " which 
 should be so natural to all young things, but which struck Mr. 
 Keith as a decided novelty, and led the way to the library. 
 The writing table had been cleared of the piles of paper and 
 memorandum-books with which Mr. Hardcastle had never 
 permitted any interference, and Muriel, arming herself with 
 a very new and long lead pencil, and the small blank-book in 
 which she had already begun to record her household ex- 
 penses, sat gravely down at one side of the table, while Mr. 
 Keith, with equal gravity, drew a chair to the other. 
 
 He began his statement and explanations at once, without 
 preface or preamble, and made every thing so clear, that 
 Muriel had no difficulty whatever, as a general thing, in fol- 
 lowing him. Where she did not at first understand, she 
 questioned until she did, and he could hot help seeing that 
 the notes were many, but very short. Her questions were 
 especially minute about the real estate, which, she found, 
 consisted chiefly of a block of small shops on a small street. 
 About half these were newly built ; the rest had been built 
 some ten or twelve years, and were beginning to call rather 
 too frequently, Mr. Keith said, for repairs. The purchase 
 which Mr. Hardcastle had been about to make, was of an- 
 other block in the heart of the city, almost valueless, so far 
 as the houses upon it were concerned, but in a business neigh- 
 borhood, where property showed signs of rising. Mr. Hard- 
 castle had intended, Mr. Keith thought, to destroy the un- 
 sightly houses which now occupied the block, and build a 
 row of shops or warehouses for renting. His father, he 
 said, had instructed him to say that, should Miss Douglas 
 so desire, they would carry out this design at once, as the 
 investment promised well, and the price of the block would 
 probably rise before long.
 
 7 8 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 Muriel knew that her grandfather had regarded the elder 
 Mr. Keith as a man of strict integrity and unusually sound 
 judgment, and she felt no hesitation about leaving the de- 
 cision, in such matters as this, entirely in his hands. His 
 son was evidently much pleased with her few words to this 
 effect, and the interview ended with a very friendly feeling 
 on both sides. Muriel had asked no foolish questions ; she 
 had listened with unwavering attention, and, as her remarks 
 proved, with perfect intelligence, while Mr. Keith, inspired, 
 perhaps, by the quality of his auditor, had acquitted him- 
 self well. Muriel held out her hand with a cordial good-will, 
 when the session was over, and spoke a few words of very 
 sincere gratitude for her instructor's patience and lucidity, 
 and he, instead of replying, as she was half afraid he would, 
 with a fulsome compliment to the intellectual powers of his 
 hearer, said simply that it gave him much pleasure to have 
 satisfied her, and then, with the first hesitation he had shown, 
 asked if he might be allowed to visit her. 
 
 " I know," he added, quickly, as if fearing that, should 
 she reply immediately, it would be in the negative, "that 
 you are, of course, neither visiting nor receiving general 
 visitors, just now, but my father and your grandfather were 
 very old friends, and 1 am presumptuous enough to hope 
 that you will make an exception in my favor, and allow me 
 to render you any and every service which a brother or 
 cousin might be permitted to offer." 
 
 " You are very kind," said Muriel, simply and gratefully, 
 " and it will give me pleasure to see you sometimes, but do 
 not think me rude if I ask you to wait for a few weeks. It 
 is all so new. I feel as if I had been suddenly thrust into 
 a foreign country, and were learning the language." 
 
 She paused, at a loss for words which would rightly ex- 
 press her meaning, and his quiet, " I think I understand," 
 pleased her more than any thing he could have said, so that
 
 I WA YS AND MEANS. 79 
 
 when he added, presently, " I will wait your permission to 
 visit you, but if, in the meantime, you find that I can render 
 you any service, I trust you will let me know," she answered, 
 earnestly. 
 
 I will indeed I will ! " 
 
 And Mr. Keith thereupon took his departure, and Muriel, 
 standing where he had left her, in front of the fire, smiled 
 to herself at the impression left by her first " ordeal." 
 
 " He seems so strong," she meditated, " and yet so very 
 kind and gentle. And he did not say a single one of the 
 foolish things which some people would have said. I think 
 I should have liked a brother just like him ; or no, not just 
 like ; that little smile, which he did not think I saw, was 
 not at all becoming to him, and seemed somehow out of 
 harmony. Now, I wonder if it was an indication of another 
 side of his character, which he keeps, or thinks he keeps, 
 quite out of sight ? " 
 
 Muriel's speculation on this point was cut short by the 
 announcement of dinner, before she had arrived at any defi- 
 nite conclusion, and as she sat down to her solitary meal, 
 she was suddenly struck, from quite another direction, with 
 what she considered a very brilliant idea. 
 
 " Rogers ! " she exclaimed, with unusual animation, " I 
 wonder if you could find me some flowers, if you were to 
 go at once ? Quite a large bunch, I want roses, if you 
 can get them. Do you think you can ? " 
 
 " Yes, miss," replied Rogers, sedately. " It is not seven 
 o'clock yet, and there is a very nice hot-house on the ave- 
 nue, five or six blocks below here." 
 
 " Then please go here is the money " and she handed 
 him a five-dollar note " and if you can't get roses, take 
 whatever they have that is prettiest perhaps the daffodils 
 and snowdrops have come." 
 
 The evident pleasure with which the old man received
 
 8o WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 the commission added to Muriel's sense of enjoyment of 
 this, her first actual extravagance since extravagance had 
 been within her power ; for, liberally as her grandfather 
 had provided for her in other respects, he had never per- 
 mitted her to exceed her allowance of pocket-money, not 
 so much from parsimony, as because he had honestly 
 believed that generosity, in this respect, could have only a 
 bad effect upon her, and, although she had often, since her 
 visiting among poor people began, been so circumstanced 
 as to feel the deprivation acutely, she had never been able 
 to bring herself to the point of " asking for more." 
 
 Rogers returned in an incredibly short time, with a clus- 
 ter of half-blown rosebuds, dark-red, golden-yellow, pure 
 white, and blush, which made it seem quite impossible that 
 winter was still in possession of that part of the earth. 
 
 " Oh, the lovely, lovely things ! " exclaimed Muriel, rap- 
 turously, as she took them from his hand. 
 
 " They was pretty dear, miss," said Rogers, depreca- 
 tingly, " that what you gave me was just 'zactly right, the 
 man said, after I'd picked these out, and I didn't take but 
 three of each kind ! " 
 
 " Oh, well, I suppose that's because it is so late in the 
 season," said Muriel, carelessly, " I am sure they could not 
 be lovelier. Just ask Margery to give you some sort of 
 glass bowl, please, Rogers, and fill it with lukewarm water." 
 
 Rogers departed, wondering. 
 
 " Times is changed, indeed ! " he muttered to himself, as 
 he closed the door. 
 
 Muriel was still hovering over the bowl of roses, ten- 
 derly adjusting them in different positions, when May and 
 Miss Bowne were ushered in. She had given orders that 
 they should be brought directly to the library. The flowers 
 served as an introductory topic, but Muriel soon saw that 
 her second " ordeal " was as little to be dreaded as the first
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 8 1 
 
 had proved, and before the evening was over she had fallen 
 into the snare which had captured so many people, and 
 addressed Miss Bowne as "Aunt Sally" as naturally as 
 Possible ! The old lady was greatly pleased, as she always 
 was when this tribute was paid unconsciously, and would 
 nit allow Muriel to apologize, and May was scarcely less 
 gratified. She had set her heart upon the plan of inducing 
 Miss Bowne to live, at least for the present, with Muriel, 
 but, eager as she was to suggest, and then further the idea, 
 she was too wise to be over-eager, and nothing was said 
 about it that evening. Of her puzzled state of mind Muriel 
 did talk a little, and Miss Bowne, without knowing that 
 any one else had made the same suggestion, said that it 
 seemed to her that all Muriel could do, just now, was to 
 wait, and keep her eyes open. 
 
 " There are different ways of waiting," continued Miss 
 Bowne, " some folks wait sitting down, and make them- 
 selves so comfortable that they're not very keen-sighted for 
 chances to do any thing else ; and then they're very apt to 
 say that there are no chances, and that luck is against 
 them ! And others wait booted and spurred, so to speak, 
 and all ready to spring into the first empty saddle that 
 comes by. There's no such thing as luck ! That's a word 
 that has lost its head, and ought to get it back again and 
 be called pluck ! " 
 
 " But doesn't it seem," said Muriel, with a little hesita- 
 tion, "as if some people had more ways and chances of 
 doing good put in their paths than others have ? " 
 
 " They may seem to, but they don't, really," replied Miss 
 Bowne, with a cheerful decision, which sometimes carried 
 conviction, but which did not, quite, in this case. 
 
 " If a poor person, for instance, thinks she has no chance 
 to do tangible good," she continued, " she forgets one 
 thing she could always do, and that is, be a sort of broker
 
 82 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 between the people in need of help and those who have 
 help to give. But there's where a false pride often steps in 
 they're afraid of being rebuffed, and it seems so much 
 like begging for themselves, and so it goes, when, often 
 , enough, rich people are glad to be told of what they call 
 ' deserving cases,' though that's a term I don't like, for I 
 can't help wondering where some of us would be if we were 
 really to get our deserts." 
 
 The girls both laughed, more at Aunt Sally's manner 
 than at what she said, and Muriel responded quickly : 
 
 " I'm so glad you feel that way, Aunt Sally. You see I 
 don't mean to go back to ' Miss Bowne ' for so often, it 
 seems to me, the people who suffer most terribly are just 
 the very ones who, to use a cant expression, ' have them- 
 selves to thank for it.' You know that verse in ' A Com- 
 forter ' 
 
 ' If you break your plaything yourself, dear, 
 Don't you cry for it all the same? 
 I don't think it is such a comfort. 
 One has only oneself to blame,' 
 
 and I never could see why people should not be helped up, 
 because they had slipped down, instead of being knocked 
 down." 
 
 " Nor I either," said May, warmly. " Aunty and I often 
 talk about that. Of course there are, I suppose, incorrig- 
 ibles who slip down on purpose to be helped up, but more 
 often,! think, a helping hand held out might save the poor 
 souls from all future slips, and set them firmly on their 
 feet." 
 
 Aunt Sally nodded approvingly. 
 
 " Yes," she said, " I know plenty of cases where the very 
 shame of having slipped, that would have dragged them 
 still lower if they'd been left to themselves, helped to hold 
 them up, and make them strong. You know Marion Wood-
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 83 
 
 side, May at least you've heard me talk enough about her 
 to know her she's one of my numerous nieces, Miss Doug- 
 las. When her servant married and left her, three or four 
 years ago, she took a woman who drank not all the time, 
 but every few days ; a woman who, but for that, was as nice 
 a body, and as good a cook as you'd wish to see, but she'd 
 lost place after place, and her sprees were coming oftener, 
 and it really did not look as if she had a chance left. Marion 
 put some little extra touches in her servants' room it was 
 nice enough before and she bought a small brown coffee- 
 pot, and a small black tea-pot, and when the poor soul came, 
 Marion showed her all about, as if she'd been company, and 
 last of all, she said : 
 
 "'Now Hannah, I know just how hard it will be, as well 
 as any body, beside your Saviour and yourself, can know, 
 and I want you to promise me only one thing whenever 
 you feel the craving, no matter what you are doing, make 
 yourself at once a nice cup of tea or coffee these little 
 pots are just for you and while you are making it say a 
 prayer for help over the hard place.' And if you'll believe 
 me, that woman, whom nobody would have in her house, 
 had but one slip, after Marion took her, and her mortal 
 shame over that has been, with God's help, the rock of her 
 safety ever since." 
 
 There were tears in Muriel's eyes, as she said, 
 " how very, very happy your niece must be ! and how 
 beautiful it was in her to take that poor woman whom 
 nobody else would have ! I have had so much time for 
 thinking since I left school, that I have gone over and over 
 again a sort of plan for fighting intemperance, which I 
 think I could carry out, if I might only find the right sort 
 of help. I don't know whether you ever read an absurd, 
 delightful book by Besant and Rice, called ' All Sorts and 
 Conditions of Men ? ' "
 
 84 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! " said Aunt Sally and May both at once, 
 and the former added: 
 
 " I like a good novel, once in awhile, it sort of freshens 
 me up, and Jack Osborne he's one of my ' nephews,' and 
 an artist brought me that book when I was shut in the 
 house with a cold. 1 read it twice over, and felt as if it 
 ought to be read aloud in the public squares. And by the 
 way, my dear, there's another notion for you why can't 
 the charitable people hire some of the poor clerks and such- 
 like, who are out of employment, to sit in the squares and 
 public gardens, and read out loud ? I don't mean to rant 
 and declaim, and attract a mob ; it would take tact to man- 
 age it, as it does to manage any thing, for that matter ; but 
 just to sit down among a parcel of loafers and say, ' I've a 
 nice bright little story here I'd like to read aloud, if any 
 body will listen to me.' And then he might read ' Ten 
 Times one is Ten,' or ' Laddie/ or any one of three or four 
 dozen short stories that find people's hearts, and wake the 
 poor souls up and get them to talk back, and send them 
 home with something to think of ! Now May ! I'd rather 
 have you laugh outright, than in that wicked way with your 
 eyes ! Why don't you pull me up when I go off like that ? 
 My children always do oh, very politely, of course, but 
 still, they do it ! " 
 
 " I didn't wish to pull you up, dear," replied May, laugh- 
 ing a little, since she had permission ; " I love to hear you 
 digress ; you say some of your very best things in that way, 
 and I think the idea of the readers is capital. I'll talk to 
 aunty about it, and we'll both wish we had thought of it 
 ourselves. Every body loves a good story, I think, and I 
 wish fiction could be utilized more than it is, as an agent of 
 reform. In our Palace of Delight we will have two rooms, 
 one for the men and one for the women, and a professional 
 story teller in each room."
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 85 
 
 " Now I shall pull you up, Miss Douglas," said Muriel, 
 smiling at May, " for I really do wish to hear what Miss 
 Bowne thinks about my nebulous idea, and it has so many 
 stars in it ! Do you think it would be at all possible, Aunt 
 Sally, to have some such place a lovely warm, cheerful, 
 homelike place, where they might learn to make homes for 
 themselves ? " 
 
 "My dear, I do!" replied Aunt Sally with her usual 
 energy. " But my idea would be, instead of having one 
 palace, to have four or five mansions, we might call them, 
 all under one chief manager, but each with a separate sub- 
 manager. And I'd plant them in the very worst neighbor- 
 hoods, where there were the most liquor-saloons. I do 
 believe if the temperance people, and all the other reform- 
 ers would go at the work of substitution, they might shut 
 up two-thirds of the saloons, and empty three-fourths of 
 the prisons, in ten years ! " 
 
 Then, with a sudden change of tone, she exclaimed : 
 
 " Here I've been waiting to hear that clock strike nine, 
 and it doesn't strike at all, and if it did, it would be striking 
 ten" 
 
 " And at ten o'clock, as we all know, who have the honor 
 of your acquaintance," interrupted May, saucily, " the 
 coach turns to a pumpkin, and the horses to mice. Hurry, 
 Aunt Sally, hurry, before Muriel discovers what you really 
 are ! " 
 
 "Oh, please must you really go? The evening seems 
 only just begun ! " pleaded Muriel ; but Aunt Sally was 
 inexorable. 
 
 " My dear," she said, " I find example is better than 
 precept where young people are concerned, and I'm trying 
 to give my young people a fair share of health and strength, 
 as it's about all the capital they'll have ; and as they're 
 obliged to rise early, I get them off to bed, as nearly as I
 
 86 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 can, at ten o'clock, though I'll not deny that it's ' quite a 
 little cross,' as Sister Frances said, sometimes. But I don't 
 mean that this shall be our last meeting, by a long shot, and 
 I hope you don't, either, so we will only say good-night, 
 and not good-by, and you must come and see me very soon^ 
 My young folks are coming to see you to-morrow evening, 
 if you'll let them, and then I hope we shall all be comfort- 
 able friends. I don't like acquaintances very much. Good- 
 night." 
 
 She had been putting on her wraps as she spoke, and now 
 she took both Muriel's hands in a close, firm clasp, and 
 kissed her with a motherly warmth, which brought tears 
 once more to the eyes of the lonely girl. May bent for ona 
 more sniff at the fragrant roses, and Muriel, seizing her 
 opportunity, stepped forward, and began to disengage more 
 than half from the rest, remarking, as she did so : 
 
 " Will it be too much trouble for you to take some of 
 these to your aunt for me, dear ? " 
 
 May's eyes sparkled with pleasure. She knew how Miss 
 Forsythe craved the flowers which, in winter, were quite 
 beyond her reach. 
 
 " Too much trouble ! No, indeed ! " she replied, warmly. 
 " But, Muriel, you're taking nearly all do leave some for 
 yourself ! " 
 
 " I am leaving plenty for myself, ma'am see ! There 
 are two of you, and there's only one of me, you know ! " 
 
 And the light laugh ended in a little sigh, as Muriel 
 twisted some soft paper about the stems of three-fourths of 
 her roses. Then the final good-nights were said, the offer 
 of Rogers as a " squire of dames " was gratefully but 
 firmly declined, because, as Aunt Sally said, the street-cars 
 passed the nearest corner, and would take first May, and 
 then herself, almost to their very doors, and Muriel was left 
 alone in the library, which, so cheerful a few minutes before,
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 87 
 
 now seemed empty and desolate by contrast. She tried to 
 interest herself in a book, but failed. Then she glanced at 
 the clock. It was only a quarter past ten ; she put the 
 rest of her roses and smilax into a small vase which stood 
 on the mantel-piece, and then went up stairs, and walked 
 softly to the door of Miss Post's sitting-room. A bright 
 light shone over the transom, so she knocked, and was 
 bidden to come in. 
 
 " There's nothing the matter," she said, smiling at the 
 anxiety which showed through Miss Post's gentle smile, 
 "but I thought perhaps my roses would not look so fresh 
 by morning these hot-house flowers wither so soon and so 
 I brought them up to-night, but I should not have knocked, 
 if I had not seen a light over your door. See aren't they 
 pretty ? " 
 
 " They are lovely, lovely ! " said Miss Post, fervently. 
 " Did you bring them to me ? How kind ! I do enjoy 
 those plants in the window so you can't think, Miss 
 Muriel ! I haven't had a flower this winter, till I came here. 
 And these seem as if it must be summer somewhere. I was 
 trying to read my chapter, but I think I must need stronger 
 glasses ; I must see about it to-morrow. I know this is 
 good print, but I find it harder and harder to read at night." 
 
 " May I read it to you to-night ? " and Muriel took the 
 well-worn Bible from the table, and opened it where a faded 
 card-board marker lay. " Is this it ? The twelfth chapter 
 of Hebrews ? " 
 
 " Yes, that is it, and I shall be so much obliged," said 
 Miss Post, gratefully. " I'm always glad when I come to 
 the eleventh and twelfth chapters of Hebrews," she added 
 " they seem to put new life and strength into me. And if 
 you're not sleepy, or in a hurry, Miss Muriel, would you 
 mind reading both ? I don't think they were ever meant to 
 be separated, but my eyes gave out last night entirely."
 
 oo WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " I shall not mind at all," said Muriel, smiling. " I like 
 to read aloud ; Miss Willis says it is a much- neglected 
 accomplishment, and she drilled us well in it." 
 
 So Muriel read those stirring, trumpet-like words, and 
 Miss Post listened, with a pleasure as eager and fresh as if 
 they were quite new to her ; or rather, with that far deeper 
 happiness which comes of long acquaintance ; and then 
 most friendly good-nights were exchanged, and Muriel 
 went cheerfully to her room and to bed, first making a 
 memorandum "A lamp like the one in the library for 
 Miss Post's sitting-room. Oculist." 
 
 " Would it be much trouble for you to take care of an- 
 other lamp, Margery ? " asked Muriel, the next morning, 
 as she stood, all ready for a flight into the region of shops. 
 
 " Not more than I could manage, Miss Muriel," replied 
 Margery, dryly, but she added, presently : 
 
 " I was about asking you if there could not be a better 
 light for that good lady's sitting-room. The drop-light is 
 over high to read by, and flickers beyond a bit, and to my 
 mind, a lamp is better than all your gas, if it's properly 
 cared for. And there's some kind of a new burner they 
 have now, that gives even a better light than our library- 
 lamp does they'll know in the shop ; I can't recall the 
 name just now." 
 
 " Margery, you'd have been burnt for a witch, if you'd 
 lived a hundred years ago ! " and Muriel laughed brightly. 
 " Pray, how did you know that the lamp was for Miss Post's 
 room?" 
 
 " How would I not know ? I didn't think you'd be want- 
 ing to light up the parlor, and spend your evenings there ! " 
 And Margery smiled in the slow, reluctant, rather grim 
 manner which seemed to deprecate the light-mindedness of 
 smiling at all. 
 
 " Miss Muriel," she began, as Muriel turned to go, " if
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 89 
 
 you'll not think me meddling she had a canary-bird last 
 winter that somebody gave her because it was ailing, and he 
 was tired of caring for it, and just as she thought she had 
 it cured, it died, and to hear her talk you'd think it was a 
 baby, at the very least ; and she says to think how it would 
 have thriven in that sunny window among the flowers." 
 
 "Oh, Margery," replied Muriel, " I always hate to see 
 caged birds it seems so unnatural." 
 
 " That may be," said Margery, tranquilly. " It was not 
 in your room, nor yet in the library 1 thought it would be 
 kept, and I have heard that a bird born and brought up in 
 a cage neither asks nor knows better." 
 
 " Is there any thing else? " asked Muriel, with such meek- 
 ness that Margery gave her first a keen and then a wither, 
 ing glance and stalked away. Nothing so roused her as a 
 hint that she was " forgetting her place," and Muriel flew 
 after her and made her peace, unwilling to leave the house 
 under the cloud of her old nurse's displeasure. 
 
 The suggestion about the canary bird and her own re- 
 luctance to give a pleasure which she herself could not ap- 
 preciate as such, gave Muriel food for thought all the way 
 into Boston, until she smiled to herself, recollecting the 
 " Duchess." 
 
 " I am growing just like the ' Duchess,' " she soliloquized^ 
 "with my ' the moral of that is,' to every thing I hear and 
 see !" 
 
 But the canary-bird, in a resplendent cage, was bought, 
 and the child-like pleasure, fresh every day, of its proud 
 possessor, kept the lesson likewise fresh in the giver's mind, 
 and turned the unconscious canary into an active and use- 
 ful home missionary. 
 
 The lamp bought, too, was a very pretty one, with the 
 newest and brightest burner. An oculist, noted for his suc- 
 cess in difficult cases, was called on and induced to make
 
 9 W 'A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 an appointment for the following day. Muriel went to the 
 best hot-house in Boston and engaged a supply of cut flow- 
 ers, to be sent regularly every other day, feeling, as she 
 did so, that she was making a sort of engagement with her- 
 self to find candidates for them. Then, well satisfied with 
 her morning's work, she decided to lunch at a cheerful-look- 
 ing restaurant upon which she happened, rather than go 
 home to her solitary meal in the library. 
 
 She had given her order, and was absorbed in a new mag- 
 azine, when a very pleasant voice said : 
 
 " Good-morning, Miss Douglas. Shall I be intruding 
 upon you if I take this chair ? " and looking up she recog- 
 nized Mr. Keith, who stood, hat in hand, deferentially 
 awaiting her permission to seat himself in the chair opposite 
 her own. She was glad to see him, as people generally were, 
 and her " Not at all ! " was so evidently sincere that he sat 
 down promptly, well pleased with his reception. His father's 
 office was nearly opposite the restaurant, but it never crossed 
 Muriel's mind that his sudden appearance was any thing 
 more than a very ordinary co-incidence. Indeed, although 
 she knew the street and number of the office, her thoughts 
 had been upon such different matters, as she walked, that 
 she had failed to remember it, or to see the modest sign 
 which would have recalled it to her. The half-hour which 
 followed was a pleasant one for Muriel, and, judging by his 
 manner, extremely so for Mr. Keith. He was a good list- 
 ener, as well as a good talker, and when Muriel, intending 
 to be very cautious, began by asking a few questions upon 
 points connected with her "nebulous" scheme, he drew her 
 on, and that without asking one impertinent question, until, 
 when she recalled the interview, she was somewhat dis- 
 mayed to find that she had talked with him about it nearly 
 as freely as she had talked with Miss Bowne and May the 
 evening before. But why, she questioned herself, should
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 91 
 
 she feel any dismay ? It would be necessary, before putting 
 any of her theories into practice, to apply to the firm for the 
 requisite money, and to so old a friend and adviser as the 
 elder Mr. Keith, it would be discourteous, to say the least 
 of it, not to give an outline of her plans. Besides, his knowl- 
 edge of men and things would be a great help to her utter 
 ignorance and inexperience. That ghost of a derisive sm.le 
 which had so troubled Muriel at their first interview, did 
 not appear to-day. 
 
 Mr. Douglas Keith was an apt reader of faces much more 
 opaque as to expression than Muriel's was, or ever would 
 be, and perhaps he had seen a reflection in her countenance 
 which served him as a warning. Be that as it may, his face 
 showed only a respectful attention and most friendly inter- 
 est as Muriel spoke more freely of her aims and wishes. He 
 made one slightly false step, but quickly retracted it. When 
 Muriel spoke of buying three or four old buildings, or build- 
 ing lots, in parts of the city which would be suitable for 
 her purpose, he replied with a slight hesitation which some- 
 how made what he said seem more important : 
 
 " You would, I suppose, Miss Douglas, wish to do only 
 such things with the property as your grandfather, were he 
 still living, would approve and sanction ? " 
 
 Muriel was silent a moment, and her silence was so mis- 
 construed that her reply, when it came, took her auditor by 
 surprise. She was debating with herself as to how much 
 she might safely and honorably tell concerning the wishes 
 last expressed by her grandfather, and the question was a 
 difficult one, for she could not bear the thought of seeming 
 to blame him. 
 
 " You are quite right," she said at last ; " my grandfather 
 gave me, if not exactly instructions, at least suggestions, 
 concerning the use of the property, upon which I am trying 
 to act ; but he left all arrangements, as to detail, wholly in
 
 92 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 my hands, so that you can imagine also, perhaps, how 
 anxious I am to justify his confidence in me. I think your 
 father, who was with my grandfather several times during 
 the last week of his life, will quite understand this, and I 
 rely upon his sympathy, as well as upon his judgment, for 
 which my grandfather had always a very high regard." 
 
 " I hope you will pardon me, Miss Douglas," said Mr. 
 Keith, so humbly that Muriel at once relented, " if my 
 interest in your welfare has made me seem impertinent. 
 When you have lived as long in this wicked world as I 
 have, you will perhaps but no, I doubt if you are ever 
 thoroughly convinced of the wickedness of the world. You 
 will find, however, this much that charity is an edge-tool, 
 which needs most careful handling " 
 
 "And children should not meddle with edge-tools?" 
 interrupted Muriel, with a little smile, which somewhat 
 disconcerted Mr. Keith and made him forget his perora- 
 tion. "You are very kind," she added, "but I think you 
 need not be alarmed. I shall do nothing, absolutely 
 nothing of any magnitude, without first consulting your 
 father, and I promise to be guided by his advice for at 
 least a year, perhaps even longer, for I do not learn any 
 thing very rapidly, and I feel my ignorance more and more 
 every day. And now I must say good morning, for I have 
 still several errands to do before going home." 
 
 Mr. Keith rose and held out his hand, saying, with a 
 frank smile : 
 
 " You have put me in my place, Miss Douglas, and I 
 hope I shall be wise enough to stay there. Good-morning." 
 
 And to her great relief he made no offer to accompany 
 her to the counter where the checks and money were taken. 
 She had been vaguely fearful that he would try to pay for 
 her lunch, which evidenced the slightness of her acquaint- 
 ance with him. He would have, not tried, but simply
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 93 
 
 done it, in most cases, but he had already, small as his 
 opportunities had been, taken the measure of her character 
 quite too well for that. And this trifling indication of his 
 estimate of her did much to atone for the mistake he had 
 made a few minutes before ; for, as she reflected, the mis- 
 take was, after all, a natural one, which almost any one in 
 his place would have made. Aunost ? She wished she 
 might believe it were not quite '
 
 CH \PTER V 
 
 TAKING IT PATIENTLY. 
 
 " They roused him with jam and judicious advice." 
 
 "Hunting of the Snark." 
 
 MURIEL would have felt greatly pleased and cheered, 
 the evening before, had she known how nearly her 
 cause was won with Aunt Sally, before the first blow had 
 been struck. It had not crossed the old lady's mind that 
 she might be called upon to help the young girl with her 
 half-formed plans, excepting as any outside-standing friend 
 might help her ; but she did hope very earnestly that this 
 vast " opportunity " might be properly handled and made 
 the most of. May was in such high spirits at the result of 
 the introduction, that Aunt Sally accused her of being 
 "fey," and advised her to " comb herself down," 
 
 " My scholars will do it for me to-morrow, Jear," said 
 May, cheerfully ; " so let mq disport myself while I may. 
 I am so pleased that you and Muriel made such a good 
 impression on each other you see, I felt very responsible 
 for both of you ! " 
 
 " How do you know we did ? " queried Miss Bowne, 
 abruptly. 
 
 " Now, Aunt Sally, affectation is dreadfully unbecoming 
 to you. You wouldn't have kissed her good-night in a 
 manner which fairly roused my jealousy, and she would not 
 have fallen to calling you 'Aunt Sally," with that sweet
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 95 
 
 unconscious kind of grace, if the mutual impression had 
 not been all I could wish." 
 
 " I do like her, and that's a fact," said Aunt Sally, peace- 
 ably, " I could not help thinking, as I sat there, how few 
 girls would have stood the test of suddenly-acquired wealth, 
 as she seems to be standing it. I noticed how simply she 
 was dressed, and, dear knows, her being in black don't ac- 
 count for that, in these days ! and how the library looked* 
 as if it might be exactly as her grandfather left it no 
 knick-knacks and foolishnesses scattered about. And her 
 one thought about her money seems to be how she may 
 do the most good with it. But it's most terribly lonely for 
 the child, all by herself in that great house it isn't right, 
 May, she ought to have some one to stay with her ; hasn't 
 she any relatives that wouldn't make her too miserable ? " 
 
 " I am afraid not," said May, laughing at this unique way 
 of putting it ; "I don't think her great-aunts, the Misses 
 Gordon, you know, would be at all congenial with her, from 
 the little I know of them, and besides, they have a nice 
 little home of their own, and it is hardly likely that they 
 would wish either to give that up, or to separate. She needs 
 somebody who will really and actively sympathize with her 
 in her efforts to do good with all that money, and at the 
 same time keep her from feeling morbidly responsible. But 
 she is not exactly alone she has taken dear Miss Post for 
 her permanent seamstress, and given her two nice sunny 
 rooms in the back building ; I wish you could hear the dear 
 old lady talk about it ! It's like a real little home of her 
 own, at last, for Muriel let her bring all the furniture she 
 cared for, and she has her meals in her sitting-room, with 
 the understanding that she is always at liberty to invite her 
 friends either to eat or sleep with her. That little stroke of 
 good common sense on Muriel's part, pleased me. It seemed 
 kinder, on the face of it, to have Miss Post at her own table,
 
 96 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 but the dear soul has lived alone so long, that I know she 
 would have found it embarrassing, and she hates late din- 
 ners, too " 
 
 " Sensible woman ! " interjected Aunt Sally 
 
 " And don't think her early dinner is worth eating, no mat- 
 ter how sumptuous it may be, if she can't have a cup of tea 
 with it. You must call on her, when you go there again, and 
 hear her expatiate upon her undeserved good fortune and 
 Muriel! And then, you know, Muriel has that delightful, grim 
 old Scotchwoman, who watches over her like an affectionate 
 dragon. And I have an idea that the vacant rooms of that 
 great house will fill up, not suddenly, and in a way to be 
 repented of, but in ways of which it will warm one's heart 
 to hear." 
 
 " It's a queer thing," said Aunt Sally, musingly, " a very 
 queer thing, when you come to think of it, how we all behave, 
 as if that commandment about the ' two coats ' was a dead let- 
 ter, and I never could see why it should be. There's no reason 
 so far as I can see, why we mayn't have pretty things, and 
 pleasant things, if we'd only be willing to share them. But 
 here's your corner, May you're sure you're not afraid? 
 Well, run along then, childie it's only four doors, to be 
 sure and good-night, and thank you ? " 
 
 " Thank you, you mean ! Good-night, Aunt Sally." And 
 May stepped off the car, and reached her door without being 
 kidnapped, while Aunt Sally went home to sound Muriel's 
 praises, and tell her children that they must be just as 
 friendly with her, when they went to call, the next evening } 
 as they would if she were poor. 
 
 They were or very nearly so. And although Muriel, 
 feeling a little embarrassed, did not show quite to such good 
 advantage as she had shown to Aunt Sally alone, they were 
 much pleased with her, and responded with frank pleasure 
 to her timid overtures. Dick, especially, approved of her,
 
 W 'A YS AND MEANS. 97 
 
 although, when Marion mischievously cornered him for his 
 reasons for the sudden liking, he could give no very coherent 
 statement. 
 
 " Well, she looked as if she wasn't thinking about her- 
 self," he said, at last, " and she seemed really and truly to 
 be interested about the farm, and oh, hang it, Marion, you 
 can see for yourself, that she's very different from those 
 idiots who sometimes come to see Alice and you, and who 
 call me ' Mr. Raymond.' She called me Dick right off, and 
 then laughed and apologized a little and said she'd rather 
 if I didn't mind. She doesn't want to pretend I'm a young 
 man, and try to flirt with me ! " 
 
 " Don't try to be cynical, dear," said Marion, " it is not 
 becoming to you. The idiots, probably, in the goodness of 
 their hearts, do as they'd be done by, and as they honestly 
 think you'd like to be done by. But I'm quite willing to 
 admit that she seems to be a nice, frank, sensible creature, 
 and I hope we shall be good friends." 
 
 " But we musn't be too friendly all at once, Marion," said 
 Alice, gently. " Remember how rich she is and how poor 
 we are. I shouldn't like her to think we were influenced 
 by that." 
 
 " Now, Alice," began Dick, impetuously ; but Marion 
 laid a warning hand upon his arm and he stopped abruptly. 
 
 " I don't think there is any danger of her misconstruing 
 our motives," said Marion ; " she looks too sincere herself 
 to doubt the sincerity of other people, and I am ' free to 
 confess,' as Aunt Sally says, that I am looking forward to 
 helping her spend some of her money. I see so many, 
 many cases, where a little money, judiciously spent, would 
 do such a vast deal of good ; and I don't think I shall be 
 afraid to ask her when I know her a little better. And, if 
 she did but know it, that's a very great compliment." 
 
 Aunt Sally listened eagerly to all her children had to say
 
 9 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 about Muriel, and they could see that she was a little dis- 
 appointed with their impression of her. 
 
 " We haven't all your gift, dear," said Marion, laughing 
 at the expression of her face ; " we only see people in their 
 every-dayness, while you are all the time coming 
 
 ' Out on the other side the novel 
 Silent silver lights and darks undreamed o'.' 
 
 " But she doesn't 4 hush and bless herself with silence ' 
 about them," said Dick saucily, atoning for his insinuation 
 with a hug that left Aunt Sally breathless. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Osborne and Mr. and Mrs. Craig called 
 upon Muriel very soon afterward, and a warm liking sprang 
 up at once among them all for her a liking which was quite 
 as warmly returned, and which, to Muriel's over-shadowed 
 heart and life, was like the "clear shining after rain." 
 
 She questioned with herself as to whether she should 
 return these friendly visits, or forego the pleasure for which 
 she longed until she had fulfilled a year of ceremonial 
 " mourning " for her grandfather ; and at last, puzzled by 
 the conflict between her wishes and fears, referred the case 
 to May. 
 
 " Yon see, May," she said wearily, as if she were rehears- 
 ing an oft-told tale, " it seems to me sometimes, that just 
 because grandpapa and I did not love each other better 
 while he lived, I ought to be all the more careful to do 
 nothing which would look like a reflection on his memory." 
 
 "Yes, I see what you mean," said May, thoughtfully, 
 " and I suppose it is natural that you should feel so ; and, 
 of course, I should think it strange if you were to wish to 
 go into gay society immediately ; but, Muriel, don't you 
 think that your power for doing good will be increased if 
 you make friends with these nice people and visit them 
 quietly, instead of just passively waiting for all the over- 
 tures of friendship to come from them ? "
 
 WA YS AA'D MEANS. 99 
 
 "Yes," said Muriel, honestly, "I do ; and I do not think 
 that grandpapa himself would wish me to do any thing, or 
 keep from doing any thing, as a mere matter of ceremony, 
 any more than he wished me to wear ' crape mourning.' 
 The fact is, I believe, that I am afraid of comrrcnts. It is 
 dreadful to be so cowardly ; but oh, May, you don't know 
 how tired I was before I had established my position about 
 wearing black 'instead of ' mourning,' and about keeping 
 on living here, instead of boarding or visiting for my 
 living. And I know I shall be dealt with if I visit at all, 
 for at least six months, no matter how quiet the visits are. 
 I'm ashamed of myself, but there is the real truth." 
 
 " I don't wonder you're ashamed " said May, smiling 
 and frowning both at once ; " if you show any more signs 
 of such alarming weakness, I shall be inclined to agree 
 with the people who thought it would be better for you to 
 go away somewhere ! If that poor reason is your only one, 
 I have no compassion for you at all. But this feeble-minded 
 state must not last you must brace up, and simply do 
 what is for the best, and then take the consequences ! 
 The friendship of such people as the Osbornes and Craigs 
 will more than repay you, I am quite sure." 
 
 " Please don't entirely annihilate me," said Muriel, meekly. 
 " I will endeavor to ' brace up,' but you ought to remember 
 that I have not your blessed gift of seeing just two sides of 
 every thing a wrong side and a right side. It's just because 
 I am so anxious to secure the friendship of those nice peo- 
 ple, and feel what an enjoyment it will be, that I have hesi- 
 tated about the matter. If it had been something I disliked 
 to do, I could have settled myself easily enough." 
 
 " You think I am fierce you may be very thankful that 
 you did not give Aunt Sally a chance to fall upon you in 
 this matter ! " said May with a little laugh at the thought. 
 " ' Pagan ' would have been her mildest epithet for such
 
 loo WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 reasoning as that. Now just consider is a duty any 
 less a duty because it is something we like to do? And 
 is it not a blessed thing that so many of our duties are 
 capable of serving for pleasures as well ? Yes, of course, 
 it is ! Aunty gave me a nice little rule for such cases 
 for your veiled sarcasm doesn't always fit me, I can tell 
 you. She said, whenever one is halting between two 
 opinions because a duty seems merely a self-gratification, 
 one need merely ask the question, ' would I do this if 
 all the pleasure for myself were taken out of it ? ' I think 
 a candid answer to that question would usually settle the 
 matter." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose it would," said Muriel, thoughtfully, 
 "and May, do you know I am beginning to think you ought 
 to be a better girl, even, than you are, with the advantages 
 you've had ? " 
 
 " Don't say ' even,' " said May, with sudden and genuine 
 humility. " Whenever I look at Aunt Agnes, and then at 
 myself, impartially, I wonder how I have the face to talk to 
 any body as I talk to you. Jt seems like such colossal self- 
 conceit." 
 
 " You shall not talk to me that way," said Muriel, affec- 
 tionately, " however else you may talk. When I think you 
 are self-conceited, I will let you know." 
 
 Muriel did " brace up " after this discussion with May, 
 and went, in a few days, to return the two calls which had 
 given her so much pleasure. She was more than ever 
 charmed with Rose Osborne, and delighted with the " flat " 
 of five rooms, in which the young couple lived. 
 
 " I dare not call Jack," said Rose, laughing a little, " for 
 I know he will come, and he is really very busy to-day, 
 finishing something he hates a commission. I can't make 
 him see the black ingratitude of hating a commission ; all I 
 can do is to keep him from being distracted, and not let him
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. IOI 
 
 distract himself, and then he grumbles at me, and says I 
 shall lose him all his friends." 
 
 " He is very ungrateful," said Muriel, with a sociableness 
 which surprised herself, " and he must have an extremely un- 
 flattering opinion of his friends, if he thinks they will be 
 lost so easily. But some day, when he is not under the 
 ban of a commission, I hope he will let me see his studio, 
 of which May Douglas has told me so much, and the 
 sketches and ' studies ' she thinks so charming." 
 
 "He will be delighted to do so, I know," replied Rose, 
 cordially. " Let me see to-day is Tuesday can not you 
 and May come and lunch with us, very informally, next 
 Saturday ? We lunch at one o'clock, and you will meet no 
 one but our two selves and May; then you can have plenty 
 of time to see the sketches and things there are scores of 
 them, for Jack is an indefatigable sketcher, whenever he 
 goes, and I, of course, think them all admirable! " 
 
 " I will come, with much pleasure, if May will," said 
 Muriel, after a moment's hesitation. " I know," she added, 
 drawn on by Rose's friendly face and manner, " that it is 
 not usual for people to visit so soon after a loss after a 
 death in one's immediate family, but grandpapa was not 
 like a great many people. He spoke, shortly before his 
 death, about his intense dislike of so-called 'mourning,' and 
 it seems to me that all the other forms and ceremonies come 
 under the same head. I do not see how people can feel 
 like going into any very gay place or company soon after 
 a death any death in the house, but when I thought of 
 shutting myself up with myself for a year, or even six 
 months, it seemed to me so dreadful, and I feel so in need 
 of friends " 
 
 She stopped abruptly, afraid of saying too much, but 
 Rose, who had heard much of her history from May, quite 
 understood.
 
 102 WA YS AND MEANt. 
 
 " I think you are right, dear," she said, taking Muriel's 
 hand as she spoke. " Surely, we can mourn as truly for our 
 dead without making other people share in our mourning, 
 and while we live our duty is to the living. I was very 
 glad when I found that you did not mean utterly to seclude 
 yourself for any prescribed time. You see hoth May and 
 Aunt Sally have talked so much about you that I feel as if 
 I knew you quite well, and I am so much interested in what 
 Aunt Sally calls your ' opportunities ! ' " 
 
 An hour of happy talking followed, and when at length 
 Muriel rose to go, she said : 
 
 " I will not apologize for making a visit of my very first 
 call, Mrs. Osborne, for you have kept me from realizing that 
 I was doing it ! " 
 
 " And I may bring Jack to see you one evening this 
 week ? " said Rose ; " then he will forgive me, perhaps, for 
 not calling him to-day." 
 
 When Muriel looked at her watch on the way down in the 
 elevator, she found that it was quite too late to make her 
 call upon Mrs. Craig that day, and so returned home, with a 
 feeling of warmth and happiness in her heart, which shone 
 from her face, and made Margery exclaim : 
 
 " You've left a year or two somewhere in the street, Miss 
 Muriel ! " 
 
 If she had, it found her again next morning. She was in 
 the library, as usual, and was rewarding herself for a care- 
 ful and business-like entry in her memorandum-book, by 
 touching up her plan for the conservatory. She did not 
 mean to have it begun for two or three months, partly be- 
 cause she wished to know just how much money she might 
 reasonably devote to it, and partly because she kept think- 
 ing of improvements and additions to her original plan, and 
 enjoyed working at it. She could not help being amused 
 herself at the manner in which she made a favorite plaything
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 103 
 
 of this plan, taking it up whenever she felt especially tired 
 or annoyed. 
 
 " I suppose we keep on playing with dolls all our lives," 
 she mused, " only we change the dolls and not always 
 for the better as we grow older, and, as we imagine, 
 wiser." 
 
 Her planning and philosophizing were alike cut short by 
 the announcement that Mrs. Hardcastle was in the parlor. 
 Rogers could not have been induced to call it the drawing- 
 room, so it was a fortunate thing that Muriel had no preju- 
 dice in favor of the more stately name. 
 
 Muriel scolded herself roundly, on her way to the parlor, 
 for the cowardly feeling of dismay which was taking posses- 
 sion of her. She had had no such feeling, under the pre- 
 vious attacks which had been made upon her, but not all 
 May's common sense, nor her own determination, had en- 
 abled her to shake off the idea that she was, perhaps, merely 
 indulging her own wishes at the expense of a natural and 
 proper sentiment on the part of others. 
 
 " ' Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just,' " she 
 said to herself, resolutely, " and I wilt believe in the justness 
 of my position. May, with her clear head and kind heart can 
 not, surely, be so utterly mistaken." 
 
 " How very well you are looking, my dear," said Mrs. 
 Hardcastle, after the first greetings had been exchanged. 
 " I was really afraid, after the long strain under which you 
 were so sweetly patient, that there would be a terrible reac- 
 tion. But a tranquil temperament is certainly a great bless- 
 ing. I hope I did not interrupt you in anything you must 
 have so much to attend to, poor child. Can't I go where 
 you were sitting, and not keep you here ? " 
 
 " I was not at all busy," said Muriel, smiling in spite of 
 herself, " and there is no reason why I should not be kept 
 here, thank you. Are uncle and the girls quite well ? "
 
 i4 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " Quite, thanks ; and Julia has had a great deal to say 
 about her delightful little visit to you the other day. You 
 must have made yourself extremely agreeable ! " 
 
 " No, if any body made me agreeable, it was she her- 
 self," said Muriel. " She is so very bright, that even a stupid 
 person can't help responding a little. I wish she would 
 come again." 
 
 " She is hoping to have her visit returned, my dear, for, 
 of course, while it would not be at all proper, under the cir- 
 cumstances, for you to do any general visiting, coining to 
 such near relations as we are would not count. And, how- 
 ever careful one may be, ill-natured people will talk. For 
 instance, I was told this morning, by an indefatigable news- 
 collector of my acquaintance, that you went yesterday to 
 call upon Mrs. Osborne, the artist's wife, and although I as- 
 sured her that there must be some mistake, she was so posi- 
 tive that she was right, that I came straight to you for 
 authority to contradict her." Mrs. Hardcastle paused with 
 a keen, questioning look at Muriel. 
 
 " I am sorry to disappoint you, Aunt Matilda," said Muriel, 
 feeling that her manner was stiffening as she spoke, " but 
 for once your gossiping informant told the truth. I did 
 call on Mrs. Osborne yesterday, in return for a very pleas- 
 ant call from her ; and I intended going to see Mrs. Craig, 
 who also called on me, too, but I stayed so long with Mrs. 
 Osborne that there was not time." 
 
 " My dear Muriel," said Mrs. Hardcastle, looking genu- 
 inely shocked and disturbed, " if you have no feeling your- 
 self about this matter, I wish you would consent to consider 
 the feelings of other people. I have successfully accounted 
 for the singular stand which you took about mourning, so 
 successfully, that I have actually heard you praised, instead 
 of blamed for it ; but nothing that I, or any one else, can say, 
 will account satisfactorily for such a line of conduct as you
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 105 
 
 are pursuing now. Remember, it is barely a month since 
 your grandfather died, and when you owe him so much " 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle paused, as if words were wholly inade- 
 quate to express her feelings, and Muriel took advantage 
 of the pause to begin her defense. 
 
 " I am sorry to have annoyed you, Aunt Matilda," she 
 said ; " but, perhaps, if you will look at the matter impar- 
 tially, you will admit that there is no cause for annoyance. 
 I have not the slightest intention of going into general 
 society, or any sort of gayety, or of doing any thing dis- 
 respectful to grandpapa's memory ; but I can talk to you 
 about this as I could not to any one outside the family, for 
 you know enough of what went before to understand. 
 Grandpapa never loved me. I fancied, just at the last, 
 that he was learning to love me a little, but I have con- 
 cluded, since his death, that I was mistaken. He merely 
 turned to me, as he would have turned to any one, because 
 he felt that he was dying. He told me, as you know, his 
 views about so-called 'mourning,' and it seems to me that 
 this comes under the same head. My life has been very 
 lonely, very friendless, compared with the lives of most girls 
 of my age. This was not my fault ; it was in deference to 
 grandpapa's wishes. I know from several things which he 
 said, at the last, that he felt he had been mistaken. I have 
 never told you of these things, because I was afraid you 
 would not understand ; but I know he thought that, if he 
 might have another chance, he would make his life very 
 different from what it had been. And I can not think that, 
 if he might know about it, he would wish me to forego such 
 real and valuable friends as the Raymonds and Osbornes 
 and Craigs seem inclined to be to me. I shall do nothing 
 conspicuous, nothing that is really disrespectful to grand- 
 papa, but I feel as if I could not go on living the shut-in 
 life of the past few months, now that there is no longer
 
 I6 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 any necessity for it. And while, as I said, it grieves me to 
 annoy you, I must use my own judgment about some things, 
 and I think we shall be better friends if we avoid useless 
 discussion." 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle was a kind-hearted woman, and although 
 she could not, generally speaking, be called a wise one, she 
 had what her older daughter called " streaks of wisdom " 
 in her character, which sometimes stood her in good stead, 
 and one of these streaks, coupled with a real pity for 
 Muriel, came to her rescue now. 
 
 " My dear," she said, with sudden tears in her eyes, " I 
 must have been blind not to see what an ordeal you were 
 passing through, and I hope I should be the last person in 
 the world to wish to deprive you of happiness now ; it is 
 just because, after a little while, when you begin to go into 
 society, public opinion will have so much to do with your 
 popularity that I am anxious to guard you from making 
 mistakes now. Surely these new friends of yours could be 
 made to understand that, while you are not visiting, you 
 will be glad to receive their visits. But I have laid the 
 whole matter before you now, and there is nothing more 
 that I can do about it, so I will say no more. I have a 
 message from Julia for you ; she wants you and we all 
 do to come to-morrow for the day and night. You will, 
 will you not ? There will be no one else there, of course, 
 and your uncle counts upon the visit ; he is so dreadfully 
 busy just now that he does not get any time for visiting 
 himself, so he told me to tell you that he is an old man / 
 now, and it is your duty to come and see him." 
 
 " Thank you, said Muriel, " I shall like to come very * 
 much. It is kind of you to want me. Give my love to Julia, 
 please, and tell her I will come with much pleasure." 
 
 Mrs. Hardcastle rose to go, but the ordeal was not quite 
 over yet.
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 107 
 
 " I hear you are talking of adding a conservatory to the 
 house," she said, as she moved slowly toward the door. " It 
 would be very delightful, of course, but, my dear, I wonder 
 if you have any idea of the expenses into which one is led, 
 if one attempts to have so much as a bow-window built ? 
 Pray consider the matter well, before undertaking it." 
 
 " I will," said Muriel, in a manner which cut short all 
 further discussion of the question, and of which she was 
 afterward ashamed. But she was indignant, too, for when 
 she thought the matter over, puzzled as to how her aunt 
 had discovered her intention, she was forced or thought 
 she was to the conclusion that Julia had been the in- 
 former. They had talked about the matter, and Muriel once 
 more blamed herself for her too great readiness, if not ex- 
 actly to confide in people, at least to tell them much that it 
 would be wiser not to tell. She had not bound Julia over 
 to keep the peace about any of the numerous matters 
 which they had discussed, but she felt that a real friend 
 does not need any such injunction, and she made a hasty 
 resolve to talk, henceforth, only upon the most common- 
 place subjects with her aunt and cousins. She brooded 
 over the matter until she deeply regretted having accepted 
 Julia's invitation, and was rejoiced to remember, what she 
 had honestly forgotten when she did accept it, that she had 
 promised to go with Miss Post, the next afternoon, for a 
 second visit to the oculist, who, after making his examina- 
 tion, had not announced the result, but merely arranged to 
 see his patient again. The appointment was for four o'clock, 
 and as the office was on the opposite side of the city from 
 Muriel's home, she decided that she had an all-sufficient ex- 
 cuse for retracting her promise to Julia. She wrote a brief 
 note, which she vainly tried to make cordial, pleading the 
 forgotten engagement, but somehow she did not feel very 
 well satisfied with herself, and even went to the hall to take
 
 I08 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 back the note, that she might at least modify the language, 
 if not her decision, but Rogers had already posted it, so she 
 endeavored to convince herself that this settled the matter, 
 and made farther thought about it useless. She really 
 had forgotten the engagement, and what more was nec- 
 essary ? She resolved to take a long walk after lunch, for 
 it was a bright, cheerful March day, with a brisk wind 
 blowing, and she had recently decided that she did not take 
 exercise enough, and was growing morbid. 
 
 She was just ready to leave her room when, somewhat to 
 her dismay, " Miss Hardcastle's " card was brought to her. 
 She went down with her bonnet on, and her gloves in her 
 hand, and Julia said, almost immediately, as Muriel had 
 hoped and expected that she would : 
 
 " You were just going out, weren't you? Do not let me 
 keep you, it is such a pleasant day, after all the storms, that 
 it really seems wrong to stay in the house." 
 
 " I was only going for a walk," said Muriel. " I had no 
 engagement with any body but myself, I assure you " 
 
 " I meant to walk, too, after I had seen you," replied 
 Julia, " I am making a point of walking at least two miles 
 every day, now, and I feel a great deal better for it, already. 
 If that is not too far for you, suppose we go together ? " 
 
 " No, I expected to walk quite as far as that," said 
 Muriel. " Which way were you going ? " 
 
 " I had a sort of half-formed plan to explore that curious 
 old burial-ground at Copp's Hill," replied Julia. " Papa was 
 talking about it last night, and casually remarked that Kate 
 and I ought to be ashamed of ourselves for knowing so little 
 about the ' historic portions ' of the city. I have only a 
 very general idea as to where it is, but no doubt we can find 
 it, if we're not too proud to ask our way of all we meet." 
 
 "We need not do that," said Muriel, "Uncle took me 
 there once, ever so long ago, and it is worth seeing. We
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 109 
 
 can go a good deal of the way on Washington Street, and 
 though I don't quite remember the names of the other 
 streets, I am sure I shall know them when I see them. But 
 we should have started earlier uncle and I went most of 
 the way in a street car, and it seemed a long distance even 
 then." 
 
 " Oh well, we can ride back if we find it is too late to 
 walk. It's nice to have an object in view, even if one 
 doesn't attain it." 
 
 Julia's manner had been easy and pleasant, as it always 
 was, and she had not appeared to notice Muriel's constraint, 
 but as soon as they were in the street, she said : 
 
 " We were so sorry to find that you can not come, after 
 all, to-morrow. Mamma received your note just before I 
 started. But Muriel my mind misgives me that you were 
 very glad to remember that engagement, and I am afraid 
 mamma bored you ! Had she any especial mission, or was 
 it merely on general principles ? " 
 
 Julia's tone was so frank and friendly that Muriel found 
 it impossible to be dignified. She even caught herself 
 smiling at the unbiased and impartial manner in which 
 " mamma's " daughter had stated the case, and the smile 
 remained, as she said, " Aunt Matilda had two especial mis- 
 sions. She thinks it highly improper that I should visit 
 any one outside the family, and she is alarmed at the idea of 
 my ' building' even to the small extent which a conserva- 
 tory implies." 
 
 " Now, I should just like to know," said Julia, looking 
 very much vexed, " who could have told mamma about your 
 conservatory idea ! I was particularly careful not to men- 
 tion that at home, for I knew what the result would be, and 
 I think you have suffered quite enough from ' judicious 
 advice.' You see I really do think, once in awhile ! Of 
 course, you must have thought that it was I who told mam-
 
 HO WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 ma about your plan, and I don't at all wonder that the more 
 you thought of it the less you wished to come. I do wish 
 mamma could be made to understand, once for all, that she 
 isn't responsible for you ! " 
 
 Julia's tone, as she said this, jarred upon Muriel more 
 even than the words did ; but in spite of that, she was greatly 
 pleased to find that Julia had not been Mrs. Hardcastle's 
 informant, and said so. The subject was then dropped, ap- 
 parently by mutual consent, but about half an hour later, 
 Julia exclaimed abruptly : 
 
 " I have it ! It was Douglas Keith who told mamma 
 about the conservatory. I remember all about it, now. I 
 thought, at the time, that he didn't know what an ill turn 
 he was doing you ! " 
 
 " Oh well ! " said Muriel, trying to speak lightly, but not 
 succeeding very well, " ' what's done can't be helped,' and 
 I will try and think no more about it. See, here is the old 
 graveyard. Uncle said that when he was a boy some of the 
 stones had bullet marks on them from Revolutionary times. 
 I wish stones lasted in this country as they do in Egypt. 
 I saw such a droll thing in the paper the other day about 
 the obelisk ; it wasn't meant for a funny paragraph at all, 
 but it said the obelisk had ' suffered more from the weather ' 
 in the short time since it came to this country, than it had 
 in all its hundreds of years in Egypt ! There's a tribute 
 to the great American climate for you ! " 
 
 It was so plain that Muriel wished no further discussion of 
 her affairs, that Julia made no attempt to recur to the subject, 
 and, as she was never at a loss for conversation if any one 
 would do a very small amount of responding, the ride home 
 was cheerful enough outwardly. It was quite too late for 
 walking back, and Julia said she should be a little late for 
 dinner, but would make her peace by talking antiquities to 
 her father.
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. Ill 
 
 " Can't you come day after to-morrow for that visit, 
 Muriel, since to-morrow is ' took up ? ' " she asked, as they 
 were about to part. 
 
 And Muriel, afraid of seeming ungracious should she 
 refuse, agreed to do so. 
 
 She decided, over her solitary dinner, that she was not at 
 all pleased with Mr. Keith. 
 
 " I wonder if he discusses the affairs of all his clients 
 with equal freedom," she said to herself. " I should not 
 think he would have any long, if he does. I shall most 
 certainly wait for his father the next time I want any infor- 
 mation or advice." 
 
 " You've walked too far this afternoon, I doubt, Miss 
 Muriel," said Margery, with a scrutinizing look at Muriel's 
 face. She had come in on some pretext about the house- 
 keeping, and was lingering, as if loath to leave her " bairn " 
 alone. 
 
 " Perhaps I have," replied Muriel, smiling at Margery's 
 anxious face, " but there's no damage done that a night's 
 rest will not repair, so you needn't look so distressed about 
 it. And, Margery, it isn't quite dark yet I wish you'd 
 take these flowers to that little lame boy you were telling 
 me about yesterday, and try to find out if something can't 
 be done for him perhaps he can be cured." 
 
 " He's past that, I'm afraid," said Margery, seriously ; 
 " but he'll be glad enough of the flowers. Am I to take 
 them all, Miss Muriel ? " 
 
 " No ; you can leave a few of the pansies and a little 
 green, please. Take all the rest." 
 
 And as soon as Margery was gone Muriel gathered up 
 the remnant of the flowers and sought Miss Post's room, 
 with a hope, which she did not acknowledge even to her- 
 self, that something in the reading or talk would come 
 home to her. She did not come upon any thing very special
 
 H2 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 in either, but Miss Post's peaceful, happy face, as she sat un- 
 consciously stroking her lame hand, which had been very 
 lame that day, sent her to bed calmed and comforted. 
 Peace existed, of that there could be no doubt, and she 
 would find it some day.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MAKING FRIENDS. 
 
 14 The like will seek the like." 
 
 E. B. BROWNING. 
 
 MURIEL and May had had more than one talk in 
 their frequent meetings, on the subject of securing 
 Aunt Sally as a companion for the former, and the best way 
 of bringing this about, until at last Muriel declared that 
 she was tired of waiting and considering ; that nothing, so 
 far as she could see, was gained by delay ; and that she 
 meant just to lay the whole case before Aunt Sally, and 
 take the consequences. 
 
 " I suppose that will be best," said May, a little doubt- 
 fully, "but I have kept hoping that something would 
 demonstrate to Aunt Sally the fitness of this ' mission ' for 
 her, before you actually asked the question. You see, I 
 have had one or two rather severe lessons on picking things 
 before they were ripe." 
 
 " That sounds very wise-like," said Muriel, laughing, 
 " and you know I am generally as wax in your hands, but 
 this time I feel inclined to go my own gait. The more I 
 see of Aunt Sally, the more certain I feel that this will be 
 the best way." 
 
 " Very well ! " said May, resignedly, " but don't come to 
 me for comfort, when you return a blighted being, from 
 your too rash quest." 
 
 " If I return you mean. Indeed I shall, and you will give
 
 H4 WAYS A.\D MEANS. 
 
 it to me, too. I am going to-morrow afternoon just in time for 
 them to ask me to stay to tea. Do you believe they will ? " 
 
 " I do. Aunt Sally would ask the Prince of Wales to take 
 off his overcoat and stay to tea, if he should happen along 
 within half an hour of tea-time, much as she disapproves 
 of him and she does not disapprove of you, at all, but quite 
 ' contrariwise.' Shall you make your attack in full family 
 conclave and take the consequences ?" 
 
 " I don't know. I can't tell beforehand. I shall just 
 ' proceed as the way opens.' ' 
 
 " You'll write me a line when you return ? I'll let you 
 use a postal-card this once, Muriel, for you need only say 
 yes or no, and if Rogers posts it at once, I shall receive it 
 before I go to school in the morning." 
 
 " What frightful inconsistency. You are morally certain 
 of the result of my rashness, and yet you are willing to have 
 a postal-card sent you in your eagerness to hear it. Well, I 
 will write you the ' line,' but it wil! be upon a decent card, 
 and in a decent envelope. When I find I haven't time to 
 seal my envelopes, I shall employ a keeper of the seal." 
 
 Muriel decided to go upon her "quest" a little earlier 
 than she had at first intended, the following afternoon, for 
 after all, her acquaintance with the Raymonds was of such 
 recent date, that it would perhaps be intrusive to stay to 
 tea, even should she be invited. So she set forth soon 
 after four o'clock, resolutely restraining herself from trying 
 to arrange in her mind what she should say to Aunt Sally. 
 Her heart was very much bent upon succeeding. The more 
 she saw of Aunt Sally the more it seemed to her that this 
 wise, experienced, energetic woman, with her large heart, 
 and sound judgment, was the ideal prime minister for her 
 small kingdom, and she tried to prepare her mind for the 
 disappointment which a refusal would give her, while, at 
 the same time, she counted up her chances of success.
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 115 
 
 Circumstances favored her in one way. Aunt Sally was 
 entirely alone. Alice was spending the day with Rose, 
 Marion and Dick had agreed to meet after school, and take 
 as long a walk as their limited time permitted, and that it 
 might be a little longer, Aunt Sally had magnanimously 
 promised to postpone tea until half-past seven, for there 
 was " a moon," and the spring-like air would make the early 
 evening very pleasant. 
 
 " So now, my dear," she said, after she had explained 
 the position to Muriel, " I'll not apologize to you for having 
 nobody but myself to entertain you with, for I have wanted 
 a chance for a right good talk with you, and we couldn't 
 have a better. Take off your bonnet and whatever you call 
 your wrap I've lost the run of the things women wear now, 
 and the outlandish names they give them and if I can't 
 give you a dinner, I can give you a good hearty tea, and it 
 amounts to about the same thing,! reckon. 
 
 " Would you really like me to stay ? " asked Muriel, hesi- 
 tating a little, " I should love to, dearly, but wouldn't your 
 nieces think " 
 
 " If I wouldn't really like you to stay, I should not ask 
 you, and Alice and Marion aren't very old yet, but they're 
 pretty sensible for their ages, I think. Come, give me 
 your things, child. This is a free settlement, and we do as 
 we please here, so long as what we do doesn't worry any 
 body else." 
 
 " That is very nice," said Muriel, laughing, " and I will 
 stay with pleasure, but I am afraid I must go to the nearest 
 district telegraph station, and send word for Rogers to come 
 for me this evening, before I take my bonnet off. I didn't 
 think to tell Margery where I was going." 
 
 " There is no need of that," said Aunt Sally, " Dick will 
 like to take you home, if you will let him. He wants to be 
 friends with you, and I'm always glad when a boy begins to
 
 Il6 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 make girl-friends ; it's both civilizing and enlightening for 
 him ! And you'll not find it any hardship, I think, to be 
 friends with my boy ! " 
 
 " Indeed I shall not ! " said Muriel, warmly, and taking 
 off gloves and bonnet as she spoke, " I like him so much, 
 although I have only met him three or four times. I have 
 always mourned over not having any brother ; it must be 
 such a comfort to have one a nice one. And what struck 
 me about Dick most particularly was, that although he is 
 hardly out of the ' awkward age ' yet, his manner to you, 
 and to his sisters, is so very gentle and pleasant." 
 
 The deepest policy could not have inspired Muriel with a 
 speech which would have made a more favorable impression 
 than this perfectly artless one produced. Aunt Sally beamed 
 as she replied : 
 
 " I wouldn't give much for a boy who kept all his good 
 manners for outsiders. And I've long had a theory that 
 there need not be any 'awkward age,' at least not one that 
 will annoy other people. Of course, a boy who has never 
 been anywhere, or seen any thing to speak of will feel awk- 
 ward at times, and will not always do and say the right 
 thing at the right time, but after all, right feeling and un- 
 selfishness will give a better manner than any amount of 
 veneering and varnishing. Now, if the girls were here, 
 they'd be laughing at me. They think I'm foolish about 
 Dick, and maybe I am, we are not apt to know our own fool- 
 ishnesses, but you see, he is the youngest, and I feel as if 
 I'd had some hand in bringing him up. But I'm not going 
 to say another word about him this time ; I haven't asked 
 you how Miss Post's eyes are, and what Dr. Ellis says about 
 them. I have been afraid for sometime that there was 
 something pretty serious the matter with them." 
 
 " There is." said Muriel, sadly. " He says it is cataract, 
 and that it will be some months yet, before he can perform
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. II? 
 
 any operation, even should he think it best to do so eventu- 
 ally, and meanwhile, her sight will be growing dimmer all 
 the time, until she becomes quite blind." 
 
 " I thought they could always operate for cataract," said 
 Aunt Sally, " Did he give any reason for being doubtful 
 about it." 
 
 " Yes, and that was the worst of all ! He said Miss Post 
 was in such a reduced condition, physically, that it might 
 not be safe to risk the shock ; that she has evidently over- 
 worked herself, and not eaten enough nourishing food for 
 months past. I was puzzled at first about the overworking, 
 for she had told me that she never got sewing enough of 
 late to keep her busy all the time, and then it suddenly oc- 
 curred to me that she had, of course, done her own washing 
 and ironing, and carried up coal and water, and to a woman 
 as fragile as she seems to be, that must have been dreadfully 
 hard work. And I really don't suppose she has eaten meat 
 more than once a week, for months, except when Miss 
 Forsythe would ask her to tea, or she went out to work. 
 And lately, I know, most of her work has been given her to 
 take home. I asked Dr Ellis if it would increase her chance 
 if she would take plenty of nourishing things in the inter- 
 val, and save herself in every way, and he said, of course it 
 would, that if she would do that, he felt pretty confident of 
 being able to do it, so that is a great comfort. And, Aunt 
 Sally, I wanted to ask you, do you know of any nice little 
 girl, twelve or thirteen years old, to whom it would be an 
 advantage to have an easy place ? I want one just to wait 
 on Miss Post, and she could learn to sew, and do some of 
 the nicer house work, so that, when I don't need her any 
 longer, or if I don't, I could easily find a place for her." 
 
 " Yes, I think 1 do ; there's a very respectable Scotch 
 family living in the alley just back of this house ; they have 
 a lame son, a fine young fellow, in whom we are all inter-
 
 Il8 IV AYS AND MEANS. 
 
 ested, and, poor as they are, they took an orphan child a 
 niece of the woman's the other day, because she was left 
 without a home. I've seen her several times, and I like the 
 look of her. She's a clean, tidy, low-speaking, little body, 
 without any ugly tricks, so far as I've seen, and I think they 
 would be very glad to have her in such a place as that 
 would be. I often feel ashamed when I see how the down- 
 right poor people help each other and seem to think its 
 only natural and right. I don't suppose it crossed the 
 mind of these people of whom I speak that they might send 
 the child to the poor-house ; they just took her, as a matter 
 of course." 
 
 " I know," said Muriel ; " Margery has told me a great 
 many such things things that make me wonder how any 
 body can say that we are retrograding. If it would not be 
 giving you too much trouble I should like you to speak first 
 to these people about the little girl for me, and then, if they 
 seem to favor the plan, I will come and have a talk with 
 them about it." 
 
 " It won't be any trouble at all, my dear. I always like 
 to go there ; they have such nice Scotch voices. I'll let 
 you know as soon as I can what they say, though I have 
 very little doubt what their answer will be. And it's a very 
 good idea, having somebody just on purpose to wait on 
 Miss Post ; it will keep the servants from thinking they're 
 imposed upon, and make her easy in her mind besides, for 
 she'll want a good deal of looking after as she grows more 
 blind. What a mercy it is that you found her just when 
 you did, though I've faith to believe that if you hadn't, 
 somebody else would have done it. Still, it mightn't have 
 been any body who was as able as you are to do it right." 
 
 The thing that pleased Muriel most, in recalling this con- 
 versation, was the manner in which Aunt Sally had spoken 
 of what she Muriel was doing for Miss Post. There had
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 1 19 
 
 been no surprise, no flattering comment, but just a quiet 
 taking for granted that it was the natural and proper thing 
 to do. 
 
 " I wonder why we couldn't all have been born sensible ? " 
 she mused ; " it would have saved such a vast deal of 
 trouble and work." 
 
 But, following out the thought, she came to the con- 
 clusion that common-sense, like a foreign language, might 
 be so thoroughly acquired as almost to seem native, and 
 she further decided that nobody had so much as to be able 
 to afford to give up cultivating it. 
 
 It occurred to her, as Aunt Sally paused, after the 
 above remarks, that she could not possibly find a better 
 moment to urge her plea. 
 
 " Aunt Sally," she began, abruptly, " I have a favor, a 
 very great favor, to ask of you, and I want you to please to 
 listen to me patiently a few minutes, while I explain first. 
 Will you?" 
 
 " To be sure I will, dear, and you may be certain it will 
 be granted, if it's any thing at all reasonable and right, and 
 I don't think you would ask for what wasn't both." 
 
 " Thank you. I am glad you think that. I don't know 
 whether I have spoken to you about this before or not, but 
 my aunts and uncles, when I was first left alone, seemed to 
 think that I would leave the house at once, and either 
 board, or make visits among my relatives. I did not see 
 any reason for doing so, and I had a very strong reason for 
 staying where I was. Grandpapa said several things to me 
 during the last few weeks of his life which made me know 
 that he wished me to do good with his money after it be- 
 came mine. And he left the way of doing it entirely to 
 me. It seemed to me that I could do a great deal more 
 and find a great many more opportunities if I staid where I 
 was, and I think so still. So then, when they found I did
 
 120 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 not wish to close the house, they said I ought to have a 
 companion. I had already thought so myself, only I don't 
 think we meant exactly the same thing. I dared not ad- 
 vertise, and then choose some one hastily and on a slight 
 acquaintance, for I thought how very unpleasant it would 
 be for both of us if I should wish to send her away, and I 
 did not want a ' companion ' in the common acceptation of 
 the word. I wanted somebody older and wiser than myself, 
 who would be able to advise me when my want of experi- 
 ence troubled me, and yet some one who would be a real 
 friend whom I could love and trust. And it seemed as if 
 I could not possibly find the right person until I heard 
 about you. May thought of you before I met you, and en- 
 couraged me to ask you ; I should never have dared to do 
 it but for her, and I feel very impertinent now, for it is 
 asking such a great thing, and I know your ' children ' will 
 not think it possible to do without you. But there are 
 three of them ; Miss Raymond has had you long enough to 
 know all your ways, and in a measure to take your place to 
 the other two and I want you." 
 
 Aunt Sally had listened with praiseworthy silence and 
 patience to this long speech, and when it was finished she 
 seemed, for once in her life, at a loss for a reply. 
 
 " My dear," she said, at last, " you've taken my breath 
 away, even more than my ' children ' did when they asked 
 me to come and live with them a few years ago. And 
 whatever I may find it right to do in the matter, I shall 
 always thank you for wanting me. I can't give you an 
 answer off-hand. It's a matter to be thought over and 
 prayed over ; but I'm free to confess that I see quite as 
 many pros as cons. And that's the reason why I must 
 not decide in a hurry. It would give me a chance, I fore- 
 see, to carry out so many of my notions and to do so many 
 things that I've wanted for years to do, that I can't trust
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 121 
 
 my own judgment about it. I could leave the children 
 now, though it would be a good deal of a heartbreak to do 
 it, I'll admit, and after the first fuss was over, they would 
 not try to stand in my way if they saw that I really thought 
 it right to go. Alice is a very good housekeeper and man- 
 ager, and giving music-lessons is not like school-teaching ; 
 she has odd hours of leisure through the day, when she 
 could see to things, and I've let her do more about the 
 house than I ever let Rose or Marion do, for several 
 reasons. But I'll not bother you with all my arguments for 
 and against. I will think the matter over very carefully, 
 and ask the opinion of one or two people whose opinion is 
 worth asking. And I will give you my answer not later 
 than a week from to-day. Will that do ? " 
 
 " Indeed it will ! " said Muriel, joyfully, " I was so afraid 
 you would refuse outright, and at once, that I consider that 
 a very good answer indeed. And Aunt Sally, you must let 
 me finish the business-part of the talk now, and then all 
 will be clear and straightforward. When they first talked 
 to me about having a 'companion,' I made inquiries about 
 the salary which was usually given, and found it ranged 
 from three to five hundred dollars. It seemed to me that 
 was very little, and five hundred, at least, you must take, if 
 you consent to come. I'll not try to say how much more 
 your presence will be worth to me, for it is not a thing that 
 can be measured against money ! " 
 
 " Now, I dare say," said Aunt Sally, meditatively, " that if 
 I was some folks, I should fly out about your offering me a 
 salary, and say that if I lived with you at all, it would be 
 simply as a friend. But, from your side of the question, 
 you're right, and as for my side, I must consider that along 
 with the rest. The children have never given me money, 
 but they're constantly giving me money's worth. Between 
 Christmas and birthdays, they've contrived it so that I've
 
 122 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 never had to buy any clothes since I came to them. If I 
 lived with you and stopped doing housework and I'll admit 
 that I don't find it quite so easy as I did five years ago, for 
 all my lameness is so nearly cured I should wish to dress 
 a little better than I have done, for your sake, and that would 
 make it fair, I suppose, that you should give me enough to 
 buy me decent clothes ; but it seems to me that five hundred 
 is a great deal too much. However, we'll not try to settle 
 any thing to-night. You've said your say, and said it like 
 the good, sensible girl that I think you are, and as for my 
 answer, I don't doubt I shall be guided right about it, if I 
 lay myself open to guidance, as I hope to do. There, 
 it's striking six, and I must begin to get supper. Would 
 you rather stay here and read some of that pile of trash 
 on the table, or come with me, and may be help me a 
 little?" 
 
 " Now just as if you didn't know I would rather come 
 with you ! " said Muriel, springing up. 
 
 " What a delightful little kitchen ! " she added, as Aunt 
 Sally opened the door into it, and proceeded to light the 
 kerosene stove. 
 
 " Yes, it's pretty good, what there is of it ! " replied Aunt 
 Sally, looking round with a satisfied expression as well 
 she might. Everything shone that could be made to shine. 
 Every thing that would make cooking easy to do was there, 
 in the smallest possible compass, and the kerosene stove, 
 even to a novice, suggested wonderful capabilities. Muriel 
 looked on with undisguised admiration, while Aunt Sally 
 proceeded to stew in milk the boiled potatoes which were 
 waiting for her, and then, when she had them simmering to 
 her mind on one division of the stove, to broil the chops 
 which she took from the lower compartment of her pro- 
 vision safe, and which, under her skillful management, and 
 inclosed in the double broiler, cooked tranquilly, without
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 123 
 
 sputtering or smoke, while the kettle " came to a boil " on the 
 third division of the stove. 
 
 " We don't usually have suppers so much like dinners," 
 she explained, as her practiced hands went nimbly from 
 one thing to another, " but Alice was away to-day, and 
 Marion said that if I would put her up a lunch, she could 
 meet Dick a little sooner for their walk than she could if 
 they came home to dinner, so I helped Dick eat up some 
 cold meat at noon, and kept the chops and potatoes for 
 tea, and I'm right glad now that I did, for I suppose you're 
 like every body else, now, and have jour dinner when you 
 used to have your tea." 
 
 " I haven't quite made up my mind yet," said Muriel, " I 
 am trying a late dinner because it leaves a better shaped 
 day, but I find that after dining about one or two o'clock 
 all my life I miss my dinner at lunch time, and am not very 
 anxious for it in the evening. I mean to try a little while 
 longer, and then, if I don't grow used to the new way, I 
 shall go back to the old one, and be comfortably old-fash- 
 ioned. But I thought you were going to let me help you, 
 Aunt Sally " 
 
 " Well, so I am, and I am glad to hear you talk so sensi- 
 bly. I suppose, if folks have never had it any other way, 
 they may like a late dinner best, but nobody can make me 
 believe that it's best for them ! Here, if you'll put this 
 apron on, and turn back your cuffs, you may slice these 
 tomatoes into this little dish for me ; here's a nice sharp 
 knife ; take care you don't cut your fingers, child ! " 
 
 " What nice tomatoes ! The only ones I've seen in the 
 stores this spring have been such poor little things, and these 
 are almost the largest I ever saw ! " 
 
 " You don't suppose I bought those tomatoes at this time 
 of year ! " said Aunt Sally, indignantly. " No, indeed ! I 
 put up two dozen jars of whole ones last summer at Dove-
 
 124 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 dale, just on purpose for slicing and frying, and those that 
 are left are every one as sound as a dollar here in April ! 
 Now wash your hands ; here's the basin, and then you may 
 cut the bread, if you'll cut it thin, and I wonder if you could 
 set the table ? " 
 
 " I think I could," said Muriel, smiling, and Aunt Sally 
 proceeded to tell her where to find tablecloth and dishes, 
 while she herself took down coffee-mill and coffee-pot, an- 
 nouncing : 
 
 " I think I'll treat you all to a little coffee this evening. 
 Dick says its the surest sign of a festivity, when he smells 
 coffee on our landing, and as this will be the first time you've 
 broken bread with us, I'll smother my convictions again. I 
 suppose you drink coffee ? Every body does now even the 
 people who say they can't." 
 
 " I do sometimes," said Muriel, coming to the door as 
 she spoke. " Grandmamma never would let me have it, or tea 
 either, because she said it would ' ruin my complexion,' and 
 we weren't allowed it at school, but I used to take it some- 
 times after I came home to stay, and I am like Dick, the 
 very smell of it suggests festivity to me, though I am sure I 
 don't know why. But don't trouble to make it just because 
 I'm here, Aunt Sally. I do not drink it regularly, and 
 shall not miss it at all." 
 
 " It is no trouble, child. I like it as well as any body 
 does, and I believe I'm always glad of an excuse to make it, 
 but I'm glad you weren't allowed it while you were growing 
 and studying. I've seen children that weren't much more 
 than babies allowed to drink it, and it was made nearly as 
 strong as it was for their fathers and mothers, too, and I'm 
 entirely convinced that the world would be a good deal 
 better off if it had never been discovered, or tea either." 
 
 Voices and steps on the stairway cut short Aunt Sally's 
 disquisition, and presently Marion and Dick appeared arm-
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 125 
 
 in-arm, and flushed with exercise and health. They seemed 
 so genuinely pleased to find Muriel there, and to learn that 
 she was going to stay to tea, that her conscience smote her. 
 What would they say when they learned what her errand 
 had been ? However, to her great relief, she soon found 
 that Aunt Sally had no intention of mentioning it in her 
 presence, so she gave herself up to the enjoyment of the 
 hour, trying not to think of the lonely breakfast which would 
 seem all the lonelier by contrast with this cheerful meal. 
 Marion and Dick were full of the delights and discoveries of 
 their walk, and had brought home sundry bare-looking twigs, 
 which they were quite confident would " come out," if they 
 were put in warmish water and set in the sun every day. 
 
 " I shall fill my pockets with onion-sets and radish-seed, 
 and abscond to Dovedale, if we have a few more days of 
 this weather," said Dick. " How anybody in his senses can 
 deliberately elect to live in a city, when he might live in the 
 country, is one of the standing puzzles of my life." 
 
 "You needn't worry about the weather," said Aunt Sally. 
 " If you had rheumatism in your knee, you'd be very sure 
 that we're not going to have more than one more clear day 
 this trip ! But I've been thinking, myself, that it wouldn't 
 be a bad plan for you to go there for a few days in your 
 Easter holidays, and make sure that Joe is planting every 
 thing we shall want in the garden." 
 
 " Aunt Sally, you are an angel ! " said Dick, enthusiasti- 
 cally, " I have been cherishing that very thought for days, 
 without daring to announce it. You shall have an extra 
 row of okras planted, for that. You know you said the other 
 day that you could have used twice as many this winter, if 
 you'd had them." 
 
 " It must be very entertaining to have a garden," said 
 Muriel. " I always wanted one, but never had it, and I've 
 been thinking quite seriously this spring of stealing a little
 
 126 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 piece off the ' lawn,' as Rogers persists in calling the grass- 
 plot, quite at the back, where it would be inconspicuous 
 from the street, and having a little kitchen garden. Is it 
 too late to plant radishes, and and onions, and tomato- 
 vines, Dick ? " 
 
 " No, indeed ! " replied Dick, with eager interest. " And 
 I'll tell you what, Miss Muriel, if you'll let me come and 
 mark off that piece of ground, and dig it up, and plant the 
 first things in it next Saturday, you'll be doing an act of 
 Christain charity." 
 
 Aunt Sally did not exactly wink at Muriel, but she " made 
 a face," and Muriel understood it. 
 
 " Will you, really ? " she said, " and let me plant some of 
 the things, and show me how to hoe and rake ? You're sure 
 you can spare the time ? " 
 
 "Quite sure!" said Dick, emphatically; "and, Miss 
 Muriel, it's too soon yet to plant any thing but the onion- 
 sets and radishes, and some spinach and lettuce, and a few 
 things like that, but when I go to Dovedale in the Easter 
 holidays, I'll bring you some prime tomato-plants better 
 than any you can get here, and set them out for you so that 
 they'll be sure to grow. Joe and I planted the hot-bed 
 when I was there in the Christmas holidays, and it's flourish- 
 ing, he writes me." 
 
 " I think you are very kind indeed," said Muriel, grate- 
 fully, " and you don't know how I shall enjoy having a 
 garden ! I mean to have more flower-beds laid out this 
 spring, too. I want to raise flowers and roots to give away." 
 
 " That's a good idea," said Aunt Sally, approvingly, " it goes 
 vo my heart to see how people who can't get flowers seem to 
 crave them. The children sent a good many boxes of wild- 
 flowers from Dovedale last summer, and the summer before, 
 too, and we were fortunate enough to have them distributed 
 in places which even the flower-mission doesn't often reach."
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. l2^ 
 
 " How did you manage ? " asked Muriel, with quick and 
 genuine interest. 
 
 "We have a friend," replied Aunt Sally, "a sort of self- 
 appointed city missionary, and he used to take the flowers 
 in his hand, a great bunch at a time, and walk through 
 some of the worst alleys in Boston, and when the poor little, 
 dirty, ragged children swarmed round himwith, 'Give me 
 a flower, please ; give me a flower ! " he just gave them ; 
 and before the first summer was over he knew a good many 
 of the children by sight, and by name, too, and they knew 
 him ; and after awhile he'd stop and have a little talk with 
 them, and so he sort of worked it on gradually from one 
 thing to another, till he found decent homes for some of 
 them, and places for others to work in, and gave a good m^.ny 
 of them the first idea they'd ever had of Christ and His reli- 
 gion. I don't think any body in this world will ever know 
 the good that young man has done, and is doing, in quiet 
 ways that aren't often thought of." 
 
 " Is he a minister ? " Muriel inquired. 
 
 " No, he's not, in the usual sense of the word," said Aunt 
 Sally ; " he's a clerk in a wholesale drygoods store, with a 
 salary of eight hundred dollars a year ! " 
 
 " A bookkeeper, aunty," said Marion, quickly. 
 
 "Well, child, where's the difference ? At any rate, I've 
 a notion that he gives away about half of his salary, and 
 though he always looks as neat as wax, and nobody 'd mis- 
 take him for any thing but a gentleman, you can see that he 
 doesn't get new clothes every time the fashion changes." 
 
 " What is his name ? " asked Muriel. 
 
 " Neil Duncan. One's an Irish name and the other a 
 Scotch one, and I've often thought the Irish couldn't be so 
 very far back, he takes life so easily, and has such a keen 
 sense of fun. I think that is one secret of his success 
 among the children. He's a good deal of a child himself
 
 128 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 in some ways, although he can't be less than thirty years 
 old, I should think, in reality." 
 
 " I think it is beautiful about the flowers," said Muriel ; 
 " I am so glad he thought of it. Does any one send them 
 to him in winter, I wonder ? " 
 
 " Not that I know of. That's one fault I have to find 
 with him ; it's about the only one ; he never will ask for 
 any thing, and there are plenty of people who would be glad 
 of the chance to give through his agency, if he'd only let 
 them know ; but I believe he'd take the coat off his back 
 before he'd ask any body for help." 
 
 " I think that is a great pity," said Muriel, thoughtfully, 
 " both on his own account and on that of the people he 
 deprives of help. Will you please give me his address, 
 Aunt Sally? If I ever carry out my scheme about the tem- 
 perance saloons, he would be the very person to tell me of 
 the best places for them, wouldn't he ? " 
 
 " Yes, I think he would. I'll write you the address after 
 tea, dear ; if you're like most people you'll not remember 
 it long enough to write it down yourself. He lives in lodg- 
 ings, and professes to get his meals at a restaurant, but he 
 was trying to convince me the other day, that oatmeal con- 
 tained every thing that is requisite for the nourishment of 
 the body, and that people, as a general thing, eat a great 
 deal too much meat. I don't believe he does." 
 
 "Why, Aunt Sally, he's the picture of health and 
 strength," said Marion. " I'm sure he looks as if he had 
 plenty to eat, and if it is oatmeal, his theories must be 
 correct." 
 
 " Well my dear, I didn't say any thing to the contrary, 
 did I ? I don't think he'd be foolish enough to carry his 
 self-denial to the point of incapacitating him for work. 
 Come, if you've all finished, we may as well clear the table. 
 Somehow whenever we're later than usual with tea, some-
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 129 
 
 body feels called upon to come and spend the evening with 
 us. It's after eight, though, so perhaps to-night will be the 
 exception." 
 
 Aunt Sally and Marion retired to the kitchen with the 
 tea things, and in the half hour of their absence Muriel 
 made rapid progress in her acquaintance with Dick, whom 
 she liked more and more as his frank talk revealed his 
 character. He was not exceptionally bright, intellectually, 
 but his sturdy honesty and evident good temper, quite 
 made up, in Muriel's estimation, for that. He told her a 
 great deal about Dovedale, and she could see that had he 
 consulted only his own wishes, he would have fixed a much 
 earlier time for assuming charge of the farm than that for 
 which he had agreed to wait. 
 
 She rose to go soon after nine o'clock, for she knew 
 Margery would be disturbed by her unwonted absence, and 
 when she mentioned this, Aunt Sally did not urge her to stay. 
 Dick was standing, hat in hand, waiting for the good-byes 
 to be finished, when Alice returned, escorted by her brother- 
 in-law, who had come up stairs, he asserted, merely for the 
 pleasure of kissing Aunt Sally good-night. 
 
 " But Rose said something, aunty " he added, " about a 
 jar of pickles you had for me I didn't quite under- 
 stand " 
 
 " I said I had a jar of pickles for her, young man," said 
 Aunt Sally, briskly, " but you may as well take it, as long as 
 you're here." 
 
 " It's all the same," said Mr. Osborne, " and I hope 
 Miss Douglas isn't too proud to walk with a pickle-jar 
 you'll let me take you home, Miss Douglas ? And if you 
 are too proud, I will trust Aunt Sally with it till to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " I am not at all too proud, thank you," said Muriel, 
 laughing, " but Mr. Raymond is going to take me home, so
 
 13 WA YS AND MEANS, 
 
 I will not trouble you with the double charge. I should 
 never forgive myself if you were to drop the pickles." 
 
 Dick looked very much pleased. He had had a gloomy 
 foreboding, when his brother-in-law appeared upon the 
 scene, that his services would be dispensed with, for although 
 he still considered himself a boy, there were times and 
 seasons when he did not find it altogether pleasing to be 
 treated " as such," notwithstanding his declaration to 
 Marion. 
 
 " So you prefer to drop me ? " suggested Mr. Osborne, 
 " but if you are sincere, you will not forbid me to walk with 
 you and Dick so far as our roads are the same, and if you 
 are not, you will be justly punished. Here comes Aunt Sally 
 with my jar of pickles it is bigger than my fondest dream 
 of it, and walnuts, I do believe." 
 
 Dick was a little disappointed when he found they were 
 going to take a car instead of walking all the way, but 
 Muriel, having measured the distance that afternoon, and 
 found it rather greater than she had thought, was unwilling to 
 lengthen her absence needlessly, and she thought, besides, 
 that by the time Dick reached home he would have had 
 quite enough exercise for one day. They parted with very 
 friendly feelings toward each other, and a renewal of the 
 engagement about the "kitchen garden," and Muriel's face 
 was so unwontedly bright, when Margery met her in the 
 hall, that that worthy woman relented a little but only a 
 little. 
 
 " Well, Miss Muriel," she said, sternly, " I've had a fine 
 fright about you this evening, and the dinner keeping warm 
 till after eight o'clock. It would not have made your 
 pleasuring any the less, may be, if you'd told me you'd be 
 away for dinner " 
 
 " But I did not know that I should, Margery, dear," said 
 Muriel, meekly. " I went to see Miss Bowne, and she kept
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 131 
 
 me to tea, and I've had such a happy evening that you 
 mustn't scold me. I did mean to tell you where I was go- 
 ing, for I thought I might possibly stay to tea, but I forgot 
 it just at the last. Has any one been here ? " 
 
 " Your three great-aunts, the Misses Gordon, called very 
 soon after you went out," replied Margery, and Muriel saw, 
 or fancied she saw, a sort of twinkle in the old woman's 
 eyes. " They seemed much put about at not finding you at 
 home, and I was quite unable to say where you had gone, 
 which was a pity, perhaps. But Miss Jessie bade me tell 
 you that she hoped, since you were visiting, you would not 
 be long before you came to see them." 
 
 " I shall go very soon," said Muriel, " I'm sorry you were 
 frightened, Margery." 
 
 " I'll get over it, may be," answered Margery, with a per- 
 ceptible softening of voice and manner. " Good-night, Miss 
 Muriel
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A PEACEFUL VICTORY. 
 
 " There is a pleasure that is born of pain." 
 
 " Owen Meredith." 
 
 was one lesson which Miss Bowne had learned 
 1 thoroughly, and that was that the time and manner of 
 making a suggestion had much to do with it's prosperity ; 
 and as, the more she thought of it, the more she leaned to 
 an acceptance of Muriel's invitation, she waited patiently 
 for a fitting opportunity to lay the matter before her chil- 
 dren. She was greatly tempted to speak of it that first 
 evening as soon as Muriel was gone, but she stoutly 
 resisted the temptation. Alice was never a very sound 
 sleeper, and her aunt knew that a discussion, such as would 
 inevitably follow the announcement, would cost her several 
 hours of needed sleep. Besides, Aunt Sally had found the 
 wisdom of " sleeping on " important questions before dis- 
 cussing them, and she decided that, should she think it best 
 to refuse Muriel, it would also be' best to say nothing to 
 any one about the matter. So she said little beside good- 
 night, after Muriel went, and Marion, fearing that she was 
 tired, did not try to make her talk. They had all been 
 concerned to notice of late, that she seemed less vigorous 
 and strong than she had been, and there was a general con- 
 spiracy to save her in every possible way, which by no 
 means escaped her notice, although she did not speak of it, 
 or of the failure of her strength. The truth was, that city
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 133 
 
 life, and confinement to the small quarters which she and 
 her family occupied, was telling upon her, and she was 
 dimly conscious of this, but quite unwilling to acknowledge 
 it even to herself. But she caught herself, from time to 
 time, looking forward with all Dick's eagerness to the time 
 when he should be permanently established at Dovedale, 
 and she could once more live the free and simple life which 
 was most natural to her. These two comrades had many 
 refreshing talks about " the good time coming," and their 
 kitchen-garden, and truck-patch, and " critters " as Joe 
 invariably called the live-stock, and Dick had a profound 
 respect and admiration for Aunt Sally, on the strength of 
 her experience as a farmer, quite apart from all other con- 
 siderations. Summer was their gala-time, and Aunt Sally 
 tided the restless boy over many a discontented hour, by 
 drawing him into talks about the farm. A doubt on her 
 mind about leaving Dick was, when she came to think the 
 matter over quietly, the chief obstacle between herself and 
 the acceptance of Muriel's proposition. The more she 
 thought of this latter, the more the horizon seemed to 
 widen. With her knowledge and experience, added to 
 Muriel's will and financial ability, and young strength and 
 health, how much they might accomplish ! And she was 
 honestly afraid that Muriel would waste both time and 
 money in many blunders if she were left to herself, or still 
 worse, fell into hands of injudicious advisers. She did not 
 feel that it would be wrong to leave Alice and Marion now, 
 for although the latter had still nearly a year of teaching 
 before her, as a fixed engagement, in payment for her 
 " finishing " at Mrs. Irving's school, the one session a day 
 left her enough time to enable her to do her full share of 
 the housework, which, under skillful and intelligent manage- 
 ment, had been reduced to a minimum. And a little more 
 self-denial would not hurt Alice. She was struggling
 
 134 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 bravely with her besetting sin of selfishness, and her family 
 noticed a very marked change for the better in her since 
 her return from her uncle's, about two years ago, but Aunt 
 Sally often saw with pain the hold old habits had upon 
 her ; how she humored herself almost unconsciously in 
 many small ways, at the expense of the others, and often let 
 Marion take an undue share of the errand-going, which was 
 the chief part of the house-work permitted them. Marion's 
 frank and generous nature made her quite unsuspicious of 
 this, and was, Aunt Sally sometimes thought, a real dis- 
 advantage to Alice. Perhaps, under the new arrangement, 
 a change for the better might take place. 
 
 " And it wouldn't be like going off somewhere where I 
 couldn't get to them, nor they to me," she argued with 
 herself. " Muriel likes them all already ; I can see that;and 
 it would be no cross to her to have them coming about the 
 house, as they certainly would come, if she had me there. 
 And a friendship with a girl such as she is, might do quite 
 as much for Dick, just now, as my being with him could. It 
 did me good to see them talking together, just as if they 
 were both boys or both girls. The fact is, Sarah Bowne, 
 you want to have a long finger in that dear girl's pie, and 
 you're trimming off your arguments to fit your wishes ! I 
 must leave it to somebody who isn't biased either way, and 
 yet knows all the circumstances. I've never thought I was 
 very intimately acquainted with Mr. Hamilton, but we've 
 always been friendly on fair principles, and he'd be the 
 first of his kind, if he wasn't willing to give advice ! I shall 
 just go quietly to his counting-room to-morrow afternoon, 
 and lay the whole case before him and ask him what he 
 thinks I'd better do, and if I see that he really gives his mind 
 to it, and don't just say the first thing that comes handiest, 
 to get rid of me, I'll do whichever he says for I've no opin- 
 ion of folks that ask for advice they don't mean to follow ! "
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 135 
 
 If Mr. Hamilton was surprised, the following afternoon, 
 when Miss Bowne appeared at the door of his counting- 
 room, he kept his surprise to himself in an able manner, and 
 seated her in the most comfortable chair he possessed, with 
 an old-fashioned courtesy which highly gratified her. He 
 had a very sincere respect for the old lady, and if they 
 could but have discovered it, much in common with her, 
 which would have made a friendship between them very 
 pleasant for both, but as he grew year by year more and 
 more absorbed in business-cares and anxieties, he ceased 
 even to keep up communication with old friends, and never 
 thought of forming new friendships. 
 
 Aunt Sally had a great contempt for " fooling," and she 
 had also that somewhat rare quality, an appreciation of the 
 value of other people's time, so she came to the point speed- 
 ily with 
 
 " Are you too busy Mr. Hamilton to spare me fifteen 
 minutes ? I'd greatly prefer that you should say so at 
 once, if you are ! " 
 
 " 1 am not," he said, with a very pleasant smile ; " my 
 business is over for to day, and I was just making ready to 
 go up town. I tell you this not to hurry you, but quite the 
 reverse. It is now half-past four ; we do not dine until 
 seven, and it takes me just half an hour to make the jour- 
 ney. In what way can I serve you ? " 
 
 " I would like you to advise me about something that I 
 can't settle for myself," replied Aunt Sally ; and without 
 further preface or apology she stated her case with perfect 
 impartiality and in the fewest possible words. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton listened attentively, and with evident 
 interest. He was silent for some little time after she had 
 finished, and then he said, deliberately : 
 
 " I do not know, and I suppose you prefer that I should 
 not know until I have given you my opinion, what your
 
 136 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 own inclination is in this matter, but it seems to me that if 
 you wish to accept Miss Douglas's offer, you need have no 
 scruple about leaving your nieces and nephew. I have ob- 
 served Dick closely for some time past, and I think he can 
 be trusted with himself. He is unusually conscientious for 
 a boy of his age and sincerely fond of his sisters. As for 
 the girls, it will do Marion no harm, I think, and may do 
 Alice much good to have the added responsibility which 
 will come to them with your departure. And I can see that 
 you might make yourself very widely useful by living with 
 Miss Douglas. Fanny has told me a good deal about her, 
 and all she tells me impresses me favorably ; but it is a 
 heavy responsibility which has been suddenly thrust upon 
 her, and much depends upon the beginning she makes. 
 So, judging, as I only can, from my limited knowledge of 
 the circumstances, I should advise you to accept Miss 
 Douglas's offer." 
 
 " But don't you think ? " inquired Aunt Sally, " that five 
 hundred dollars a year is a great deal too much for her to 
 pay me, in addition to my board and lodging, just for living 
 with her ? It isn't as if I could do any sort of work, you 
 see." 
 
 " No, I do not think it is," replied Mr. Hamilton, without 
 taking any time for deliberation now. "Your judgment 
 and experience will probably be worth quite that much to 
 her in various ways, and you will find, I imagine, numerous 
 small expenditures necessary which are not necessary now. 
 I think you need have no hesitation in accepting the sum 
 named by Miss Douglas. It is not large enough to place 
 you under any obligation, and yet I consider that it is per- 
 fectly fair." 
 
 Aunt Sally rose as he finished speaking, and held out her 
 hand, saying : 
 
 " You've done me more of a favor than you know, per-
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 137 
 
 haps, Mr. Hamilton, and I shall not forget it. Whether or 
 not you've done Miss Douglas one remains to be seen." 
 
 He shook hands with her cordially, as he said : 
 
 " I am quite at ease upon that head. And you have done 
 me a favor, Miss Bowne. You have taken for granted 
 more than most people would believe of me upon sworn 
 testimony." 
 
 Aunt Sally's mind was the battle-ground of conflicting 
 feelings as she marched home. Mr. Hamilton's advice was 
 so evidently well considered and sincere that she felt 
 pledged to herself to be guided by it ; yet, now that she 
 might consider her decision made, it seemed to her that she 
 had been hasty, and that fresh reasons for reversing it 
 sprang up at every corner she turned. She wished, too, 
 now, that she had mentioned the proposal to her children 
 that evening and allowed them to have some voice in her 
 decision, instead of waiting to settle the matter before 
 speaking of it at all. 
 
 "I've three-quarters of a mind just to end the whole 
 business by telling her I can't go, and there's no more to be 
 said," she thought, as she drew nearer home. " I don't see 
 how those girls will manage, with their teaching, to pay 
 half enough attention to the housekeeping. They'll spend 
 twice what they spend now and not have as much to show 
 for it. And if the table is poor, it'll be Dick who will suffer 
 the most, for he's a growing boy and needs good whole- 
 some food, and plenty of it. I wish I hadn't gone to Mr. 
 Hamilton." 
 
 Then, with a sudden effort of will : 
 
 " Sarah Bowne, you're a weak-minded old goose. Which- 
 ever way you settled it you'd be hankering after the other. 
 And I'll not have you breaking a promise, if it is only to 
 yourself. You've made your decision ; now do you abide 
 by it, and make the best of it."
 
 I3 8 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 And she refused to discuss the matter any further with 
 herself, resolutely turning her attention to the shop win- 
 dows, which usually kept her sufficiently amused when she 
 took her walks abroad, but which somehow failed to interest 
 her to-day. 
 
 We need not wonder that we make such slow progress 
 in a real acquaintanceship with other people when we con- 
 sider how slightly we are acquainted with our real selves. 
 Aunt Sally was perfectly certain, before the momentous 
 interview with her children took place, that their distress at 
 losing her would be the thorn in her flesh which would make 
 her decision, if not exactly meritorious, entirely free from 
 the charge of self-indulgence, and that it would at least 
 equal her sorrow for even so slight and partial a separation 
 as that before them. But, although, when she first men- 
 tioned Muriel's proposal, the demonstration fully equaled 
 her expectations, she had not employed more than half her 
 arguments when she saw that her auditors were beginning 
 to look upon the scheme, if not exactly with favor, at least 
 without hostility. What she did not see was, that the same 
 idea had occurred to them all the solid advantages for 
 herself which would be gained. As has been said, they had 
 all observed with anxiety the recent failure in her strength, 
 and in talking it over together had attributed it to the right 
 cause, and deplored their inability to do any thing before 
 the close of the school year should leave them free to 
 return to Dovedale. It distressed them to see her gal- 
 lantly persevering, in spite of weariness and discomfort, in 
 work which, with a little management, they could have 
 done themselves, but, after several encounters, in which 
 they invariably got the worst of it, they were obliged to 
 give up their affectionate attempts to lighten her labors, 
 for they saw that the idea of being a useless burden upon 
 their hands, or those of any one else, was far worse for her
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 139 
 
 even, than over-fatigue. A carefully-worded suggestion 
 that a little girl in the neighborhood should be permitted to 
 come for a few hours every morning and " do up the work," 
 under Aunt Sally's supervision, had been met with undis- 
 guised scorn ; and it was just because all their attempts to 
 make her more comfortable had met with such utter failure 
 that, after the first shock was over, they were ready to listen 
 reasonably to what she had to say. 
 
 " We stole you from cousin Marion and cousin Philip, 
 in exactly the same way, dear," said Marion, when she 
 had finished, " and so, desolate as we shall be without you, 
 we have no right to detain you by force ! The mills of the 
 gods seem to have ground rather rapidly though, in this 
 particular case." 
 
 " It would be almost like going into the country, wouldn't 
 it ? " said Alice ; " the house is so large, and has such nice 
 grounds about it, and it is so much further out than this 
 house is." 
 
 " It couldn't well be further in, ma'am," said Dick, " but 
 that's neither here nor there ; the chief shock to me is Miss 
 Muriel's perfidy. It seems that, while we were on hospi- 
 table thoughts intent, she was planning ruin and disaster for 
 us, and with such an innocent face, too ! But, indeed, 
 Aunt Sally, we should be selfish wretches if we were to lay 
 a detaining finger on you, when you've such an offer as that 
 a young woman who has more money than she knows 
 what to do with, actually begging you to ' boss ' the spend- 
 ing of it ! Virtue is rewarded, once in awhile, even in this 
 wicked world ! " 
 
 " I wish you wouldn't talk such nonsense, Dick ! " said 
 Aunt Sally, with an unusual sharpness in her tones. " You 
 know well enough that I wouldn't stir a step from here, for 
 her or any body else, just for my own comfort. But it 
 seems like an opportunity that I've been sort of waiting for,
 
 140 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 without knowing it, nearly all my life, and you needn't 
 think, any of you, that I'm just going blindfold on my own 
 judgment, for I'm not ! I was so torn to pieces trying to 
 settle it, that I made up my mind I'd better go to some- 
 body who could see it from the outside, and all round, 
 and I did go yesterday afternoon to your Uncle Hamil- 
 ton. He couldn't have been kinder about it if he'd 
 been my own brother, and he was a good deal more sen- 
 sible, I make no doubt. I could see he really thought the 
 matter over before he spoke, and when he did speak, he ad- 
 vised me by all means to go. I had come to one conclusion, 
 and that was, if I saw he cared enough to consider the mat- 
 ter at all, I'd be guided by what he said, so you see ! " 
 
 " Why aunty ! " said Alice, laughing a little, " what in the 
 world put it into your head to go to Uncle Hamilton ? 
 Weren't you afraid ? " 
 
 " No, I wasn't afraid. Why should I be ? And I went 
 to him because I had reason to think that he had a clear 
 head, and never spoke before he knew what he was going to 
 say. And I wasn't disappointed in him. But as soon as 
 he'd given me his opinion, I began to see forty arguments 
 on the other side of the question where I'd seen one before, 
 and I almost wished I hadn't asked him." 
 
 " I am glad you did," said Marion. " We have all been 
 worried about you lately you work so hard, and you're so 
 fierce if we try to help you, or keep you from doing any 
 thing ; and at Muriel's, no matter how much you occupy 
 yourself with good deeds, they will not use you up physically 
 as general housework is doing. But we can't let you go 
 sit in the lap of luxury until you've given us a few lessons, 
 and let us into your secrets about bones and scraps, and 
 such ! " 
 
 " I declare," said Aunt Sally, half crying and more than 
 half angry, " you're all alike ! You all seem to think that
 
 WA YS AND MEANS, 14* 
 
 I'm leaving you because I'm overworked, and because I think 
 I can ' better myself,' when dear knows you ought to know 
 me too well by this time to believe any thing like that of 
 me ! I'll never be as happy again any where, I don't care 
 where it is, as I've been with all of you, and I think you 
 might have better sense ! " 
 
 There were tears in her eyes as she spoke, and this was so 
 unusual, almost unprecedented, that it made a sensation. 
 They all saw, or fancied they saw, that she thought they 
 were letting her go very easily, and the fresh demonstration 
 which followed, although it was balm to her wounded spirit, 
 came very near upsetting her determination. But the mat- 
 ter was settled at last ; they succeeded in convincing her 
 that they really wished her to go, and yet that they should 
 miss her just as much as if they did not, and that they could 
 manage the " flat-work," between them, without calling in 
 outside help, and without ruinous waste and destruction. 
 This desirable state of affairs had just been reached, when 
 the arrival of Rose and Jack necessitated a repetition of the 
 facts of the case, and Jack came near upsetting the treach- 
 erous calm with his indignant strictures, three parts earnest 
 and one part fun, upon Aunt Sally, for being so faithless as 
 to desert her family for a comparative stranger. Rose's 
 gentle tact reduced Jack to order and comforted Aunt 
 Sally, but Jack broke out, at short intervals, all through the 
 evening, saying that it was all very well for the others, with 
 their shallow natures and love of change, to resign them- 
 selves so readily to what they were pleased to consider the 
 inevitable, and for Aunt Sally to let a marble hall and a 
 gilded orphan lure her away from her own family, in this 
 light and easy manner, but that to a person of a dark and 
 true and tender nature, such as his was, such shocks were 
 too great to be calmly borne. 
 
 " Will she allow you to receive visitors, Miss Bowne ? "
 
 142 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 he asked, after an interval of silence and gloomy contem- 
 plation, adding, as Aunt Sally looked fiercely at him : 
 
 "I don't suppose it will be proper for us to call you 
 Aunt Sally, under the fresh set of circumstances which 
 you are preparing for us, and I must begin at once to 
 practice on the other form of address, or I shall be mortify- 
 ing you before your aristocratic connections if you are 
 permitted to invite your 'umble friends to the abode of 
 wealth ! " 
 
 " You're not worth answering when you talk such dread- 
 ful nonsense as that," said Aunt Sally, severely ; " you know, 
 as well as you know you're alive, that I'd never go any- 
 where, or do any thing, that would cut me off from my own 
 folks, and it isn't becoming to insinuate, even in joke, that 
 I would. I did hope," she added, turning to Rose, " that 
 after he married you, and settled down, he'd come into 
 what sense he was meant to have, but I don't see that he's 
 done it yet." 
 
 " Give him a little more time, aunty," said Rose, laughing. 
 " Just think how many years he ran wild before I took him 
 in hand. And he really isn't quite so bad as he was. I 
 see enough improvement to encourage me to keep on." 
 
 Jack made one of his worst faces, but no other reply, and 
 when they said good-night, he took Aunt Sally in his arms, 
 and held her fast, saying : 
 
 " Did you really think I should be glad to have you take 
 your candlestick out of this place, where you've given me 
 so many happy hours, and where thanks to your wisdom, 
 my Rose of all the world " 
 
 But here, to the utter consternation of himself and all the 
 rest of the family, Aunt Sally dropped her head on his shoul- 
 der, and began to cry. They all came about her, hugging, 
 kissing, calling her pet names, begging her pardon, entreat- 
 ing her not to cry any more, until she raised her head,
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 143 
 
 smiling, though in an uncertain fashion, and assured them 
 that she was not going to have hysterics. 
 
 " The fact is," she said, with a poor imitation of her most 
 business-like manner, " I've been worrying and haggling 
 with myself over this affair till I'm all upset, and now 
 I'm not going to say another word about it, to-night or to- 
 morrow either, and after that, perhaps, I can talk of it with- 
 out making a public fool of myself about it, as I've done 
 to-night. 
 
 A chorus of "You haven't! "seemed measurably to con- 
 sole her, but she said good-night almost as soon as Rose 
 and Jack were gone, and when Alice and Marion, an hour 
 afterward went to the large room, divided by a curtain, 
 which they shared with her, the curtain was drawn and all 
 was still. 
 
 Marion took special pains to secure an audience with Mrs. 
 Craig and explain matters to her, before she and Aunt 
 Sally met, and so save the latter all needless distress. But 
 Mrs. Craig, instead of " holding up her hands in amaze- 
 ment," as all the others had done, at once accepted the 
 situation with the cheerful philosophy which was one of her 
 prominent characteristics. 
 
 " I think it's an excellent arrangement," she said, when 
 Marion had fully explained it to her. " Aunt Sally is working 
 harder than a woman of her age ought to work, and all the 
 king's horses and all the king's men couldn't stop her so 
 long as she remains with you. And just the change, even if 
 it were not a change for the better, would do her good. I 
 don't see myself how people stand it to stay in the same place 
 and at the same things forever, as so many of them do, and 
 I've been trying for a week to coax Stephen to go on a lit- 
 tle spree with me, just to New York or to Philadelphia, by 
 one of those nice little steamers, or something like that, 
 but he's the most inexorable man ! He says if I want him
 
 144 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 to take a real holiday in the summer, he must work on 
 steadily during the interval, but that I can go by myself, if 
 I wish to. He knows he's quite safe in saying that, or he 
 wouldn't say it. So last evening, when he thought he was 
 going to read all the instructive and didactic articles in the 
 Nation to me while I darned his socks, I made him help me 
 move every single thing in this parlor into a different place, 
 and this morning, when I dusted, I found it quite refreshing. 
 I'd advise you to try it." 
 
 " I thought it looked as if there had been an earthquake 
 here," said Marion, " but I couldn't tell what the matter was. 
 You don't think there's any thing seriously amiss with Aunt 
 Sally, do you, Fanny ? " 
 
 " No indeed ; I think the easy life, comparatively speak- 
 ing, which she will lead with Muriel, and the freedom from 
 housekeeping cares, will bring her all right again in a very 
 short time. But she isn't so young as she was a few years 
 a g y u must remember, and she tires more easily." 
 
 Fanny's husband quite agreed with her in her view 
 of the case when they talked the matter over, and their 
 cordial approval and encouragement when they next met 
 Aunt Sally, had a most soothing and reassuring effect upon 
 her. 
 
 Rose must have talked very seriously indeed to Jack, 
 after the evening upon which he first learned Aunt Sally's 
 intention to leave her children, for he disturbed her by no 
 more teasing on the subject. But he was genuinely sorry 
 that she felt called upon to make the change, and doubted 
 very much the wisdom of it and its duration. 
 
 " You mustn't be too proud to come back to your deserted 
 nest, if you find the other one doesn't fit, Aunt Sally," he said 
 to her when they next talked of the matter, and she 
 assured him very earnestly that she would not. 
 
 'But it'll be my own fault, I reckon, if it don't fit," she
 
 WA YS AND MEANS, 145 
 
 added, and Jack forebore to make any suggestions or to 
 prophesy dark things. 
 
 Muriel, meanwhile, had waited as patiently as she could 
 for her answer, sending a slightly triumphant note to May 
 with the news that at least she had not been refused. And 
 May was quite willing to admit that this looked very much 
 like victory, and to rejoice with Muriel over the failure of 
 her own prophecy, when Aunt Sally made her decision 
 known. 
 
 " But I can't come to you for three or four weeks, my 
 dear," the latter wrote to Muriel, " for I must make sure 
 first that my girls here can manage the housekeeping with- 
 out me, and I may as well say right out, that if I find they 
 can't, I shall feel it my duty to stay where I am. But I have 
 not much of an idea that this will be necessary. They're 
 neither of them foolish, and they'd have been doing more 
 than half the work long ago if I'd have let them. So I 
 think you may count upon me. And one thing I'm writing 
 for is to say, in thorough earnest, that I don't want you to 
 do any thing to the room you're going to give me, nor to 
 make a fraction of a change in your way of living when I 
 come. If you find a late dinner suits you best, I can make 
 mine just as well when you have your lunch, and I hope we 
 can live in the same house without wanting to whittle each 
 other into a new shape about any thing. It's the only way 
 to live peaceably, as you'll know when you're as old as I 
 am, if you don't before." 
 
 Muriel was a little vexed by the injunction about the room ; 
 she had pleased herself with thinking of various luxuries 
 and prettinesses which could be added to the rather stiff, if 
 entirely comfortable, apartment ; but she knew that Aunt 
 Sally would detect the additions, and only be distressed by 
 them, so she gave up her own wish in the matter. She had 
 decided to give Aunt Sally one of the large square rooms
 
 146 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 in the main body of the house, partly because it commun- 
 icated with the one which she herself occupied ; not directly, 
 but through a closet, which was between the front and back 
 rooms, so that it could be entirely separated when they 
 so desired. These rooms were on the southern side, and 
 Muriel, when she was first left alone, had chosen the front 
 one for her bedroom, because the small room over the wide 
 front hall opened from it as well as from the hall, and here 
 Margery had slept. But when Muriel told Margery about 
 Aunt Sally's coming, a look of relief was quite visible upon 
 the worthy woman's face, and after all the arrangements of 
 which Muriel, in her restricted condition, could think, had 
 been settled upon, Margery said : 
 
 " I'm thinking, Miss Muriel, that when you have Miss 
 Bowne in the next room to you, you'll no longer be needing 
 me in the hall bedroom ? " 
 
 "Why, no, Margery," replied Muriel, "I suppose I shall 
 not exactly need you, though I have grown so used to hav- 
 ing you there that I shall certainly miss you. Did you wish 
 to go back to your own room ? " 
 
 " I'll not deny that I'd like it, Miss Muriel. You see, my 
 things are all there, and its as near fifty as forty years that 
 I have slept in it now, and old people don't take to changes 
 as young ones do. And then I was thinking most young 
 ladies have a dressing-room, as well as a bed-room, as is no 
 more than proper, and how would it be if we took the bed- 
 stead out of that little room, and moved your washstand and 
 bureau in there ? " 
 
 " I think that would be very nice," said Muriel, falling 
 in at once with the idea, because she saw that Margery felt 
 a little uncomfortable about deserting her, and this would 
 entirely restore her to peace of mind ; " but wouldn't this 
 room look a little bare without the bureau between the win- 
 dows ? "
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 147 
 
 " I had an arrangement in my mind, Miss Muriel, if you 
 should like the plan of having a dressing-room there's an 
 old-fashioned dressing-table with a swing-glass, that was 
 sent to the third story when your grandfather refurnished 
 these rooms. It's far handsomer than a good deal that the 
 ladies buy out of the second-hand shops now-a-days, and 
 make such a time over, and what if I had that brought 
 down and put in place of the bureau ? " 
 
 " I should like that very much," said Muriel, cordially. 
 " I remember it well, now that you speak of it. I used to 
 keep my dolls' clothes in those little lower drawers, but you'll 
 have to keep all the brass handles an ! plates about it as 
 bright as you keep my fender and and.rons, Mrs. Margery, 
 or I'll not have it at all ! " 
 
 " There's no fear, Miss Muriel. Then I may ask Rogers 
 to attend to bringing it down ? There's a man at work in 
 the garden to-day that could help him." 
 
 " Yes ; and Margery, I'm so glad you spoke of that 
 dressing-table, for it's made me think of something else. 
 There's a very blank place in the back room, between the 
 back window and the wall, you know, and I think I'll have 
 the high chest of drawers brought down from the third story 
 and put there. I know Aunt Sally likes old-fashioned things, 
 and since she has tied me down about buying any thing for 
 the room, I will see what we can do with things that are in 
 the house. Can you think of any more pretty old-fashioned 
 things that are in the third story ? You know a great deal 
 better what is in the house than I do." 
 
 " If you'd just come up there, and in the garret with me, my 
 dear," said Margery, persuasively, " I could show you every, 
 thing ; it isn't fitting for you not to know what is in your 
 own house ! You see, when your grandfather refurnished 
 the greater part of the house, your grandmother begged him 
 not to send away the nicest of the old furniture, and he
 
 I4 8 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 heeded her ; so what could not well be put into the third 
 story, was stored away in the garret, and there's enough, I 
 do believe, with what could be thinned out from the other 
 rooms, and not missed, to furnish six or seven more rooms, 
 quite comfortably. Come, Miss Muriel, i'ts rainy to-day, 
 and not likely any one will come in to disturb you, and you'll 
 not be wanting, may be, to take the time after you have Miss 
 Bowne here. I'll not keep you more than an hour or two, 
 and then it will be done ! " 
 
 So Muriel went, willingly enough, laughing at Margery's 
 persistency, but listening and looking with real interest as 
 Margery exhibited and described and suggested, and prais- 
 ing the entire absence of dust, which praise gave nearly as 
 much offense as pleasure. 
 
 " I don't know what you think I'm here for, Miss Muriel ! " 
 said Margery, at last, in injured tones, " if I'd let dust 
 gather any where in the house, when that overfed housemaid 
 has not enough to do to keep her out of mischief ! Once a 
 week, without fail, every room in this house is swept and 
 dusted, used.and unused alike, and will be, so long as I am 
 in charge and have my faculties ! " 
 
 " And you call the poor housemaid idle, when she does all 
 that, and does it so nicely, too ! Oh Margery ! I'm afraid 
 some of your ancestors thought bricks could be made just 
 as well as not without straw ! " 
 
 One or two old-fashioned chairs and footstools, and a re- 
 markable piece of embroidery representing a shepherd and 
 shepherdess, who would have been obliged to crawl on their 
 hands and knees in order to enter their thatched house in 
 the "middle distance," were selected for Aunt Sally's room ; 
 the frame of the embroidery had once been very handsome 
 according to old-time ideas of beauty, but it was sadly tar- 
 nished now, and Muriel sent the willing Rogers immedi- 
 ately after lunch with a list of the requisite materials for
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 149 
 
 regilding it, and spent a cheerful afternoon and evening, in 
 spite of rain and solitude, over the work, her mind busy all 
 the time with plans and hopes for the near future, and 
 thanksgivings that Aunt Sally had been so willing to come 
 to her. She took her trophy when it was finished to dis- 
 play to Miss Post, who cheerfully praised it, although Muriel 
 found that the picture was only half discerned by the failing 
 eyes. The doctor's verdict was, as yet, unknown to Miss 
 Post, and Muriel, calling herself a coward, put off telling it 
 for one more day.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SOUNDING THE DEPTHS. 
 
 " The earnest hour, if hope be true, 
 Must be solemn or sad ; for the work we do 
 Is little and weak." 
 
 C. COURTHOPE BOWEN. 
 
 A SINCERE unwillingness needlessly to offend the pre- 
 judices of her Aunt Matilda deterred Muriel from ask- 
 ing the Raymonds to take supper with her on the evening 
 of the day which Aunt Sally had elected for what Jack Os- 
 borne called " The Hegira." 
 
 She knew only too well, that even so small an affair as 
 this would be could not escape the knowledge of that 
 mysterious " little bird," who, in these latter days, seems am" 
 bilious of filling, at fasts as well as feasts, the place occu- 
 pied at the latter by the classic skeleton. And by the time 
 an account of the matter reached Mrs Hardcastle, it would 
 be " an evening company, my dear quite a gay little affair, 
 I can assure you, although I am not positively certain that 
 there was dancing ; and it actually isn't three months since 
 her poor dear grandfather's death ! " 
 
 For herself, she thought, she would have simply disre- 
 garded uncalled-for comments, but she knew that the an- 
 noyance which her aunt would suffer would be very real, 
 and she did not feel that she had the right to inflict it 
 merely for her own gratification an obligation would have 
 been quite another thing. So she contented herself with
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 151 
 
 having supper instead of dinner, and asking Miss Post 
 to join them, which she did, with the pleasure that every 
 thing seemed to give her, and which often made Muriel feel 
 ashamed of her own comparative thanklessness. 
 
 If Aunt Sally felt any remorse when it came to the 
 actual parting with her children, she did not let any one 
 else suffer for it, and Rogers was obliged to retire to the 
 shelter of the pantry more than once during his ministra- 
 tion at the supper-table, which, fortunately for the preserva- 
 tion of his dignity, was once more set in the rightful dining- 
 room. For it had occurred to Muriel that the use of the 
 library as a dining-room gave her old servant a good many 
 unnecessary steps to take, and that she was encouraging 
 herself in the thing which she especially dreaded morbid- 
 ness. She did not mean, however, to punish, as well as cor- 
 rect herself, and decided to wait for Aunt Sally's advent to 
 inaugurate the change, and also, in the mean tirre, to make 
 the dining-room as cheerful as it could be made. It was at 
 least three times too large for the comfort of a family of two 
 people, so she searched a number of shops until she found a 
 gay Japanese screen of unusual size, and with this she parti- 
 tioned off the end of the room at which the butler's pantry 
 lay, surprised herself at the change effected by this bit of 
 bright color, for the division was, of course, somewhat im- 
 aginary, as the screen did not reach more than two-thirds 
 of the way across the room. The windows were hung with 
 heavy crimson curtains, which on cloudy days seemed al- 
 most to exclude the light ; these Muriel had removed, and 
 felt grateful to a reigning fashion which afforded her pretty, 
 semi-transparent and quite translucent draperies in their 
 place. Some quaint old engravings, which had come to 
 light when the contents of the garret underwent inspection, 
 were hung upon the high, bare walls, after having their 
 tarnished frames regilt, as the frame of the piece of embroid-
 
 152 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 ery had been; and Muriel made a prettily-looped draping of 
 the curtain-stuff for the high, cold-looking marble mantle- 
 piece, which had done more than its share toward the rigid 
 look of the room. The improvement was so great that Muriel 
 almost felt that the screen had been an unjustifiable ex- 
 travagance. The room looked smaller, somehow, and so 
 thoroughly cheerful and inhabited that the change seemed 
 almost incredible. 
 
 Aunt Sally's genuine admiration of the room soon 
 banished Muriel's last unpleasant feeling about it. Muriel 
 had taken her into most of the rooms on a previous 
 visit, not at all as a matter of policy, but the recollec- 
 tion of " that poor child all alone in that great tomb 
 of a house " had not been without its influence in Aunt 
 Sally's decision, and she was quick to praise every thing 
 that had been done to banish the gloomy look which seemed 
 to have taken the place, from year to year, of the dust so 
 rigorously, excluded by Margery. 
 
 " It's a curious thing to me, t.ie difference there is in 
 ladies," said Rogers, when supper was over, and Margery 
 was helping him put away some little table-fineries which 
 they had produced for Muriel's pleasure. " Now that old 
 lady," he continued, " I should judge, from the little I have 
 experienced of her, is a very good choice for one to live with 
 Miss Muriel. I have an idea that the gloomy days here are 
 over, at least for the present time. And I hope I may get 
 used to her in a few days, and not be made to laugh quite 
 so sudden as she made me several times this evening. But 
 even if I should not, the pantry is handy now that we've 
 moved back to the dining-room, for which I feel to be 
 thankful, and it did my heart good to hear Miss Muriel 
 laugh out so young and happy-like, the way she ought at 
 her age. But they do say, Miss Margery, I've heard it 
 from several sides, that Miss Muriel intends to turn this
 
 IV A YS AND MEANS. I$3 
 
 house into a sort of asylum for poor ladies ; which might 
 not be so pleasant, even, as the old ways, and would make 
 the work very different from what it's ever been yet." 
 
 " There's no compulsion on any body, that I know of," 
 said Margery, in her grimmest manner, " to stay here when 
 they'd rather leave. And I never knew a time when serv- 
 ants were plentier such as they are." 
 
 With which parting shot she marched up-stairs, leaving 
 the luckless Rogers a prey to wounded feeling. He had 
 not the slightest idea of leaving his young mistress, even 
 should she turn the house into an orphan asylum, but he was 
 very curious as to the truth of the rumors which were, in 
 fact, beginning to be circulated about Muriel, and he had an 
 idea that Margery would be among the first to be able to 
 inform him. 
 
 It pleased Muriel to see Miss Post take up her knitting 
 after tea, and work easily on at it as she talked, scarcely 
 even glancing at it. 
 
 " How well you do that ! " she said, after watching for 
 awhile the rapidly-moving fingers. "You never drop a stitch, 
 or make a mistake. I've often tried to knit without look- 
 ing, but I always get it into a hopeless snarl immediately." 
 
 " I learned when I was a girl," replied Miss Post, " one 
 time when my eyes were weak, and I was obliged to rest 
 them. I knew I should look if I left my eyes free, so I 
 used to bandage them every time I took up my knitting, and 
 it was surprising how soon I learned to go entirely by feel- 
 ing. I am glad enough of it now, for I really think my sight 
 grows worse every day. I've been wanting to ask you, Miss 
 Muriel, if Dr. Ellis told you any thing more than he told 
 me that my general condition was very poor, and needed 
 a great deal of building up, before he could do much to 
 help my eyes." 
 
 "Yes," said Muriel, bravely, "he did. He hopes very
 
 154 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 much to be able to restore your sight entirely a few months 
 from now, Miss Post, but, in the meantime, and before he 
 can do any thing directly to your eyes, you will become, he 
 says, totally blind." 
 
 " Then it is cataract ? " asked Miss Post, quietly, and 
 with none of the agitation which Muriel had feared. 
 
 " Yes," assented Muriel, " and that you know, is very 
 frequently cured. But he says that all depends upon keep- 
 ing up your strength and general health in the interval. 
 So I am going to be a perfect dragon if you don't take as 
 much beef-tea and milk, and strengthening food as I think 
 you should ; and you must only use your eyes when the 
 light is very bright, and even then not very long at a time." 
 
 " I had guessed sometime ago what the trouble was," 
 said Miss P_ost, with a composure so evidently genuine that 
 Muriel was amazed ; she had expected a very painful scene, 
 when this disclosure should be made ; for, in her limited 
 experience, the thing which went by the name of " resigna- 
 tion to the Divine will " was any thing but cheerful in its 
 nature. She looked at the calm, sweet face, the busy 
 hands, and a text, which always recalled to her a stirring 
 sermon which she had once heard upon it, flashed into her 
 mind : 
 
 " Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious 
 power, unto all patience and long suffering, withjoyfulness." 
 
 Yes, this was the religion of Christ Jesus. A faith; which 
 never wavered, a love which " believed all things " and a 
 feeling of positive envy contracted her heart ; with this for 
 a possession, what, indeed, did any thing else, coming or 
 going, matter to the glad possessor ? 
 
 " I think," resumed Miss Post, as no one else seemed 
 inclined to speak, " that I can sew upon white work for 
 several weeks longer, for at least half the day ; so now, Miss 
 Muriel, we must arrange things upon a new basis. So long
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 155 
 
 as I am able to do this, I will gladly stay with you, only my 
 wages must not exceed two dollars a week, and I am afraid 
 I shall hardly be worth even that to you. And when I 
 become wholly unable to work, I shall say good-bye to you, 
 but only for a few months, I hope. Mr. Dwight, my min- 
 ister, has some influence at the City Hospital, and I think he 
 will have no trouble in arranging for me to go there, even 
 though I should have to wait some little time for the opera- 
 tion. How wonderfully I have been cared for ! I feel so 
 hopeful about the result of the operation now, but if I had 
 continued to live as I was living when you offered me this 
 lovely home, I do not believe I should have had much 
 chance for the recovery of my sight. I feel as if I could 
 never find the right words for all my gratitude." 
 
 Muriel laid both hands over the flying fingers, and held 
 them fast while she said : 
 
 " Dear Miss Post, I want you just to ' pretend,' as the 
 children say, for a moment. Pretend that you found your- 
 self in possession of a comfortable home, and a great deal 
 more money than you needed for your own wants, and 
 that Aunt Sally, we will say, saving her presence, came to 
 you for a visit, and you found that she was growing blind, 
 and had no settled home. What would you do with her ? " 
 
 " Why, Miss Muriel, what a question ! I'd keep her, of 
 course I would if I had to tie her to the bed-post." 
 
 And Miss Post laughed, in evident amusement at the 
 vision of the energetic Miss Bowne tied to a bed-post by 
 any one no more powerful than herself. 
 
 " Then," continued Muriel, "you wouldn't let her go to a 
 hospital, even to be cured ? " 
 
 " Miss Muriel, you are just setting a trap for me ! I see 
 what you mean, my dear young lady, and I bless you for 
 meaning it, but ought I to take this help from you, when 
 there are so many, many people within our reach whose
 
 156 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 needs are so much greater than mine, and who can not, per- 
 haps, find entrance to hospitals or charitable institutions ? " 
 
 " If you go by that," said Aunt Sally, who found it per- 
 fectly impossible to keep her oar out any longer, " nobody 
 would ever take anything from any body ! " 
 
 And, nowise disconcerted by the laughter which greeted 
 this apothegm, she continued : 
 
 " You know what I mean, both of you, perfectly well ! 
 And no one person can help and comfort every body at 
 least, not directly but it always seems to me that there 
 would be mighty few unhelped and uncomforted people in 
 the world, if each one of us ' lent a helping hand ' to the 
 people we could reach. And if the Lord has put it into 
 Muriel's heart to reach a hand to you, Miss Post, I don't 
 think you need hesitate to take it, because it can't be given 
 to every body." 
 
 " Perhaps I need not," said Miss Post, simply, " and at 
 least, I will not refuse this great loving kindness to-night. 
 We will see how long the time of entire darkness seems 
 likely to be, and if it is not to be very long, I shall be sorely 
 tempted to take this good gift. But there is one thing, Miss 
 Muriel, of which, perhaps, you have not thought. I shall 
 need, I am afraid, a little help in various small ways when 
 my sight is entirely gone, and it will not be right for me to 
 call upon your servants for this, kind as they have shown 
 themselves to me." 
 
 " That reminds me," said Aunt Sally, before Muriel could 
 speak. " The little girl will be glad and thankful to come, 
 Muriel, just for her ' victuals and clothes/ as her aunt 
 says, and she is ready whenever you are." 
 
 " Then that gives me the answer to your objection, dear 
 Miss Post," said Muriel, and she proceeded to explain who 
 the little girl was, and what her duties would be. 
 
 " And I am, honestly, very glad of an excuse to make the
 
 IV A YS AND MEANS. 157 
 
 experiment of taking her," added Muriel, " I don't think I 
 should have dared to propose it to Margery without an 
 excuse, for she has had, ever since I can remember her, a 
 theory that the servants have not half enough to do, but 
 she saw the reasonableness of it at once, when I told her 
 about it, and I think she has private designs upon the unfor- 
 tunate child in the way of lessons in dusting and scouring ! 
 I have often thought that if people would be willing to take 
 very young girls, mere children, into their homes and teach 
 them carefully, we might not hear quite so much of the 
 4 awfulness ' of servants." 
 
 " Yes, that was the way mother always did on the farm," 
 chimed in Aunt Sally ; " we were never without one or two 
 ' taken girls,' for years and years." 
 
 " Will you be kind enough to tell me what a ' taken girl ' 
 is, ma'am ? " inquired Muriel. 
 
 " Sure enough ! " said Aunt Sally, " I suppose that might 
 be called an obsolete expression. Why, my dear, in those 
 remote days, the fathers and mothers of some of the coun- 
 try-girls, who had plenty of children, and not quite such a 
 plenty of money, were glad enough to let the well-to-do 
 farmers take their girls to bring up, and I suppose that's 
 how they came to be called ' taken girls ' though they 
 were called ' bound-girls,' too, for they were bound out 
 nearly always, and I suppose that's just as much Greek to 
 you as the other is ! The fathers and mothers would sign 
 an agreement not to take the child away, or molest her, 
 until she was eighteen that was the age they set usually, 
 though it could be made whatever they chose to agree 
 upon, and the family who took her would promise to pro- 
 vide her board and clothing and to give her a comfortable 
 outfit, or money, or sometimes both, when she was free. It 
 was a risk, of course, for both sides, but so far as my obser- 
 vation went it worked well much oftener than badly. In
 
 I5 8 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 the first place, it gave the girl a settled feeling ; she knew 
 she couldn't go whisking off the first time she thought the 
 work too hard, or somebody said something she didn't like, 
 and generally a nice girl would soon come to identify her- 
 self with the family,and take a pride in her work ; and I 
 know of two or three instances in our neighborhood where 
 the girls staid right on after they were free, for wages, of 
 course, and lived as long as twenty or thirty years in the 
 same family. But that didn't happen very often, I'm free 
 to confess. They generally married soon after they were 
 free, and in some instances the people who had taken them 
 were glad and thankful when the time was up and they 
 could get rid of them." 
 
 " I almost wish we might make some such arrangement 
 about this little girl," said Muriel ; " then I could take 
 some comfort in teaching her, and let myself get fond 
 of her ; for, from what you have said, I think I shall like 
 her." 
 
 " Yes, I think you will, or I wouldn't have undertaken to 
 bring her here. But, my dear, if you are only to have her a 
 month, instead of five or six years, that's all the more reason 
 for trying to teach her as much as you can while you have 
 her, and in such a way that she'll feel thankful all her life 
 for the chance she had of being with you. We have to sow 
 a good deal of seed without trying to find out who will do 
 the harvesting, but we may be quite sure somebody will, if 
 the sowing's done right. It's discouraging sometimes, I'll 
 admit, to see no result of our work and our prayers, but we 
 mustn't be discouraged." 
 
 " It will be pleasant to have a child about me once more," 
 said Miss Post, contentedly. " I was always the one at home 
 to help mother with my" younger brothers and my little sis- 
 ter, and they were about as fond of me as they were of her ; 
 how long, long ago it seems ! "
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 159 
 
 " And where are they now ? " asked Muriel, with kindly 
 interest." 
 
 " In Heaven, I hope," replied Miss Post, reverently. 
 " The boys both died young, and my sister when she was 
 thirty. She and I had never been separated for a single 
 day before her death ; for after mother died, and we were 
 obliged to give up the house, we took a room together and 
 learned dressmaking and millinery ; she was the milliner. 
 We had money enough to keep us while we learned our 
 trades, and a little left to put by in case of illness, and 
 we succeeded very nicely while she lived, and even after 
 her death I made enough to put by a little every year 
 for a few years. But I missed her ; she always had more 
 courage than I have ; I used to think she would not 
 be afraid to undertake any thing, and she would keep up 
 with the fashion of the day, and make me do it too ; I tried 
 to go on as I knew she liked me to, but somehow I couldn't ; 
 so after awhile I took plain sewing whenever I could get it, 
 in preference to dressmaking, and that, of course, did not 
 pay so well. But I've nothing to complain of ; I've always 
 had enough to eat and wear, and a comfortable bed to 
 sleep in, and how many women there are who have lost 
 work and what little money they had, and suffered from 
 hunger and cold ! I often wonder at the way in which I 
 have been helped, through no deserving of my own, and 
 long to help others in the same way, but I don't seem to 
 have found or made many chances to do that." 
 
 Muriel was on the point of saying some of the things which 
 crowded into her mind, about the help which " the patience 
 and faith of the saints " gave unconsciously, but she stopped 
 herself it would only bewilder and distress Miss Post, and 
 perhaps take something from the unconsciousness which 
 gave such weight to her example. But she did extract a 
 promise that Miss Post would do nothing about entering the
 
 l6o WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 hospital without first giving notice of her intention, and 
 with this promise Muriel contented herself for the present. 
 
 Aunt Sally was so evidently tired that Muriel was very 
 glad when Miss Post said good-night, a little before ten, and 
 as soon as she was out of hearing Muriel rose, saying : 
 " Your room is all ready, aunty, and now I'm going up with 
 you to see if you have every thing you want, and put you in 
 a proper frame of mind to dream a nice dream, for you know 
 it will come true your first dream in a strange :oom I " 
 
 " I'd be hard set if I hadn't every thing I wanted in that 
 room," replied Aunt Sally, taking Muriel's offered arm as 
 she spoke. " I hadn't time before tea to look at every thing, 
 but it somehow seemed to me as if I'd come back to a place 
 I'd lived in once before." 
 
 " You don't know how glad you make me, by saying that ! " 
 cried Muriel, joyfully. " I hoped you would feel so ; Mar- 
 gery and I did our best to make it look home-like, but I was 
 afraid it would seem stiff and strange to you after that cosy 
 little flat. All the rooms nearly, here, are so much too large 
 for every day use, and the furniture is so massive and dark, 
 that it helps to give a gloomy look to the house. There are 
 things stored away in the garret the things, Margery says, 
 which grandpapa found here when he inherited the house 
 that I like a great deal better than the ones he bought." 
 
 " Yes," said Aunt Sally, " there was a time, a good many 
 years before this craze for old furniture ca"ie in, and more 
 yet before people talked about ' Art ' in every thing, when 
 they took it into their heads, the ones who could afford it, to 
 banish all the old things, and have every thing new, and I 
 do think, for awhile, the cabinet-makers must have tried how 
 sinfully ugly they could make things ! Now the really old 
 ones, of the better kind, were made of real wood, of the kind 
 they professed to be, and had their carving done on them, 
 not stuck on with glue afterward, and there was a sort of
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. l6l 
 
 dignity about them, if there wasn't much grace ! Still, I 
 must say, that unless I had some special association with 
 the old ones, I'd rather have the pretty, graceful, easily- 
 moved things they're making now-a-days, than the ponder- 
 ous bedsteads and bureaus that were made a hundred years 
 ago. But one thing was worth keeping, and I'm glad they're 
 reviving it, and that was the ' chest of drawers.' That one in 
 the corner looks like an old friend. I have missed mine 
 more than I have any of the furniture that was sold when I 
 broke up at the farm. They're unhandy, in a sense you 
 have to mount upon a chair to reach the upper drawers, but 
 somehow I always felt good and settled when I'd put my 
 winter things away in those upper drawers, for the summer, 
 and my summer things for the winter. I expect to take 
 clear comfort out of that ! " 
 
 " Now, Aunt Sally," said Muriel, whose face had brightened 
 with this exordium until she, at least, looked far from sleepy. 
 " I'm not going to let you sit up any longer, or I shall not 
 believe that I have you ' to keep,' as the children say ; it's 
 too much as if you were going to-morrow, and I were obliged 
 to make the most of my time ! Kiss me good-night and go 
 to bed ! " 
 
 " I am tired, child, but I s'pose I'm a little excited, too. 
 Old folks don't take transplanting as young ones do. Tell 
 me what time you have breakfast, and then you may go." 
 
 " At eight o'clock. Shall Margery call you ? " 
 
 " I don't think she need. I have been the first one up in 
 the house for more years than you've been in the world, and 
 I believe I'd wake if I'd only been asleep an hour, with the 
 first streak of light, or the first noise in the street." 
 
 Perhaps this vain-glorious speech was accountable for the 
 fact that when Muriel, the next morning, being nearly dressed, 
 and hearing no sound from the next room, first knocked 
 softly, and then opened the door, she found Aunt Sally
 
 162 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 sleeping like a baby. With mischief sparkling in her eyes, 
 she was about to close the door as quietly as possible, and 
 leave the victim to her fate, but the noise, slight as it had 
 been, was sufficient to wake her, and she was only a few min- 
 utes late for breakfast. 
 
 " I'm so sorry I opened that door ! " said Muriel, when 
 Aunt Sally had expressed her opinion of herself for making 
 such a beginning, without considering it necessary to men- 
 tion that she had not closed her eyes till three o'clock. " If 
 I'd only let you alone I do believe you would have slept 
 on till dinner-time, and you did look as if you were enjoying 
 it so." 
 
 " I think you'd better call me, or ring a bell, at seven 
 o'clock after this," said the old lady, with unwonted meek- 
 ness. " I suppose it does people good to be taken down 
 once in a while, but they don't enjoy it any the more for 
 that." 
 
 Muriel felt all day as if the air had become more bracing, 
 the sunshine brighter. She found herself singing, as she 
 went about the house, for the first time in all the years of 
 her life there. Margery's joy over the change was not ex- 
 pressed, but "took itself out" in quiet attentions to Aunt 
 Sally. 
 
 If Muriel had expected any immediate advice or sugges- 
 tions as to the vague ideas which she hoped to crystallize 
 into forms of usefulness she was disappointed, for several 
 days passed, and, beyond helping Muriel to carry out the 
 , plans concerning the little waiting-maid, Aunt Sally showed 
 no sign of acting as mentor. She was not idle, however, 
 but was making notes for future reference. She saw that 
 Muriel was more inclined to dream and plan and speculate 
 than to take any very active steps toward the fulfillment of 
 her dreams, and for this it was easy to account. The life 
 of repression and loneliness that she had led for so many
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 163 
 
 years had made her mistrustful of herself, and her tendency 
 was to reject her projects, upon considering them, and try to 
 find something better. Even in the small matter of her 
 order at the hothouse she was already dissatisfied, and was 
 thinking of countermanding it. Aunt Sally had very soon 
 penetrated to the truth about the supply of flowers, which, 
 coming every other day, had at first seemed to her frugal 
 mind an unjustifiable extravagance, and she soon saw, too, 
 that but for Margery they would not fulfill their mission. 
 The latter either took them herself to people of whom she 
 knew in the neighborhood, or made suggestions to Muriel 
 as to their destination. So, too, about the steps to be taken 
 after the purchase of the property concerning which Muriel 
 had talked with Mr. Keith. This purchase had been effected, 
 and they were waiting her orders as to the next step. The 
 elder Mr. Keith, having concluded the business which had 
 been absorbing his time when she last sent for him, had 
 called to see her when the transaction was completed, to 
 express his satisfaction in it, and his confidence that it 
 would prove a good investment, as well as his pleasure at 
 the confidence in himself which she had shown, and which, 
 he assured her, he should always do his best to justify. 
 She asked for a little time in which to decide upon her 
 wishes, and he courteously assured her that there was no 
 hurry. The taxes on the property were comparatively 
 light, and something might occur which would serve as a 
 suggestion as to the best employment of her purchase. It 
 had crossed his mind, he said, that perhaps a block of small, 
 neat houses, built at a cost which would, for the present at 
 least, permit low rents, would bring a quicker and surer 
 return than any thing else, as they would rent very readily 
 to people employed in the neighborhood. This idea pleased 
 Muriel, but she was not quite ready to give a positive order 
 that it should be carried out, and Mr. Keith himself evi-
 
 1 64 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 dently thought it best to do nothing hastily. After he went 
 away Muriel was seized with a desire to see her new acqui- 
 sition, and asked Aunt Sally to go with her the next morn- 
 ing, briefly explaining the facts of the case and her own 
 state of indecision. 
 
 Aunt Sally scented the battle afar off, and responded to 
 the invitation with great alacrity. So they set forth soon 
 after breakfast the next morning, taking a car almost imme- 
 diately, as the distance was quite too great for the " senior 
 partner's " walking powers, and Muriel declared that it 
 would be a waste of time, when people were going on busi- 
 ness, to walk when riding was possible. 
 
 They found the place without any difficulty, from Mr. 
 Keith's directions, and Muriel knocked bravely at the first 
 door of the forlorn-looking row of houses, determined to 
 see for herself what manner of people lived in them, and 
 what the result would be should she decide on a general 
 " eviction " which must, of course, be the first step should 
 any change be made. A tired-looking woman opened the 
 door, and stood looking at them with evident astonishment, 
 and no favor. She did not ask them to come in. They saw 
 that she had just risen from a sewing-machine, beside which 
 was piled a quantity of course sewing. 
 
 " Will you please let us come in for a few minutes ? " said 
 Muriel, gently ; " I would like to have a little talk with you. 
 I will not detain you long." 
 
 " If you want to leave tracts, or talk religion, I've no 
 time for either," she replied, in a voice still more sullen 
 than her face, but she moved aside as she spoke, opening 
 the door wider to let them in, and even setting chairs for 
 them. There was no fire in the room, and it was chill and 
 dark by contrast with the warm April sunshine from which 
 they had just come. Muriel saw that the house was only 
 one room deep, and that the yard was so small that the
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 165 
 
 great warehouse immediately behind the row cut off both 
 light and air. A very small stove, a table, and three or four 
 wooden chairs comprised the furniture ; there were no cur- 
 tains or blinds of any sort at the two windows, which were 
 opposite, back and front. Rag-carpet covered part of the 
 floor. The walls had evidently been whitewashed not very 
 long ago, but only with one coat, and the various discolora- 
 tions of the plaster showed through the very superficial 
 whiteness. Altogether, the place looked utterly, hopelessly 
 comfortless, and Muriel could not help contrasting its appear- 
 ance with the happy-go-lucky expression of a negro-cabin 
 on the extreme outskirts of the city, into which she had 
 once happened to look in passing rags and dirt were mani- 
 fest there, but somehow they failed to effect the look of 
 squalor and privation which this clean and decent room 
 wore. 
 
 Muriel felt her courage ebbing, and began the attack at 
 once. She frankly stated the reasons for her intrusion, 
 and asked the woman to tell her whether the inhabitants of 
 the row would be put to any thing more than temporary in- 
 convenience by a notice to quit. 
 
 " I don't undertake to answer for any body else," the 
 woman replied, "but if you really want to know my views 
 about the matter, you're welcome to them ! These houses 
 are old and shabby, and inconvenient ; they're hot in sum- 
 mer and cold in winter, but I took this one, after a long 
 hunt, because it was the only one, with a rent that I could 
 pay, that was in a decent neighborhood. I suppose it 
 doesn't seem decent to you " and she looked Muriel over 
 critically, in a way which made her wince, " but if you could 
 see the streets where most of the cheap houses are, you'd 
 understand, may be, what I mean. Groggeries, and worse, 
 about every other house. Noises at night that won't let you 
 sleep. Air that it's poison to breathe. I saw you look at
 
 166 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 that dead wall that's almost against the window, but a dead 
 wall's better than a whiskey-mill, if you're trying to keep 
 two boys from following their father to ruin, and ware- 
 houses are better than some other kinds of houses, if you've 
 a daughter who's too good-looking for her safety. She can 
 come home here when her day's work's done, without being 
 insulted or tempted on her very doorstep. If I'm driven 
 from here, I've no time for the hunt I'd have to make 
 for another home as decent. I'll have to take what I can 
 get soonest and cheapest, and let the worst come if its 
 coming. That's all I have to say." 
 
 " But you shall not, you shall not !" cried Muriel, springing 
 to her feet, and taking the woman's rough hands in both 
 her own, " I promise you, solemnly, and with this lady for 
 my witness, that if I ask you to leave this house, I will 
 first find one for you as cheap, as safe, and far more com- 
 fortable. You believe, you trust me. do you not ?" 
 
 The woman looked fixedly in the glowing, quivering face 
 before her for a moment; she made no attempt to draw 
 her hands away. 
 
 " Yes," she said at last, " I believe you ; I'll trust you, 
 and I'd say God bless you if I believed there was any God. 
 Now you'd better go ; I can't quit my work any longer, and 
 the old lady's shivering she's not used to being chilled to 
 the bone." 
 
 She adjusted her work upon the rickety machine, and 
 Muriel and Aunt Sally went. They had not learned to 
 regard the very poor as a " class," with no social rights which 
 the very rich and very benevolent are bound to respect. 
 
 " Oh," said Muriel, almost with a groan, as she closed the 
 door, " I thought I knew about poor people Margery has 
 taken me to places but I never saw any thing like that ! 
 And there must be hundreds of just such cases oh, what 
 shall I do, what shall I do ? "
 
 WA YS A ND ME A NS, 1 6 7 
 
 " The best thing that lies nearest to your hand, my 
 dear," said Aunt Sally, " and be thankful you've the means 
 and strength and time to help, instead of having your hands 
 tied by sickness or poverty. Not that I think any body's 
 hands are ever wholly tied ; I shall never believe that, I 
 hope, but some people do seem to have more chances given 
 to them than others have, and you're one of the favored." 
 
 " I don't know," said Muriel, " I think sometimes, often, 
 that I'd much rather be poor. I'm so afraid of doing more 
 harm than good, of making mistakes, that I feel as if my 
 hands were tied. Now, I don't believe that poor, fierce 
 woman, for instance, would take money, if I were to try to 
 give it to her." 
 
 " Perhaps she wouldn't, just yet," replied Aunt Sally, 
 "and it doesn't seem to me that is the sort of help she 
 needs, either. That's the mistake so many good people 
 make ; they're ready enough to give money, but not love, or 
 time, or thought. And yet, if they read their Bibles I don't 
 see how they can help noticing that in all the years of our 
 Saviour's ministry on earth there is but one instance 
 recorded in which He gave money, and that was not to a 
 poor person, but to keep Himself from being the cause of 
 a quarrel about tribute-money. But we are told that He 
 came ' to seek and to save that which was lost," ' not to be 
 ministered unto, but to minister.' And it seems to me that 
 there's an inner meaning in that incident of the tribute- 
 money which mostly escapes notice it proves that if He 
 had thought it wise to give money, He had only to will, 
 and He could have done it. Money's worth He gave over 
 and over, food to hungry people, health to the sick ; and 
 though we're only told in one case that the sick person had 
 ' suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent 
 all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew 
 worse,' I've no doubt there were plenty of just such des-
 
 1 68 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 perate cases, for they'd be the very ones who would be 
 eager to come to Him. And the wine at the marriage feast 
 was money's worth, too. And the great catch of fishes, 
 when they'd toiled all night and taken nothing. So I don't 
 mean, far from it ! that He set people an example of not 
 giving, but that He showed them the way to give. And 
 another thing that I saw in a book I once read a story ; He 
 nearly always touched the poor things with His own hands; 
 when, if He had willed it so, He could just as well have 
 said, always, as He did once, as if to show that it was pos- 
 sible, ' I will ; be thou clean ! ' ' 
 
 Aunt Sally stopped, for slowly as they had walked they 
 had come to the end of the row. 
 
 " Shall you try another house, my dear ? " she asked. 
 
 " Yes," said Muriel, " I meant to try at least two." 
 
 And she knocked at the door of the last house, without 
 noticing that the window had a little shelf across it, on 
 which a few jars of candy were displayed. 
 
 " Come in ! " called a brisk voice, and Muriel opened the 
 door, thereby rousing to action a sharp little bell which 
 struck two fierce notes, and then stopped with equal sud- 
 denness. 
 
 A narrow counter shut off about a third of the room, and 
 behind this counter sat a small, brisk-looking woman with 
 sharp black eyes, an obvious *' front " where her own hair 
 had presumably once been, and a good-humored mouth, 
 which, as Aunt Sally afterward remarked, " took the edge 
 off her eyes." She was sewing, but rose as they entered, 
 saying with evident amusement : 
 
 " Well, you're the first people I've ever met who were so 
 extra polite as to knock at a shop door ! " 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said Muriel, confusedly, " but I 
 didn't see the window until after I'd knocked. Will you 
 give me a pound of the different sorts of candy, please ? "
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 169 
 
 " I don't know as there's a pound in the whole collec- 
 tion ! " said the woman, with a good-natured laugh, adding, 
 as she proceeded to empty her jars into the small scales on 
 the counter : 
 
 " You see there's not a great deal of call for candy in 
 this neighborhood, but sometimes a child happens on a 
 penny, and brings it here to spend and that gives me a 
 chance, but I never keep much on hand, for I don't want to 
 give the poor little souls stale trash, and I always buy of a 
 good maker who won't poison them. There is a pound 
 after all, and two sticks to put back in the window ! I 
 didn't think I'd so much left ! " 
 
 She wrapped it up deftly, and Muriel paid for it, and 
 then, after a moment's hesitation, said : 
 
 " I hope you will not think me 'impertinent if I ask you 
 one or two questions. Would it put you to any great 
 trouble or cause you any loss, to be obliged to move from 
 this house ?" 
 
 A look almost of dismay came over the woman's face as 
 she answered : 
 
 " Wny yes, I should think it would ! The houses are so 
 poor and out of repair that the rents are low for the size of 
 them, and the neighborhood's so decent, compared with 
 others, where rents are no higher, that I was thankful to 
 come here from where I was, and so far as I know, pretty 
 much every body in the row feels the same way. I s'pose 
 if I went to the country, or even very far out on the edge 
 of the city that I could get a better house for less than I 
 pay here, but I shouldn't have the same opportunities, you 
 see," and she glanced round at the three shelves behind the 
 little counter. " I keep a sort of variety store trimmings 
 and buttons and needles and cotton, and even a few dry 
 goods and groceries, besides that pound of candy, and a 
 batch or two of ginger-bread and cookies twice a week.
 
 1 70 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 I'm beginning to have quite a good trade, and the women 
 in the alleys and courts a few blocks off poor souls have 
 begun to come here for what little tea and coffee and spices 
 and sugar they use. And that gives me chances to talk to 
 them, and give them notions about their cooking and other 
 work, and I don't know when I've been so pleased as I was 
 yesterday, when one of 'em came of her own accord to ask 
 me how I made the ginger-bread and if I thought she could 
 learn to make them and bread. So you see, I'd be sorry 
 enough to go, and there's a sort of report flying about that 
 the row has changed hands lately, and that we're all to be 
 turned out neck and crop. Do you know any thing about 
 it ? Is that what you've come about ? " 
 
 Aunt Sally's eyes had fairly danced as the woman told 
 her story ; here was a beginning, a good beginning, toward 
 a project which had occupied her thoughts for years. But 
 she said nothing. She meant to wait and see what Muriel 
 would do. Muriel's mind worked fast in the minute's 
 pause which she made before answering, and her conclusion 
 was that for the present, and in this particular case she had 
 better not avow herself the owner of the property. She had 
 an idea that it would at once throw a restraint over this 
 frankly-speaking tenant of hers, and the chance seemed to 
 her too good to be risked. So she merely said : 
 
 " Yes, it is true that some one has bought the row, and 
 has been advised to pull it down, and build either a block 
 of shops, or of houses which would command a much 
 higher rent than these do, and I was desirous of ascertain- 
 ing something about the tenants, and whether any real dis- 
 tress would be caused by giving them notice to leave." 
 
 " Then you must have some influence with the buyer," 
 said the woman, shrewdly. " Perhaps you're his wife ? " 
 
 " I am not any body's wife," replied Muriel, smiling and 
 coloring a little ; " but you are right in thinking that I have
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 171 
 
 influence with the purchaser, and I am very anxious to use 
 it for the best." 
 
 " Well," said the woman, thoughtfully, "I suppose every 
 body has a right to do what he will with his own, and 
 there's no doubt that whoever has bought this block could 
 make it yield three or four times, perhaps a dozen times, as 
 much income as it's yielding now ; but then, as it strikes me, 
 whoever has bought it must be rich, and perhaps if he 
 knew the mischief he'd do by turning adrift the dozen or so 
 of families that live in these houses, he'd think twice about 
 it. Money's a good deal, but it isn't every thing, by a long 
 shot." 
 
 " I have not time to stop any longer now," said Muriel, 
 without replying to these remarks, " but I am very much in- 
 terested in what you have told me about your customers, 
 and if you will let me, I would like to come again in a few 
 days and have another talk with you, and I think my aunt 
 would like to come, too, and if you would not mind, I am 
 sure she could tell you of a few more things which would 
 be nice to make and sell to those poor women in the courts 
 and alleys." 
 
 "You'll be welcome, both of you, whenever you chose to 
 come," was the ready reply, accompanied by a very pleas- 
 ant smile, " but I can't promise to undertake more than I'm 
 doing now in the way of cooking, for what with that and 
 other things I have to attend to my hands are pretty full. 
 Still, it wont hurt to talk it over. And if you have the 
 chance, as I gather from what you say, that you have, I 
 hope you'll say a good word for the tenants of this row. I 
 don't know them all very well, but this much I can say, 
 they're all decent-behaved people, who are earning their 
 own living, and troubling nobody." 
 
 They left the shop, exchanging very friendly good-byes 
 with the proprietor, and Aunt Sally said : "Muriel ! if we
 
 I? 2 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 don't take hold and pull when the end of such a rope as 
 that is put into our hands, we don't deserve ever to have 
 another chance as long as we live." 
 
 " That's just what I was thinking myself, aunty, and I 
 thought another thing. The whole firm of Keith and Sons 
 and the other firm of Hardcastle and Co., may unite to sup- 
 press me, but that block will not be turned into shops nor 
 yet into houses with higher rents than those paid for the 
 ones which now occupy it." 
 
 There was a ring of resolution in Muriel's voice which 
 did Aunt Sally's heart good. Her real nature, so long con- 
 trolled, suppressed, and nearly dwarfed by outward circum- 
 stances, was beginning to assert itself, and it seemed as if, 
 in time, the tendency to doubt and vacillation might fall off, 
 as the husk parts from the ripened grain. 
 
 " God bless you for those words, my dear," said Aunt 
 Sally, fervently ; " no doubt you'll have plenty of annoyance 
 about the matte r , but there can't be any real trouble, for the 
 power is in your own hands, thanks to your grandfather's 
 confidence in you. And it must be a comfort to you to 
 know, since he put the power in your hands, that he 
 would be pleased to have you make such uses as this of it. 
 But I don't think we'd better make any more visits to-day. 
 You look a good deal paler than you did when we started 
 out. And we know pretty much the whole story now ; it 
 seems to me we couldn't have lit on a better woman than 
 that last one, for finding out ail we wanted to know. But I 
 I wish I'd thought to ask her name. It never once oc- 
 curred to me. What's that on your candy-bag ? " 
 
 Muriel turned it around and found printed upon it, 
 " Prudence Harley," with the street and number of the 
 shop. 
 
 " Now that is right bright of her," said Aunt Sally, ad- 
 miringly, " it advertises her every time she sells any thing.
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 1 73 
 
 What are you going to do with your pound of candy ? not 
 eat it, I hope ? " 
 
 " No," and Muriel laughed a little ; " I'm afraid that ac- 
 cording to May Douglas's doctrine, I should ' drop into 
 poetry,' of the extremely sentimental sort, if I were to eat a 
 whole pound of stick candy, even of such superior quality 
 as this is warranted to be and doubtless is. I only bought 
 it, in the first place, to give myself time to collect my 
 thoughts, and then it occurred to me that it might do to 
 use as Mr. Duncan, was it ? uses his bunches of wild 
 flowers." 
 
 A group of little ragmuffins, playing happily by and in the 
 gutter, caught her eye as she spoke, and she walked boldly 
 up to them, untying the bag as she went. They did not flee 
 at her approach, as she had half feared they would ; on the 
 contrary, they turned as if by concerted action, and concen- 
 trated a six-fold stare upon her, while one very small boy, 
 whose trowsers appeared to be in the act of swallowing him 
 whole, made an indescribable grimace, and a gesture of mock 
 admiration, at the same time ejaculating : 
 
 " Oh, my eye ! " 
 
 " No, it's your mouth," said Muriel, holding out a stick of 
 candy. " There's one for each of you," she added, and six 
 small black hands, which showed faint traces of having once 
 been white, were thrust eagerly toward her. 
 
 " Now she'll give us a track," said the spokesman of the 
 group, " and ask us where we live, and try to hook us into 
 her Sunday-school class." 
 
 He spoke with such entire freedom from embarrassment, 
 and his dirty little face had such a knowing twist as he 
 announced his expectation, that Muriel laughed outright. 
 Then she said : 
 
 " You never were more mistaken in your life, young man. 
 I haven't any Sunday-school class, nor any ' tracks,' but I
 
 174 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 have some more candy, and I shall have an errand near 
 here day after to-morrow morning, so if you will all be here 
 at noon, as I go home, \t\\.\i perfectly clean hands and faces, 
 I shall have a stick of candy and a cake for each of you." 
 
 " Honor bright, and no fooling ? " questioned the speaker, 
 severely. 
 
 " Honor bright, and no fooling ! " repeated Muriel, 
 affirmatively, " and you may bring six of your brothers and 
 sisters, or friends if you like, but remember, every body's 
 hands and face must be perfectly clean, or I shall not give 
 the cake and candy at all." 
 
 " You don't mean to say," he indignantly demanded, " that 
 if one of us hasn't cleaned hisself right, you wont give noth- 
 ing to all the rest ? Do you call that fair ? " 
 
 " No," replied Muriel, " and that was not what I meant 
 don't be stupid. All the clean ones will get it, and none of 
 the dirty ones. Now, do you understand ? " 
 
 " You' 11 have to 'scuse him, lady ; he cracked his poor 
 head on the ice last winter, and his mother ain't never had 
 time to fill the crack up," remarked one of the larger boys, 
 holding his candy in the corner of his mouth, as if it were a 
 cigar, while he spoke. There was a peal of derisive laugh- 
 ter, mingled with hooting, from the rest of the group ; the 
 insulted youth caught his insulter's apology for a cap and 
 hurled it into a conveniently-situated mud-puddle, and 
 Muriel thought it wise to beat a hasty retreat. Aunt Sally 
 was laughing quietly, and did not seem at all annoyed by 
 the delay. 
 
 " They're sharp, those poor little wretches," she said, as 
 Muriel joined her. " What are you going to do with 'em, 
 my dear, if they succeed in 'cleaning themselves?' " 
 
 " I don't know, aunty," replied Muriel, with a perplexed 
 face ; " I almost wish already I hadn't spoken to them." 
 
 " That's a cowardly wish," said Aunt Sally, severely,
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 175 
 
 " and I wouldn't let it turn into 'quite.' We'll think a little 
 between this and Thursday, and see what we can make out 
 for the next best thing. It's always a good beginning, 
 whatever may come next, for people to ' clean themselves.' 
 And I'm curious to see how many of 'em will think it worth 
 their while to do it."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ENLISTING. 
 
 " If I ask Him to receive me, 
 
 Will He say me nay ? 
 Not though earth and not though heaven 
 Pass away." 
 
 MURIEL had a great desire that her interview concern- 
 ing the purchase of real estate might be with the 
 elder Mr. Keith, but she hesitated about writing him a note 
 to this effect, fearing that it would seem discourteous, for 
 his son was certainly sufficiently conversant with her affairs 
 to transact any business for her, and she did not wish to 
 appear to distrust his ability. She laid her difficulty before 
 Aunt Sally, who, after a frequent practice of hers, answered 
 one question by asking another. 
 
 " Why don't you go down to the office this morning," she 
 said, " and then, when the old gentleman comes forward, as 
 he will, to speak to you and tell you how glad he is to see 
 you, you can just keep him till you've said your say and 
 heard as much as you want to of his." 
 
 "But I'm so afraid of interrupting and inconveniencing 
 him if I do that," objected Muriel. 
 
 " It won't take him half as long to have a little talk with 
 you," said Aunt Sally, stoutly, " as it would to read a note 
 from you and answer it, and then, after all, you'd have to 
 see him, I suppose, before you settled any thing positively 
 and formally. Come ! I'd go and have done with it, if I
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 177 
 
 were you ; you'll only feel unsettled and uncomfortable till 
 you do." 
 
 " Aunt Sally, you make me think of Margery when she used 
 to take me to the dentist. Well, I suppose you are right, so 
 here goes ! " and she ran lightly up-stairs for her bonnet. 
 
 She was gone so long that Aunt Sally began to feel 
 " fidgetty," and went to Miss Post's room for a little quiet- 
 ing. She read aloud awhile as Miss Post, taking advantage 
 of the brilliant sunshine, did some of the sewing which she 
 kept ready for such opportunities, and then drifted back to 
 the library, scolding herself for being so silly as not to 
 " settle to " something instead of idling away a whole morn- 
 ing in such shameful fashion. Margery came, with an 
 injured expression of countenance, to call her to the one 
 o'clock dinner which she had, after some deliberation, agreed 
 to have served to her when Muriel lunched, for Muriel was 
 growing used to the very simple late dinner with which she 
 was experimenting, and had decided to keep on with it, at 
 least, for the present. 
 
 " There is no use, Miss Bowne, for you to let a good 
 dinner spoil by waiting for Miss Muriel to come back from 
 her pleasuring," said Margery, severely, as she saw signs of 
 hesitation on Aunt Sally's part, and Aunt Sally meekly ac- 
 cepted the hint and took her solitary way to the dining- 
 room, endeavoring to persuade herself that she was neither 
 lonely nor homesick. 
 
 She had not much more than begun her dinner, when 
 Muriel appeared with a face so bright and triumphant that 
 Aunt Sally exclaimed, " Well ? " with eager interest, but 
 immediately added: 
 
 " You're not going to tell me a word about it till you've 
 had your lunch ! I can see it's all right however it is, and 
 that's enough for the present, for I can see that you're hun- 
 gry, too."
 
 1 78 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 " Do I look so famished ? " said Muriel, gaily. ' I am 
 hungry, I cr.n't deny it, so I will mind you, this time aunty, 
 and tell my adventure in the library, after the important 
 business of eating is disposed of." 
 
 " I had no trouble at all in catching old Mr. Keith," 
 she began, when they were settled in the library ; " it 
 was just as your prophetic soul foretold ; he came for- 
 ward to meet me, and seemed really glad to see me, dear 
 old gentleman, and when I asked him if he could give 
 me fifteen minutes, he said an hour, if I liked, for he 
 happened to be quite at leisure just then though I was 
 sorry to find that this was because he had not been 
 feeling well, and his sons had persuaded him to let them 
 attend to something he was doing. But he insisted on it 
 that it would not hurt him in the least to have a talk with 
 me about my affairs, but that, on the contrary it would 
 divert his mind from more perplexing matters he was 
 going to say ' important ' and caught himself up, but not 
 quite in time. So he took me into his own office, which is 
 a delightful little room, with pictures and books, and a 
 great desk, and such nice chairs ! And he just let me talk 
 on without once interrupting me, until I had said all that 
 was on my mind about that row of houses, and several other 
 things ! I expected of course, that he would oppose me 
 with all his might, and tell me that I was utterly unbusiness- 
 like, and a great many more unpleasant things, but instead 
 of that just think of it, aunty ! he quite agreed with me. 
 I am very nearly sure that grandpapa must have talked to 
 him as he did to me, from one or two little things he said. 
 We have not quite settled, yet, -what it will be best to do 
 to repair those houses, and make them as comfortable as 
 they can be made, or to tear the whole row down, and put 
 up either another row of small houses, or else one large 
 building, divided into apartments. Mr. Keith says he
 
 WA YS AND MEANS, 1 79 
 
 thinks that if the right person could be found to manage it, 
 that would, perhaps, be best, and when I said that they 
 wouldn't have any yards if we did that, he said they could 
 only have such very small ones anyhow, on account of that 
 great warehouse at the back, that he did not think that con- 
 sideration need count, and that, in the apartment-house, we 
 could probably give them more comfort for their money than 
 in any other way. The greatest trouble is to know what 
 to do with them, while the change, whatever it may be, is 
 being made. I spoke of the possibility of sending at least 
 some of them to places in the country for the summer, and 
 he said that if work could be found for them, that would be 
 a very .good plan, but he was afraid that most of them 
 would be unable to leave their occupation in the city. So 
 he said that need not be settled just yet that the first 
 thing to do was to have plans and estimates made, and see 
 what the cost of the different ways of building would be, 
 and which could be ready for occupancy in the shorter 
 time. He thinks the apartment house could be, and I saw 
 that he inclined to that instead of a number of small houses 
 but I don't know it seems to me that I would rather 
 have ever so small a house all to myself, than an apart- 
 ment of twice as many rooms with half a score of other 
 families. Wouldn't you ? " 
 
 " Yes, as far as it's a matter of taste and sentiment, I 
 would, of course ; but, Muriel, I made one discovery by liv- 
 ing in a flat. I never could have got through the work as 
 I did, and kept well, if there had been any stairs for me to 
 climb a dozen times a day. I sometimes think they use 
 women up more than all the rest of their work put together. 
 Of course, if you build a big apartment house, you'll have to 
 put in an elevator though if every body felt as I do about 
 them, they would not be a very profitable patent ! But it's 
 a good thing that every body doesn't and with that to save
 
 l8o WAYS AND MEANS, 
 
 them from going up and dov/n stairs, and other arrange- 
 ments to keep them from interfering with each other, I 
 think there might be advantages which the small houses 
 could not have." 
 
 " Perhaps, after all, we ought to take the one which will 
 cost least," said Muriel, " there are so many, many things 
 to do with the money. And that reminds me Mr. Keith 
 says that two of his recent investments for me have turned 
 out so unexpectedly good, that they will about make up, for 
 this year anyhow, for the almost no-interest on the money 
 invested in these houses. At first I felt sort of provoked, as 
 if I had tried to make a present and the person to whom I was 
 making it had insisted upon paying its full value ! But then 
 it suddenly struck me how foolish it was to feel that way, for 
 it seems to me that it grows upon me every day, how much 
 there is to do, and how a person could spend three or four 
 times my income, and only make a beginning toward all the 
 things that are needing to be done. But wasn't it wonder- 
 ful, Aunt Sally, when I was so afraid to speak to Mr. Keith 
 about this matter, that he should have met me half way, and 
 .made it all so easy ? " 
 
 " Yes, it was wonderful, child but its a wonder that's 
 been repeated many times since Christian screwed up his 
 courage to pass the lions, and found they were chained. It 
 makes matters a great deal easier for you, there's no doubt 
 about that. But, my dear, before you begin the fight I 
 should think you'd wish to enlist, and say for whom you are 
 fighting." 
 
 " If it were only as simple as that ! " said Muriel, sigh- 
 ing. 
 
 " Well, and isn't it ? ' He that is not with Me is against 
 Me/ we are told, and ' whoso gathereth not with Me scatter- 
 eth.' And you'll not grow any surer by waiting ; if you're 
 like most people, it will work the other way. I wish you'd
 
 IV A YS AND MEANS. l8l 
 
 be willing to go to somebody wiser than either of us, and 
 have a talk about this matter." 
 
 " I don't know," said Muriel, doubtfully, " it's so hard to 
 talk about such things. The only person I can think of, to 
 whom I would care to talk, is May's minister, Mr. Dwight. 
 I've been with her several times to hear him, and liked him 
 better every time, but wouldn't he think it strange to 
 have a perfect stranger coming to him for advice and 
 help ? " 
 
 " I should think he'd be used to it by this time. He must 
 have been in the ministry a good while, and been called on 
 by a good many people before now. I've heard him 
 preach, and met him, too, and I think you'd be very sure of 
 an honest adviser, if you were to go to him. And if you'll 
 tell me what you'll gain by delaying, perhaps I will admit 
 that you'd better put it off awhile longer ! " 
 
 " I suppose it is simply cowardice," said Muriel. " I 
 fancied at first that it did not greatly matter that I could 
 work just as well before I settled it as afterward, and that 
 all I needed was simply to do my best ; it was something 
 May said, which first made me feel differently, and now I 
 feel anxious enough to ' enlist,' and yet afraid." 
 
 " My dear," said Aunt Sally, earnestly, " the last time I 
 heard this very Mr. Dwight preach, he said something that 
 I hope to remember. I don't know whether he quoted from 
 somebody else or not, but what he said was, ' It is not we 
 who are holding fast to God, but God who is holding fast to 
 us.' Just you try to remember that, and let go of yourself ! 
 And don't be worried if you can't have that experience which 
 is described so often in books, but which, I must say, has 
 never co.ne under my observation of a sudden ' conversion,' 
 as it is called, and every thing plain and easy and joyful after- 
 ward. It's the work of a lifetime, it seems to me, as a gen- 
 eral thing, when people are really made over, and the great
 
 1 82 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 thing is not to get discouraged because it doesn't all come 
 at once. ' First the blade, then the ear, after that the full 
 corn in the ear ' not the whole thing at once, the day 
 after we've planted it ! Yet that's what some people seem 
 1 to expect." 
 
 " I'll go to Mr. Dwight," said Muriel, with sudden reso. 
 lution. "Perhaps May will go with me the first time, and 
 introduce me to him ; she knows him very well ; but I'll go, 
 anyhow ! " 
 
 May acceded to Muriel's proposal with heartfelt pleasure. 
 Miss Forsythe had for many years attended the church of 
 which Mr. Dwight was rector. May had grown up in it, 
 and joined its communion when she was about sixteen, and 
 her attachment to it was very strong. 
 
 Mr. Dwight, who was between sixty and seventy years 
 old, was not what is termed a " popular preacher ;" his ser- 
 mons were very earnest appeals for immediate and vigorous 
 action for proofs of faith and love in the lives of his hearers. 
 And the influence of his church grew steadily ; not rapidly, 
 but very surely, and what was gained was nearly always 
 kept. 
 
 Muriel was surprised, in looking back at her first interview 
 with him, to think how completely he seemed to understand 
 her, and how entirely unembarrassed she had felt. And she 
 lost no time, after leaving him, in securing a pew in his 
 church. May suggested a vacant sitting of which she knew 
 not far from their own, in a pew already partly occupied, but 
 Muriel, mindful of her still vague ideas as to the occupancy 
 of her house, preferred to have a whole pew at her disposal. 
 
 " Of course, there are advantages in having the seats 
 free," she said to May, " but I don't think I should ever 
 feel really at home in a church where I sat in a different 
 seat every Sunday. The only thing I don't like about it is, 
 that it sometimes makes it harder for strangers."
 
 W 'A YS AND MEANS. 183 
 
 " But it ought not to," replied Ma"y. " Now, in our church 
 there are half-a-dozen pews which are never rented, and the 
 sexton has orders never to let any one wait a minute ; to be 
 sure and show them at once to one of these pews. And we 
 know enough, I hope, not to scowl if any one by chance takes 
 a seat in any of our pews. It's like so many other things 
 people mix up the abuse of it with the use." 
 
 May's belief that no one who was thoroughly in earnest 
 was ever " put in a hole " vindicated itself in Muriel, 
 who, while it seemed to her just as difficult and solemn an 
 undertaking to identify herself with the host which was 
 marching against the forces of evil as it had ever done, 
 felt it impossible to remain pledged, even by silence, to those 
 evil forces. And Mr. Dwight only enforced the lesson of 
 Aunt Sally's chosen text, " He that is not with Me is against 
 Me." 
 
 " There is, there can be, no neutral party," he added ; 
 " those who think they belong to it are really worse than the 
 open enemies. You are too young, Miss Douglas, to re- 
 member the war of the rebellion, or you would have a far 
 more vivid conception than I can give you of the regard in 
 which the so-called ' sympathizers ' were held during that 
 war ; people who accepted all the advantages of the side of 
 law and order, while in their hearts they defied the govern- 
 ment which secured them these benefits. And remember 
 the granted prayer of the man who added to his ' Lord, I 
 believe ! ' the trembling cry, ' Help Thou mine unbelief.' " 
 
 And it was to this, when Muriel made the profession which 
 she feared to make, lest she should disgrace it, that she held 
 fast. She did believe, with all her heart, in the Love, the 
 Sacrifice, the Power, which made all things possible ; it was 
 her own heart and soul that she doubted, and these she tried 
 earnestly to put out of her own keeping into the wounded 
 Hands of Almighty Love. No sudden clearing away of
 
 1 84 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 doubts and fears followed ; indeed, it seemed to her, as it 
 so often seems at such times, as if the conflict grew more 
 fierce. But a new hope, a new strength, upheld her : the 
 courage to walk on through darkness, if need be, awhile 
 longer, before she should come out into the light. 
 
 She was more eager than ever now to let slip no " oppor- 
 tunity," and she very soon had ample and healthful occupa- 
 tion for all her time and thought, cheered and encouraged 
 inexpressibly by the cordial sympathy and intelligent help- 
 fulness of the elder Mr. Keith. She did not know why it 
 always happened now that it was he instead of his son who 
 attended to her business, but she was very thankful to have 
 it so. She would have been both vexed and amused, could 
 she have known the " true inwardness " of this pleasing 
 state of affairs. 
 
 Mr. Douglas Keith had felt an uneasy suspicion, during 
 Muriel's first interview with his father, which led him to in- 
 vestigate matters as soon as she was gone. He had no dif- 
 ficulty in doing so, for his father had not the slightest inten- 
 tion of concealing the purport of this interview, and quietly 
 explained to his son the steps which were to be taken in 
 furtherance of Muriel's wishes. 
 
 A habit of deference to his father kept the son silent until 
 the explanation was finished, then his patience seemed to 
 desert him, and as Aunt Sally would have expressed it, he 
 "freed his mind," and in no measured terms. 
 
 " Do you really mean, father," he exclaimed, in tones of 
 intense annoyance, " to encourage Miss Douglas in this 
 crazy scheme, which is evidently only a beginning, and will 
 probably lead, by no very slow degrees, to the squandering 
 of the entire property, when a few words of advice from 
 you could, perhaps, in this early stage of the proceedings, put 
 a stop to the whole business ? " 
 
 " I like neither your tone nor your language, my son,"
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 185 
 
 said Mr. Keith, dryly, " but it will save us both future an- 
 noyance for me to be perfectly explicit now ; you will un- 
 derstand, however, that what I am about to tell you is a 
 confidence, and by no means to be repeated to any one. In 
 the last interview of any length which I held with Mr. 
 Hardcastle, he expressed a very strong wish that his grand- 
 daughter should be assisted, in every possible way, in what- 
 ever charitable schemes might suggest themselves, or be 
 suggested to her, provided they were sensible and practi- 
 cable, while at the same time I was requested to make sure 
 that she did not leave herself without a sufficient income 
 for her own support in the home in which, her grandfather 
 said, it was his especial wish to secure her, that she might 
 be entirely independent. He did not wish the principal 
 encroached upon, but he did, very decidedly, wish that she 
 should be perfectly free to spend the entire income. By 
 your own account she has shown business capabilities unu- 
 sual in a woman of her age and inexperience. I find her 
 perfectly reasonable, and singularly amenable to advice and 
 suggestion. I also find a pleasure, which fully compensates 
 me for the slight loss of time, in attending personally to 
 her affairs, and I shall not, L think, be obliged to call upon 
 you again in this matter. But if I should, I hope what I 
 have just said will be sufficient to your practical under- 
 standing of the true position of the case, and that no further 
 explanation on my part will be necessary. And I need not 
 say, I hope, that should you have any conversation with her 
 in the future about her arrangements and wishes, you will 
 avoid any thing which may appear like an offer of advice." 
 Mr. Douglas Keith had listened to this exordium with, 
 at least, outward patience, and had carried on while listen- 
 ing a sort of accompaniment of thoughts suggested by it. 
 By dint of heroic effort he cleared his cloudy face and an- 
 swered his father readily and cheerfully.
 
 1 86 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 " You are quite right, sir, and I was quite wrong, but you 
 must admit that I sinned ignorantly. And since, as I find, 
 you are so much better posted in this business than I am, 
 and so much better qualified in every way to give advice, I 
 I hope It may be as you say, and that you will find yourself 
 able to attend to Miss Douglas's affairs unaided an ar- 
 rangement which, as I more than suspect, she would greatly 
 prefer herself." 
 
 " I should not wonder if she would," replied Mr. Keith, 
 with an indulgent smile. He was very glad to have this 
 conversation with his son end in this manner, instead of in 
 a marked disagreement and " unpleasantness," and he was 
 careful not to refer to the subject again, when he could 
 avoid doing so. 
 
 So Muriel's good fortune, as she considered it, contin- 
 ued, and her liking for the elder Mr. Keith grew and 
 strengthened with every interview, while he surprised him- 
 self by the warm interest with which he entered into the 
 project which was now engrossing her. 
 
 The two schemes of a large apartment house and a row 
 of small, entirely separate dwellings, had been freely can- 
 vassed by Muriel with Aunt Sally, Miss Forsythe, May and 
 Miss Post, and by Mr. Keith with a city missionary and an 
 architect. Some more of the families in the row had also 
 been talked with ; notes from all sides had been compared^ 
 and the result was a compromise which was, if possible, to 
 secure the advantages of both plans and avoid the disad- 
 vantages which were most obvious in both. The house in 
 the center of the row, which was to be separated from the 
 others by a narrow alley on each side, was to contain a large 
 kitchen, laundry and bakery, where, especially in summer, 
 the tenants of the row might, for small payments, be al- 
 lowed to do the work which would otherwise necessitate 
 fires in their separate houses. The too-immediate neigh-
 
 W AYS AND MEANS. 187 
 
 borhood of the warehouse was a great disadvantage, but 
 Muriel reflected that if she began a search for another 
 equally desirable site for the houses, the delay would prob- 
 ably be great, whereas, by prompt action, the row of new 
 houses might be ready for occupancy early in the autumn. 
 Besides, if thi warehouse were a disadvantage in oneway, 
 there was compensation in the thought that it made impos- 
 sible any more objectionable neighbors than its high walls, 
 and this was a great deal. 
 
 The next step was to find temporary accommodation for 
 the dozen families, some of them with lodgers and board- 
 ers " thrown in," for the four months which the contractor 
 required. It was very possible, he said, that the houses 
 would be ready sooner than in the time for which he stipu- 
 lated, but much would, of course, depend upon his work- 
 men, and he could not be sure. 
 
 Some of the tenants, upon hearing what was in prospect 
 for them, very willingly bestirred themselves, and soon found 
 temporary quarters ; others seemed annoyed at being dis- 
 turbed, even for their own good, and could hardly be con- 
 vinced that the whole thing was not a design to " raise the 
 rent on them." 
 
 It was when things were in this uncomfortable state, and 
 Muriel was taking her first dose of real discouragement, 
 that Miss Prudence Harley came to the front, and Muriel 
 was quick to admit that a great good was the outcome of a 
 comparatively small evil. Miss Prudence had, at least, a 
 speaking acquaintance with all the dwellers in the row ; she 
 was on friendly terms with many of them, and they all 
 seemed to like and respect her, so that a few well-chosen 
 words from her went further than any thing Muriel could 
 say. She went about, too, more than many of the others 
 did, and she " took in" a daily paper, so that she could 
 give valuable suggestions to the seekers of temporary lodg-
 
 1 88 WAYS A ND MEANS. 
 
 ings. She herself had formed a plan as soon as she was 
 told of the building scheme. She had a married sister liv- 
 ing near a remote country village, and with her she proposed 
 to board for the summer. She recognized Muriel's real in- 
 terest in the affairs of her tenants, and also the fear of seem- 
 ing intrusive, which held her back, sometimes, in a way 
 which was misunderstood, and in response to Muriel's 
 hesitating question : " May I ask whether you have found 
 a home for the summer, Miss Harley, and if you have, 
 where it is ? " she not only gave the desired information, 
 but a good deal more, for after mentioning where she 
 expected to bestow herself for the summer, she went on 
 to say : 
 
 " She has five children, my sister has, and her husband 
 farms a good bit of land, so she hasn't much time for fool- 
 ing, and she's always saying that she doesn't see why I 
 won't live with her, and let what work I choose to do she 
 knows about how much that would be answer for my 
 board. If she was poor or ailing I'd do it, though I don't 
 pretend I'd enjoy it, for I wouldn't, and I never could see 
 why a single woman must needs hang on behind any body's 
 wagon, if she has sense enough to drive one of her own ! 
 But just for one summer it's different. I shall pay my 
 board, whatever she says, and then I shall feel free to 
 do her work or my own, to come or go, just as I please, and 
 to carry out a plan that's come into my head. I don't 
 know any place where fruit is as plenty or as cheap as it is 
 up there. I spent a week there last fall, and they were 
 giving away some of the best apples I ever saw, and Jane 
 said it had been pretty much the same way with all the 
 small fruits. You see, there are acres and acres of uncleared 
 land it's a wild sort of country and the wild strawberries 
 and raspberries, and blackberries and huckleberries are all 
 to be had for the picking, and all first-rate, she says. She
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 189 
 
 showed me some red raspberries she'd put up, and they 
 looked like red Antwerps rather than wild ones. So what 
 I mean to do is to spend the most of my time putting up 
 fruit in one way and another a few preserves and a few 
 more canned, but most of them dried, for I can sell them 
 cheaper. I have no doubt of being able to sell ail I can 
 pick and put up, in the course of the winter, and I think the 
 change will do me good, into the bargain." 
 
 " I think that is a capital plan," said Muriel, enthusiasti- 
 cally,"and I only wish do you know that woman who'lives 
 at the other end of the row, Miss Harley ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Boyce ? Yes, I know her to speak to, but not very 
 well. She's not what you'd call a neighborly person, poor 
 soul, and I'm sure I don't blame her." 
 
 " Why ? Has she had any great trouble recently ? " 
 
 " I should say she had ! Her husband and eldest son 
 drank themselves to death a few months ago, and though 
 she never opened her lips about it, she must have gone 
 through enough to kill a good many people before they suc- 
 ceeded in killing themselves, and though her daughter's a 
 good enough girl, I do believe, she's a lively, pretty, flirty 
 little piece, without as much sense as she might have. The 
 two boys are only about twelve and fourteen, I should judge, 
 and they seem like nice, steady, well-behaved little fellows, 
 but I'm afraid she's too strict and stern with them, and the 
 sister doesn't seem to care a great deal about them. The 
 oldest boy is cash-boy in one of the uptown dry-goods 
 stores, and the youngest goes to school. The girl is a clerk 
 in a big millinery store, and with her wages and what the 
 mother makes, sewing day and night, pretty much, I judgCj 
 and the little the boy gets, they manage to live, but I think 
 it must be a tight squeeze ! You see, the girl has to keep 
 herself neat and tidy-looking, or she'd soon lose her place, 
 and I never saw any body with such a knack of making
 
 1 90 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 something out of nothing. And that's one cause of her 
 being misjudged, poor littleth ing ! She comes sailing out in 
 one of her fix-tips, that looks as if she'd been melted and 
 poured into it, and then the neighbors say she takes all her 
 earnings to keep herself in finery, while her mother kills 
 herself to keep the house." 
 
 " Do you know her first name and the name of the shop 
 in which she works ? " asked Muriel. 
 
 " Her name is Lizzy, and she works for Bryan & Co., 
 somewhere on Summer street, I don't know the number." 
 
 " Why, I know that store well," exclaimed Muriel, for it 
 was the one in which Miss Forsythe was a book-keeper." 
 
 " She has a good place as far as the neighborhood and 
 the way she's treated go," said Miss Prudence, " but I 
 don't believe she gets very good wages she hasn't been 
 there long, for one thing." 
 
 " Then," said Muriel, " it would not be possible for that 
 family to go out of town for the summer I suppose Lizzy 
 and the boy would both lose their situations ? " 
 
 " Yes, they would, and they both had trouble enough to 
 get them, I reckon. And Robert's such a nice steady boy 
 that I look for him to get an advance if he sticks to his 
 work, as I think he will. They're very friendly with me, 
 both those little fellows, and I always contrive to get one of 
 them if I have an errand to be done. Robert is free after 
 seven o'clock in the evening, and glad enough to earn a 
 little extra money." 
 
 " If there were only some nice, safe, quiet place for 
 Lizzy and Robert to stay for a month or two," said Muriel, 
 talking her thoughts aloud, "what a good plan it would be 
 to find board at a farm-house for Mrs. Boyce and the little 
 boy. What is his name, Miss Harley ? " 
 
 " Fred, his brother calls him, but his mother's always very 
 particular to say Frederick. I've no more time to talk just
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 191 
 
 now, Miss Douglas. I'm very sorry, but it's my baking-day, 
 and I begin to smell the ginger-bread, but if you'll drop 
 in the next time you're down this way I think I can tell you 
 something you'd like to hear/' 
 
 "Oh, I hope it isn't spoiled ! " said Muriel. " Please go 
 right away. I'll come to-morrow afternoon, if you'll not be 
 busy then will you ? " 
 
 ' No, indeed, and I'm very sorry to seem so rude now, 
 but I can't help it ! " and she dashed into her kitchen with 
 a hasty " Good-by ! " thrown over her shoulder as she 
 went. 
 
 Muriel perplexed herself with plans for the Boyces all 
 the way home, but arrived at no satisfactory settlement of 
 the problem, so she spread it before Aunt Sally as they 
 amicably discussed the one her dinner, the other her toast 
 and tea. 
 
 A long and interesting discussion followed, but still 
 seemed to suggest nothing until after they had been com- 
 fortably settled in the library for some little time, and Mu- 
 riel was reading aloud the " leader" in the evening paper. 
 She suddenly interrupted herself to exclaim : 
 
 " Aunt Sally ! I do wonder if this isn't my second op- 
 portunity ! " 
 
 " How you made me jump, child ! " said Aunt Sally, 
 poking about for the stitch which her " jump" had caused 
 her to drop. " If what isn't your second opportunity ? " 
 The war we're likely to have with China, if some of the 
 fools don't die suddenly, and pretty soon ? " 
 
 " No, dear ! " said Muriel, laughing at the vindictiveness 
 with which this suggestion was made. " I will confess that 
 my mind had wandered quite away from China to my row, 
 and settled upon the house where Mrs. Boyce lives, and I 
 was going all over it again how nice it would be to send 
 her to the country and let her sew there, or do housework
 
 I9 2 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 for the overworked ' Jane,' while little Fred picked berries 
 and gathered apples for Miss Prudence, if only we had the 
 right sort of place in which to put the flighty Lizzy and 
 steady Robert, and all at once, it flashed across my mind, 
 What are all these empty rooms for ? " 
 
 Aunt Sally leaned forward and kissed Muriel on the fore- 
 head a somewhat unusual amount of demonstration on her 
 part and said, " My dear, I've been the worst sort of a 
 coward ! That very thought came into my head when you 
 first told me, but I didn't dare to mention it. I thought 
 you'd think me a meddlesome old fool ! " 
 
 " Aunty ! If you dare to use such language about your- 
 self and me, I'll sue you for defamation of character ! Now, 
 promise me, solemnly, that after this you'll tell me your in- 
 spirations as fast as they occur to you, and not wait to have 
 them wrung out by my halting suggestions ! " 
 
 " I can't quite promise that, child. I think of too many 
 queer things. But at least I'll not be afraid to, again, and 
 not misjudge you, as I see I've done this time." 
 
 " I suppose I must take that and be thankful ! But now, 
 just listen ! You know there's a room right back of Miss 
 Post's bedroom, opening into the entry ; it's a little bit of a 
 room, but bright and sunny, and as Lizzy would be away 
 all day, I think it would be large enough, for I mean her to 
 spend a good many of her evenings with Miss Post ! And 
 there's the corresponding room in the third story, which 
 would do for the boy. Don't you see ? I could put 
 them in some of the other rooms, of course, but I have a 
 feeling sense that I shall want those larger rooms before 
 long, not for larger people, but for people who don't go out 
 to work all day. And besides, I've an idea that Mrs. Boyce 
 is as proud as Lucifer, and would not let them accept any 
 very heavy obligations." 
 
 " That's very likely," said Aunt Sally, " and at any rate
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 193 
 
 it will be better for them not to make the obligation too 
 heavy. There's one thing you'll have to learn, my dear, 
 for the sake of the people you want to help, and that is, 
 never to let your help take the form of charity, when you 
 can give it in the form of wages." 
 
 " But aunty ! How can I always ? In a case like this, 
 for instance ? " 
 
 " I can't answer for always, but in this particular case I 
 think I can. You can get whoever has charge of the garden 
 this summer, or the ' grounds,' I s'pose I ought to say, to 
 give the boy a small stint of work to do after he's had his 
 supper. It will not hurt him a bit, after he's been shut up 
 all day in a stuffy shop, to take off his coat and work out- 
 of-doors for an hour before he goes to bed, and it will keep 
 him out of mischief, too. And as for Lizzy, you can just 
 let her know that Miss Post is her charge for the evening, 
 to be read to or talked to, or have her clothes mended, as 
 the case may be, and she'll be a worse girl than I judge her 
 to be from what we've heard, if she can spend her evenings 
 for a month or two with that dear, good little woman, and 
 not be the better for it ! " 
 
 " Aunt Sally, you ought to be a general, with a large 
 army under your command, or a stateswoman at the head of a 
 party ! With you at my back to explain things to me and 
 for me, I can stand any amount of exhortation from other 
 people ! " 
 
 " I hope you can, child, for you're in a fair way to get it ! 
 I'll explain any thing to you that you want me to, and that I 
 understand myself, but explaining things for you is another 
 part of the speech that's your affair ! " 
 
 " You hard-hearted woman ! I suppose it is, though. 
 Now you are going to lay your little head down on the back 
 of your chair and take forty winks, while I go and read for 
 half an hour to Miss Post ; I haven't seen her all day."
 
 194 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 The half hour lengthened to an hour, for Muriel was too 
 full of the new " opportunity" not to talk of it, and Miss 
 Post's ready interest and sympathy led her on ; but Aunt 
 Sally, although wide-awake when she returned, did not look 
 as if she felt slighted
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A SMALL BEGINNING. 
 
 *' A little spark from a high desire 
 Shall kindle others, and grow a fire. 
 
 Enough for us if our lives begin 
 Successful struggles with grief and sin. " 
 
 ONE pleasant result to Muriel, of her capture of Aunt Sally, 
 was the frequent intercourse which it brought about 
 with the tribe of Raymond, in which were included not only 
 Mr. and Mrs. Osborne, but Mr. and Mrs. Craig as well, and, 
 to a less extent, but still, as he insisted, just as emphati- 
 cally, Mrs. Craig's brother, Geoffry Hamilton. Muriel was 
 well satisfied that his visits were about as one in six to those 
 of the other members, for he attracted her least of all. She 
 had an exaggerated prejudice against people who " went in 
 for fashion." It had held her back from intimacy with Kate 
 and Julia Hardcastle, and made her doubtful, at first, about 
 forming a friendship with Mrs. Craig, for Julia Hardcastle 
 had given her a sketch of Fanny before her marriage, and 
 the astonishment which had been caused by the announce- 
 ment of her engagement to a poor artist, which, if some- 
 what highly colored, was not exactly untruthful, and which 
 had made Muriel much more reserved to Mrs. Craig than 
 she was to Alice and Marion Raymond, until she had con- 
 vinced herself that Fanny was " genuine." She did not 
 feel sufficiently interested in Geoffry Hamilton to seek for 
 proofs of his genuineness, and a slight and entirely uncon- 
 scious stiffness in her manner to him hindered him from
 
 196 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 finding her especially attractive indeed, although he was 
 too polite to tell Aunt Sally so, he rather wondered at her 
 evident fondness for Muriel, while Muriel, in her turn, felt 
 an even greater, but equally silent, surprise at Aunt Sally's 
 regard for him ! It had not taken Muriel long to see that, 
 while Fanny was still popular in a decidedly fashionable 
 set, she gave herself no trouble to retain her hold upon it, 
 refusing far more invitations than she accepted, and enter- 
 taining only in the simplest and most unostentatious way, 
 and seeming to be entirely careless of criticism from people 
 with whom she was not intimate. Her spontaneous fun and 
 brightness were very charming to Muriel, and had a good 
 effect upon her, and a warm liking for each other was not 
 long in developing between them. 
 
 Another acquaintance which was added to her list through 
 Aunt Sally's residence with her, was that of the self-ap- 
 pointed "city missionary," Mr. Duncan. He had called 
 several times, asking only for " Miss Bowne " each time, 
 before Muriel met him, and she had remarked to Aunt 
 Sally that she did not think he was very polite ! 
 
 Aunt Sally, according to her usual tactics, defended the 
 absent, saying that she supposed Mr. Duncan did not feel 
 at liberty to ask for Miss Douglas unless, or until, he 
 received a formal invitation to call upon her ! 
 
 " Very well," replied Muriel, " if you really and truly 
 think he is waiting for that, aunty, you can tell him, the 
 next time he comes, that I shall be happy to have him call 
 on me. I suppose you needn't tell him that my reason for 
 being happy will be that I wish to extract some useful infor- 
 mation from him, for application to my Row, and especially 
 that house in the middle of it, which is going to be so much 
 too small for all that ought to go in it ! " 
 
 " For all you'd like to put in it, you mean ! It will 
 easily hold the things that are really necessary, and you
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 197 
 
 must just decide what those things are, and stick to them ! 
 And I'll tell Mr. Duncan you'd like to see him ; but I will 
 not make any promises for him. He does very little visit- 
 ing, except of the kind you've heard about, and he may 
 think he hasn't time to be making new acquaintances." 
 
 " Now, aunty, you are backing out in a way which is 
 altogether inexcusable ! And if you feel so doubtful about 
 Mr. Duncan's honoring me with his acquaintance because I 
 have the misfortune to be rich, you needn't ask him to call 
 on me I'd rather you wouldn't, now, for I can prime you 
 with the questions I wish him to answer, and he will prob- 
 ably answer them much more fully and satisfactorily to you 
 than he would to me." 
 
 " Well, I shouldn't wonder if he would," said Aunt Sally, 
 with her usual candor, and Muriel, fancying that she felt a 
 little annoyed by the turn the conversation had taken, 
 changed the subject, which was not again reverted to for 
 several days. 
 
 Muriel did not forget her promise to go and have a talk 
 with Miss Prudence Harley, when the mind of the latter 
 should not be distracted by the odor of baking ginger- 
 bread. 
 
 " You may not think any thing of what I want to tell 
 you but then again you may ! " prefaced Miss Harley, 
 when she had invited Muriel into the little parlor over 
 the shop, leaving intervening doors ajar that she might be 
 able to hear the bell. " I don't know myself," she con- 
 tinued, " whether its worth while or not, but here it is, such 
 as it is ! Up there, where my sister lives, you know, there 
 used to be a big iron-works, but the man failed, and the 
 place was shut up and left to fall to pieces, and the hands 
 drifted off to other places, most of 'em, though a few settled 
 down in the neighborhood and took up land. The houses 
 that were built for the hands must have been well built, for
 
 I9 8 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 a good many of them are standing yet and not so badly out 
 of repair that it would cost much to make them quite fit to 
 be lived in in warm weather, anyhow. I had a notion, two or 
 three years ago, of taking one, so as to be near Jane she's 
 only a mile out of the village so I went to look at them 
 and asked all about the rent and the prices of victuals in 
 the neighborhood, and all such questions. I found that the 
 best of them could be had for two dollars a month, and the 
 worst for a dollar. There's a little bit of ground not much 
 goes with each house, a.nd they're in a good healthy neigh- 
 borhood. Victuals, generally speaking, are very cheap ; 
 meat for eight cents a pound, eggs for twelve cents a dozen, 
 milk for four or five cents a quart, and all the fruit, for the 
 picking, that any body could want, as I said. Groceries are 
 a little dearer than they are here in the city, which is no 
 wonder, when you look at the road between the village and 
 the nearest railroad station. And flour is quite as dear, 
 anyhow, as it is here, for, for some reason or other, they 
 don't seem to raise any wheat hardly in the neighborhood. 
 But buckwheat's plenty there, and that and rye and Indian 
 meal are a good deal cheaper, and if rye bread's made 
 right, it's good enough for any body, especially when you 
 can have buckwheat cakes and corn-meal cakes and bread 
 to make a variety. Now I suppose you see what I'm driv- 
 ing at, Miss Douglass ; if the folks here in the Row, who 
 are not tied fasc by the fear of losing their places, would 
 just pick up and go to Hartswell that's the name of the 
 village they could live for about half of what it costs them 
 here, and I don't think they'd have any trouble finding 
 work, such as washing and ironing and cooking, by the 
 day, for half the farmers in the valley and the people in the 
 village take summer boarders, and are in hot water aboiC 
 help all the time. And those who had a little money before- 
 hand could do what I'm going to do, put up fruit for the
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 199 
 
 winter, enough for their own use, anyhow, and enough to 
 sell if they liked. And eggs there are two or three ways 
 of putting them away so that they'll keep for months, and 
 you know they're often as high as fifty cents a dozen here 
 in the winter and spring." 
 
 Muriel had listened with eager interest to all Miss 
 Prudence said, it seemed so exactly to answer her wishes 
 and half-formed plans, but at the conclusion of the descrip- 
 tion she asked the very natural question : 
 
 " And why did you not take one of the houses after all, 
 when you found the rent was so very small and living so 
 cheap ? " 
 
 Miss Prudence looked a little foolish as she replied, much 
 less briskly than she usually spoke : 
 
 " Well, to tell the truth, after I'd been a week at Jane's I 
 made up my mind that I couldn't stand it for a whole sum- 
 mer, it was so awfully lonesome ! I didn't take the house 
 right at first, for I had a sort of misgiving about it, and 
 thought I'd better wait and see how it went, up there, first. 
 And I concluded that if it seemed as lonesome as the grave 
 in her house, with all her children around, I should go rav- 
 ing mad in a house all by myself, in a place where you could 
 hear a pin drop, and where they didn't so much as drop the 
 pin ! " 
 
 " Then how do you think you can stand it this summer ? " 
 asked Muriel, laughing a little at this vivid description of 
 silence that could be felt. 
 
 " Oh, I shall only stay two months," said Miss Prudence, 
 " and I shall be so busy all the time, if I do what I've laid 
 out to do, that I'll have no time for moping ! " 
 
 I've written down the name and address of the man 
 who is agent for those houses, or was when I was last 
 up there, and I suppose he is yet, and he will be glad 
 enough to answer any questions you may want to ask him
 
 200 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 about them if he thinks there is any prospect of renting 
 them/' 
 
 " Thank you, you are very kind," said Muriel, as she took 
 the slip of paper. " I will write at once, and then see how 
 many of the people could go so far away without losing 
 places which they wish to keep. I wish they could all go, it 
 would be so nice ! " 
 
 " Perhaps some of 'em don't hanker after the country any 
 more than I do," said Miss Prudence, laughing. " We'll hope 
 so, anyhow ! " 
 
 And with this philosophical hope Muriel endeavored to 
 console herself as she went home. 
 
 She had not failed to keep her appointment with the 
 ragged regiment, and had been much relieved to find that it 
 was not necessary to make an example of any body ; they had 
 all scrubbed their hands and faces with a vigor which had 
 brought color into the palest cheeks, and two or three, no 
 doubt with an eye to possible results, had evidently made an 
 attempt upon their hair ! Muriel had hoped for a chance to 
 make a beginning, were it ever so small, toward civilizing 
 and enlightening, but, though she rated herself soundly, 
 afterward, for cowardice, she could not summon courage to 
 do any thing more than offer a similar appointment for the 
 ensuing week, which offer was hilariously accepted by the 
 whole group, which this time contained a dozen. 
 
 Aunt Sally had made one or two suggestions which Muriel 
 had thought very good when she heard them, but, in the face 
 of the unabashed, hardened-looking little creatures who 
 gathered about her, all her ideas fled, save that of keeping 
 the slight hold upon them which she had already obtained. 
 
 " There's more fellers wants to come. I had to lick two 
 to keep 'em from coming to-day," announced the youth of 
 voluminous trowsers. 
 
 " You did it, may be, but you didn't have to ! " said Mu-
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 2OI 
 
 riel, with as much gravity and severity as she could muster. 
 " That's no way to make people do what you wish ! " she 
 added. 
 
 " ' Deed then, its the only way, lady ! " he answered, grin- 
 ning up in her face as he spoke. " There's nothing else 
 they mind but a real good, solid licking ! " 
 
 "But you wouldn't like any body to treat you that way ; 
 you don't think it is the best way to make you mind ! " she 
 pursued, sure of her advantage, this time. 
 
 " It's the only way, I tell you," he repeated, " whether its 
 me or him," punching his nearest neighbor in the back, as 
 he spoke, " or any of the boys. They fotched me up that 
 way, and see the fine boy I am ! " 
 
 It was impossible to tell whether he was in earnest or not. 
 His face had grown suddenly grave, but he winked auda- 
 ciously at her as he spoke. Then, returning to his " last re- 
 mark but one," he inquired : 
 
 " Shall I let those other fellers come next time ? There's 
 four of them, but when I'd licked the two, the other two 
 said they didn't care nothing about coming and never 
 had ! " 
 
 Muriel thought a moment. Of what use was it ? Then 
 she remembered Aunt Sally's encouragement it was better 
 than nothing, it might be a beginning of better things, to 
 teach them to be clean. And, next time, she might see her 
 way to something more. 
 
 " Yes," she said, " you must let them come. Only re- 
 member all the hands and faces must be perfectly clean ! 
 And I shall have something for each of you besides the 
 cake c.nd stick of candy," she added, with a sudden inspira- 
 tion. " Not any thing to eat, but something to keep. 
 Now I must go. Good-by." 
 
 With a deafening war-whoop, and a chorus of " Thank 
 you, lady, thank you ! " the motley crowd dispersed, but the
 
 202 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 champion followed her with: " Say ! Just tell me what the 
 game is, lady ! I'll not give you away ! " 
 
 " You'd not believe me if I were to tell you," said Muriel, 
 feeling quite free from embarrassment, now that she had 
 only one to deal with. 
 
 " Yes, I would," he said, presently, " without it was some- 
 thing awful steep. I'd believe you, because you kep' your 
 word about meetin' us again. I didn't much think you 
 would, neither ! " 
 
 " Then what made you wash your face and hands, and 
 come to the place ? " asked Muriel, briskly. 
 
 " Well, it wasn't so much of a job, but what it was worth 
 while to risk it, or I thought it wasn't 'till I'd begun on it ! " 
 he replied. " But come on, I'll not peach. What is it you're 
 arter, anyway ? " 
 
 " Look right at me ! " said Muriel, wheeling round and 
 fixing her eyes on his. " I want to help you all to behave 
 better to stop being dirty, and mean, and using bad words, 
 and telling lies, and 'licking' each other. I want to help 
 you to grow up into decent men and women. Do you un- 
 derstand me ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " and he winked again. " It's the same as 
 tracks, and Sunday-school, arter all ! I thought so ! " and 
 he chuckled over his own penetration. " But it's not ex- 
 actly the same, neither ! " he added, with cheerful patron- 
 age. "They don't give you nothing to eat, them Sunday- 
 school ones, and they talk you tired into the bargain ! So 
 long as you don't do nothing worse than make us wash our 
 hands and faces, and the cake and candy's as prime as it 
 was to-day, we'll come, you may bet your sweet life on that ! 
 And I promise you, solemn, I'll lick the first one of 'em 
 that tries any impudence on you, for you're not half a bad 
 sort ! " 
 
 He scuttled down an alley they were passing, and she
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 203 
 
 saw him no more. But one resolve she instantly made. 
 She would find a room before her next meeting with them, 
 and do something to arouse their attention, and secure 
 their coming again. And she thought, with no little vexa- 
 tion, how useful Mr. Duncan might be at this crisis, if she 
 might only have a frank talk with him, and get his advice. 
 She felt a good deal like the fisherman who had uncorked 
 the bottle containing the imprisoned gent, but, unlike that 
 astute individual, she knew of no way by which she might 
 bottle the imps whom she had evoked. So she decided to 
 swallow her pride, which rebelled at the idea, and " prime " 
 Aunt Sally, as she had threatened to do, with questions for 
 Mr. Duncan ; she would go and see Mr. Dwight, too, and 
 no doubt he both could and would help her. As for the 
 room, Miss Harley could probably suggest one, for it had 
 struck Muriel that there was very little about the neighbor- 
 hood and the people which she did not know. Yet it did 
 not seem as if she had gathered her information from an 
 ordinary love of gossip, but rather that it might afford her 
 suggestions for helping and serving her neighbors. 
 
 Muriel had been walking slowly toward the street where 
 she expected to take a car, as she thought, but she was still 
 in the region of courts and alleys, when it occurred to her 
 that it was not yet too late, if she should hurry, to go back 
 to Miss Harley and inquire about the room ; then, if she 
 knew of none, it would give her more time to think of 
 possibilities and make suggestions. 
 
 Muriel hastily pulled out her watch, without noticing 
 that a " man all tattered and torn " and with a most repuls- 
 ive face, was skulking along the pavement a few steps be- 
 hind her, watching her furtively as he shambled along. 
 The moment he saw the watch, he sprang to her side, gave 
 a dexterous thrust to the chain, which instantly released it, 
 with one hand, while at the same time he held the other
 
 204 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 over her mouth. The whole thing was so sudden, and so 
 utterly unexpected, that she could not have cried out, even 
 had he not thus hindered her from doing so, and the street, 
 just then, was entirely empty, for it is a well-ascertained 
 fact that no policeman was ever known to be within sight 
 or hearing at such a time. The ragamuffin, however, was 
 destined to prove the truth of an old adage, for before he 
 could make off with his booty, he was " mercilessly collared 
 from behind," with a pressure of knuckles on his throat, 
 which produced a smothered howl, while a stern voice said : 
 
 " Give me that watch ! " 
 
 He held it out abjectly, saying in hoarse tones, which he 
 tried to make supplicating : 
 
 " Let me go, boss just this once, it's the first time, I'll 
 Svvear it is ! And I was starving ! " 
 
 Muriel began to recover from her paralysis of fright, and 
 looked up. She never forgot the picture she saw. A tall, 
 straight young fellow, with broad shoulders, long arms, and 
 a look of splendid health and strength about him, held in 
 his strong grasp a man so brutalized by drink, and dishon- 
 esty, and every mean vice, that it did not seem possible they 
 could belong to the same species. Her rescuer's hat had 
 fallen off, revealing a shock of waving yellow hair, which 
 stood up, on the top of his head, in a manner suggestive of 
 a mane. Large, fiery-looking blue eyes, set deep in their 
 sockets, drew attention from the fact that the other fea- 
 tures, though strongly marked, were not at all regular. It 
 was, altogether, a striking-looking face, not easily to be for- 
 gotten, and Muriel, as soon as she saw it, knew, from vari- 
 ous things she had heard Aunt Sally say, and from the 
 neighborhood in which she had met him, that this must be 
 Neil Duncan. 
 
 " You will excuse me, madame " he said, as he gave her 
 her watch with his disengaged hand as if one were quite
 
 " A tall, straight young fellow held in his strong grasp a man so brutalized 
 by drink, dishonesty, and every mean vice, that it did not seem possible they 
 could belong to the same species." P. 204.
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 205 
 
 sufficient to hold the thief " if I advise you to leave this 
 neighborhood as soon as possible and not to come to it 
 again unattended, unless " and he hesitated, as if fearful 
 of giving offense " unless you can leave at home any thing 
 which might prove a temptation to dishonest people No 
 you don't ! " 
 
 For the man, with a sudden wrench and squirm, had 
 almost succeeded in twisting himself out of his coat, and 
 making off. 
 
 " I never thought," gasped Muriel. " I didn't care so 
 much for the watch but he had his horrible hand all 
 over my face ! " 
 
 " It could not have been pleasant," responded Mr. Dun- 
 can, " but oh, there is a policeman at last, and only a half 
 a block away ! " 
 
 He gave a loud, shrill whistle, which at once attracted the 
 officer's attention, and brought him to the spot, and the 
 man, whining and protesting, was handed over to him. Mr. 
 Duncan gave his name and address, engaging to appear 
 against the thief whenever he should be needed, and then, 
 seeing a look of apprehension on Muriel's face, he hastened 
 to reassure her with : 
 
 "You will not be called upon in any way. I saw the 
 whole affair, and my testimony will be ample. And now," 
 he added, " that that rogue is disposed of, you will allow 
 me, at least, to put you in a car before I leave you ? If I 
 am not mistaken, you are Miss Douglas ? " 
 
 " I am, and you are Mr. Duncan ?" 
 
 " Yes, I was about to mention my name, hoping that you 
 might have heard Miss Bowne speak of me, but, of course, 
 you heard it when I gave it to the policeman just now. 
 That fellow has been ' wanted ' for weeks, but he has been 
 too sharp for them till to-day." 
 
 " Where were you when it happened ? I did not see any
 
 206 WAYS AND MEANS, 
 
 one, anywhere, until you dropped, so far as I could ascer- 
 tain, from the nearest housetop ! " 
 
 " I did in a sense. I had just come from the garret of 
 the corner-house, and was at the door when that scamp 
 grabbed your watch. But indeed, if you will excuse me for 
 saying so, you offered him every inducement. Even if you 
 had not just taken it in your hand, he would have had no 
 difficulty in snatching it ; I wonder more of that business 
 is not done, when it is made so very easy for such gen- 
 try." 
 
 " I never thought," said Muriel, deprecatingly, almost 
 apologetically, " and I neither saw nor heard the man, until 
 he had the watch in his hand. I will be more careful after 
 this indeed, I will." 
 
 The gentleness and humility with which she spoke made 
 him realize that his own tone had been somewhat dicta- 
 torial ; he could not, of course, know that the long course 
 of reproof and repression under which she had grown up 
 had not yet lost its effect upon her ; that she still felt as if 
 she were in fault, when any body, as Margery would have 
 said, " faulted " her. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," he said, with a little confusion. " I 
 was not thinking what I was saying. I am altogether too 
 much given to offering my valuable advice ' free gracious,' " 
 and he tried to dismiss tne matter with a laugh, but Muriel 
 answered frankly : 
 
 " You are quite right to tell me, and I am much obliged 
 to you. But I ought to have thought of it myself, witho.it 
 any telling. My only consolation is, that it was an old 
 offender, and one who quite deserves punishment, who will 
 suffer for my carelessness. But that," she added thought- 
 fully, " does not exculpate me." 
 
 He looked down at her curiously. It was certainly some- 
 thing novel, for the victim of a thief to take blame to her-
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 2OJ 
 
 self for having put temptation in his way ! They were 
 standing at the corner, now, waiting for the car which was 
 discernible in the distance. 
 
 " I have only just remembered what made me look at my 
 watch ! " exclaimed Muriel ; " I wanted to see if I had time 
 to go back and speak to Miss Harley she keeps a little 
 shop a few blocks away from here I would need but a few 
 minutes, and it will not be dark for more than an hour. 
 You think I would be safe, now, do you not ? " 
 
 " No," he said, decidedly, " I do not. It is later than 
 you think ; the sun will set in a very few minutes, and even 
 if you were to walk rapidly, and not stop more than five 
 minutes, you would not be out of this region before dusk. 
 I know where Miss Harley's shop is, quite well it is, let me 
 see six blocks from where we are standing." 
 
 She looked so genuinely disappointed, and yet so instantly 
 submissive, that he felt sorry for her, and added, though 
 with a rather too manifest reluctance : 
 
 " If it is important that you should see her this evening, 
 I will go back with you. I have nothing to do just now, I 
 assure you, and the walk is not worth considering." 
 
 " Would you really not mind ? " she said, doubtfully ; " I 
 did wish very much to speak to Miss Harley. I can say all 
 I wish to say in five minutes, and if you will just put me in 
 the car afterward I shall be all safe, and so very much 
 obliged to you ! " 
 
 Her perfect simplicity and candor disarmed him. And, 
 without, perhaps, being aware of it, he was gratified by the 
 version of himself, which Miss Bowne must, evidently, have 
 given her. She had, from the first, shown entire confidence 
 not only in his courtesy, but in his judgment as well, and 
 who could be proof against a tribute at once so unconscious 
 and so flattering ? 
 
 " I assure you," he said, far more cordially than he had
 
 208 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 yet spoken, " that it will not inconvenience me in the least 
 to go back with you and wait your pleasure. Come, we are 
 losing time." 
 
 And he turned, pausing a moment for her to follow. 
 They walked briskly, and as he did not speak, neither did 
 Muriel, until they reached Miss Harley's shop. Then he 
 said : 
 
 " I will wait here for you pray do not feel hurried. 
 There is plenty of time." 
 
 She went into the shop, the door of which stood open, 
 for it was one of those days of sudden warmth which some- 
 times come in early spring, and which seem so much warmer 
 than any of the summer days which follow. He changed 
 his position, so that he could see, without hearing her, and 
 then quietly waited. Miss Harley was sitting in a low rock- 
 ing-chair in front of the counter, but she arose as Muriel 
 entered, with apparent surprise, and drew forward her chair, 
 evidently urging Miss Douglas to sit down. But Muriel 
 continued standing, and the five minutes for which rhe had 
 stipulated had not quite elapsed, when she held out her hand 
 to Miss Harley, and turned to the door. 
 
 " I am afraid you did not give yourself sufficient time," 
 said Mr. Duncan, as she joined him ; " you certainly did not 
 take more than three minutes, and you know you requested 
 five ! " 
 
 " I should have needed quite five," she replied, smiling, 
 but not, he thought, very cheerfully, " if I had been suc- 
 cessful, but I was not." 
 
 " I am sorry to hear it," he said, politely, but with no 
 especial interest in tone or manner. 
 
 " Miss Harley said," and Muriel hesitated a little before 
 she went on, " that you could probably tell me what I 
 wished to know. I dislike very much to trouble you, but it 
 is just to answer a question. I was looking for a vacant
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 209 
 
 room it need not be very large somewhere in this neigh- 
 borhood. A room on the ground floor would be best, and I 
 would rather it should be in some place that is not occupied 
 by people, but I don't suppose I can find that, so I would 
 take one any where, if the people in the house were respect- 
 able. And Miss Harley said she thought you would know 
 if I had any chance of finding one." 
 
 It was impossible not to see that he looked annoyed. 
 They had once more reached the corner where they must 
 wait for a car, and were standing under a gaslight. Muriel 
 was about to add a hurried protest that it was no matter ; 
 that some one else could probably tell her what she wished to 
 know, when he prevented her by saying : 
 
 " I do know of such a room as you wish, I think, but I 
 am not sure that it would be rented to you. You may have 
 noticed a warehouse just behind the row of houses in which 
 Miss Harley lives ? The upper part of it is used for 
 storage, but the ground-floor was at one time fitted up 
 as a sort of chapel, and it is vacant. It is quite large, but 
 I think the owner would be willing to put up a partition, if 
 it were made worth his while to do so. I have a slight and 
 accidental acquaintance with him. I thought I saw a light 
 in the lower windows, late one night, through the cracks of 
 the shutters, and hunted up a policeman, thinking only of 
 fire, but we found that a gang of boys had managed to 
 effect an entrance and were using the room regularly, re- 
 garding it as a sort of robbers' cave ! They had counted 
 on the long disuse of the room, as a sort of guaranty for 
 their security. Of course, they were arrested, and the room 
 made secure, but the owner had an exaggerated sense of 
 his obligation to me, and managed to find me out, and I 
 meet him quite frequently on the street. He would wish 
 to know exactly to what use the room was to be put, but as 
 to that, you could, of course, I suppose, satisfy him ? "
 
 210 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 " No, I am afraid I could not," replied Muriel, in troubled 
 tones, " for I do not quite know myself ! " 
 
 Before she could say any thing further, the car stopped, 
 and when it started again Mr. Duncan was sitting beside 
 her. 
 
 " Indeed," she said earnestly, " it is not at all necessary 
 for you to go all the way home with me ! I have only a 
 very little way way to walk, after I leave the car, and I am 
 not at all afraid pray do not give yourself so much 
 trouble ! " 
 
 "I am not giving myself any trouble, I assure you," he said, 
 "but quite the contrary ! Do you know Miss Bowne so 
 slightly that you think she would hesitate, the next time we 
 meet, to tell me what she thought of me for leaving you 
 before I saw you safely on your own doorstep ? " 
 
 It was impossible to help smiling at the picture conjured 
 up by these words. Short as Muriel's friendship with Aunt 
 Sally had been, she had witnessed one or two of the attacks 
 of righteous indignation of which, it was evident, Mr. Dun- 
 can had also some knowledge, and she could readily imagine 
 that, when she came to relate her experience, it would be 
 even as he suggested, should he fail to make sure of her 
 safe arrival at home. 
 
 " Besides," Mr. Duncan hastened to add, " I will confess 
 to a feeling of curiosity concerning the room you wish to 
 rent, and an inability to fathom your motive for renting it, 
 if you do not know exactly what you wish to do with it." 
 
 " Nothing would please me more than to tell you about it, 
 if you would care to hear," said Muriel, with sudden anima- 
 tion, " for I do not know of any body who could so well tell 
 me what I had better do as you can." 
 
 And forthwith she told about her experiment with the 
 candy, and the two subsequent appointments. 
 
 " And I really don't know what to do with them next
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 211 
 
 time ! " she concluded. " I can't just keep on bribing them 
 to wash their hands and faces." 
 
 " No," he said seriously, " it would hardly be worth while 
 to rent a room just for that, if it is going to lead to nothing 
 else. But it will, I think. I will speak to Mr. Sellers, or 
 his agent, about the room in the warehouse. I think he 
 will let you have it, and it would not matter that it is too 
 large. I have an idea that this enterprise of yours will 
 grow. I think, the next time you meet them, if you have 
 secured the room, I would take them to it and give them 
 some music, have somebody there who can sing them some 
 good stirring tunes. And begin quietly to collect their 
 names. You will have to be cautious about that though, or 
 they will think you have some evil design upon them ; they 
 are very suspicious. But you will find, I think, that music 
 will give you a great hold on them, and it is wonderful how 
 quickly they will catch up a tune. But you must be pre- 
 pared to find it very slow work and to meet with number- 
 less discouragements. Just think though you can't fully 
 realize them of the places they come from ! " 
 
 He was talking freely and animatedly now, and Muriel 
 was sincerely sorry when the end of her journey was 
 reached. He saw her safely upon her doorstep, as he had 
 implied that he would, but declined her invitation to enter 
 and see Miss Bowr.e. 
 
 " I shall come to see her very soon, though," he said, 
 holding out his hand as he spoke, " and you will permit me, 
 will you not, to see you at the same time ? " 
 
 " I shall be very glad to," she said, frankly ; "you have 
 told me so much and so little, that I want to hear more ! " 
 
 Aunt Sally had grown decidedly uneasy as the time of 
 Muriel's absence lengthened, and listened to the story of 
 her adventures with flattering attention, but the inference 
 she drew annoyed Muriel not a little.
 
 212 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 " You mustn't go there alone any more, my dear," she 
 said ; " if it happens that I can't go with you, you must 
 take Margery or Dick. He looks strong. I don't think 
 that wretch would have attacked you to-night if he'd been 
 with you, and it will be good for him, too. I wish I'd 
 thought of it sooner." 
 
 " But aunty," said Muriel, " I don't like to ask him " 
 
 " You needn't ! " interrupted Aunt Sally, briskly, " I'll 
 do it myself ! "
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A NEW OPPORTUNITY. 
 
 " It is only the first step that costs." 
 
 MURIEL'S friendship with Dick had not stopped at the 
 beginning. He spent a good deal of his spare time 
 with her, now, and his interest in all her projects and visions 
 was so fresh and genuine, that she found herself talking more 
 freely to him than to any one else, save Aunt Sally. He 
 often made suggestions which pleased her, both by their 
 originality and sensibleness, and, after Aunt Sally's dictum 
 as to taking him for a cavalier had been made known to 
 him, and he had accepted the position with much pleasure 
 and no little pride, it occurred to Muriel that he would be 
 an invaluable helper with her "mob," and she asked him, in 
 flattering terms, at least to attend the first meeting. He 
 was a little shy about it, until he found that she felt a slight 
 fear of some demonstration which would need something 
 more than moral suasion to quell it ; this idea was quite 
 sufficient to make him ready and willing to go, and as, 
 fortunately, the time appointed was Saturday afternoon, 
 there would be nothing to hinder him. 
 
 When Mr. Duncan called to say that he had obtained the 
 refusal of the room for her, her pleasure at his success was 
 at least three-quarters consternation ; a fact which was so 
 plainly written on her face, that he felt both amused and 
 curious to see how she would manage with this elephant 
 which she had taken on her hands. He saw her glance at
 
 214 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 him once or twice in a questioning manner, but she did not 
 put her question into words, and left most of the talking to 
 Aunt Sally. He had no intention of offering to assist her 
 with her enterprise, for his time was fully occupied already, 
 and he had an idea, founded upon one or two unpleasant 
 and memorable experiences, that, should he do so, the 
 elephant would be skillfully transferred to his keeping. So, 
 although he answered the few timid questions which she 
 managed to ask him both kindly and fully, he did no more, 
 and, without a word from either of them which suggested 
 such an understanding, she was made very fully to under- 
 stand that she would be wise should she ask only for infor- 
 mation. 
 
 " And all I wanted," she wrote, after this interview was 
 over, " was to have him offer to come the first time and 
 show me how to begin ! He can sing Dick says he sings 
 beautifully and if he would come, just this first time, and 
 sing for them and talk a little to them, I think I could man- 
 age after that, with other people to help me once in a while 
 Dick and Aunt Sally, and May and Miss Forsythe, and per- 
 haps Julia. She is so entertaining and talks so well, that 
 she could be a great help if she liked. But one thing is 
 certain, I must not ask Mr. Duncan for even the smallest 
 help, and I will only ask instruction from him when I can 
 not possibly find out what I wish to know from any one 
 else. I am sorry. He might have helped me so much, 
 with so little trouble to himself, and I should not have pre- 
 sumed, as he is evidently afraid I should. I must be even 
 more disagreeable than I thought I was ! " 
 
 It was to no one but herself that Muriel wrote this ; she 
 had formed a habit, many years before, of " writing herself 
 out," instead of talking to any one ; she had happened to 
 mention this to May, and the latter had been so much amused 
 with the idea that Muriel had felt called upon to defend it.
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 21$ 
 
 " Oh ' you may laugh,' as Aunt Sally says," she said, 
 " but it is a most excellent plan ! You well-balanced peo- 
 ple, who never boil over, no matter how hot the fire is, or 
 who think you don't for I contend that you do, in ways 
 which are quite imperceptible to yourselves can not under- 
 stand how we ill-balanced ones feel as if we must say things ! 
 So one day, years and years ago, when I wanted most dread- 
 fully to ' talk back ' to grandpapa, and yet was afraid to, I 
 tried this plan. I wrote a long letter, saying every thing I 
 could think of to an imaginary correspondent in whom I had 
 entire confidence, and I really felt almost as much better as 
 I should have done if I had said it ! And the pleasure is a 
 double one. I don't know whether you ever really told a 
 confidence to any one. I did, just once, and I repented in 
 dust and ashes in about a week. So you keep your letter 
 until that time comes, and it's sure to come ! And then 
 you have the pure pleasure of burning it, and that is worth 
 the whole cost of the proceeding ! " 
 
 The time for burning the above-mentioned complaint 
 came in less than a week, for she happened to hear of some 
 of the work which Mr. Duncan had on hand, and felt 
 ashamed of her annoyance with him, and Dick solved her 
 problem in a most satisfactory way. He had belonged to 
 a small glee-club, until the cracked condition of his chang- 
 ing voice had obliged him to content himself for awhile 
 with the part of a listener, and he was on very friendly 
 terms with the eight or ten other members, so that when 
 Muriel told him of Mr. Duncan's suggestion about singing, 
 and lamented her inability to carry it out, he thought at once 
 of an arrangement which he could probably make without 
 any difficulty, but with his usual common sense said nothing 
 about it until he should be able to speak with certainty. 
 
 " Why don't you sing to them yourself, Miss Muriel ? " he 
 asked, instead.
 
 2l6 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 " I ? Why, I never took a lesson in my life ! The little 
 warbles in which you have occasionally heard me indulge 
 about the house, would not avail me for a moment, if I were 
 facing my ' mob ! ' Why did you let your voice go all to 
 pieces just now Dick, instead of waiting only a few weeks 
 longer ? " 
 
 " I'm very sorry ; it wasn't intentional! And I am sure 
 you could sing to them, if you would only believe it. Miss 
 Muriel ! if you're going to be the leader of mobs, by pro- 
 fession, don't you think it would be a good plan to take 
 enough singing-lessons just to be able to stand up and sing 
 with, or to them, and not faint afterward ? " 
 
 " I never fainted in the whole twenty years of my con- 
 scious existence, as you might know merely by looking at 
 me, you disrespectful boy ! But I do believe it would be a 
 good plan to take singing-lessons. It's quite true that 
 ' music hath charms to soothe the savage breast. ' I'll do it, 
 and I'm much obliged to you for the suggestion." 
 
 " Don't mention it ! And to think, if my voice were not 
 like that of a buzz-saw, how we might have practiced duets 
 together ! " 
 
 " Do not mourn ! It will be some months, perhaps years, 
 before I arrive at that stage, and may be by that time your 
 voice will have returned to you, or another one, even 
 better than the dear departed, may have come in its place." 
 
 They were busy in the " kitchen garden " when this talk 
 took place, for Dick had fulfilled his engagement concern- 
 ing it, and Margery remarked dryly, that she had seen a 
 farm planted with less palaver than it took to settle what 
 should go in a place the size of a tablecloth ! 
 
 " Now Margery ! " said Dick, shutting one eye, as he spoke^ 
 to see if he had his line straight, " you're only saying that 
 to disguise your own deep interest in the matter ! You see, 
 if we had thirty or forty acres, there would be room for every
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 217 
 
 thing, and we should not be obliged to pick and choose, but 
 with a place the size of a floorcloth, if you like, for I'll not 
 submit to the tablecloth, we can't have every thing, and 
 the decision is difficult ! " 
 
 " It's so very important what you have ! " and Margery 
 returned to the house, smiling to herself as she thought of 
 her " bairn's " bright color, and happy, animated face. 
 
 " That's none such a bad boy, for a boy," she thought, 
 "and I'll own I'm thankful to him for taking her out of this 
 dour house ! " 
 
 But the house was beginning to seem a great deal less 
 " dour," even to Margery. The little maid who was to wait 
 upon Miss Post had come, and, although she was very quiet, 
 her sturdy figure and fair, blue-eyed face, with its crown of 
 tightly-braided flaxen hair seemed somehow to make a dif- 
 ference. When Margery was consulted as to where this 
 small person should sleep, she astonished Muriel by suggest- 
 ing that a small single bedstead, which was not in use, could 
 be put up in the corner of her, Margery's, own room ! 
 
 " But I'm afraid she will disturb you," said Muriel ; " we 
 know so little about her, and she may be untidy and do 
 things that will annoy you." 
 
 " I'll risk that," said Margery, briefly. 
 
 "I saw the child," she added, " the day her aunt brought 
 her here to speak to you, and I am much mistaken, which I 
 am not often, if she has not been well taught and trained. 
 It was raining, you'll mind, and she held up the point of her 
 wet umbrella that it might not drip on the kitchen-floor 
 while she asked me where she should put it ! There's not 
 many children of her age would have thought to do that ! " 
 
 Muriel laughed heartily. 
 
 " Oh Margery ! " she exclaimed, " I am quite sure you 
 must be a lineal descendant of the old woman who tested 
 the princess with the three pease ! "
 
 2l8 WAYS AND MEANS, 
 
 " And if I am I'm not aware of it, for I never so much as 
 heard of her ! " 
 
 So Muriel briefly related how the old woman, doubting the 
 truthfulness of the wandering princess's claim to royalty, 
 placed the pease under fifteen mattresses and fifteen feather- 
 beds, upon which she put the supposititious princess to sleep, 
 and how, when the latter came down pale and haggard in 
 the morning and said she had been unable to sleep, because 
 of three great lumps in her bed, the old woman admitted 
 her claim without further parley ! 
 
 " That's foolishness, of course," said Margery, " but 
 there's a streak of sense in it, for all. And as for the little 
 girl, she'd be lonesome maybe, alone in a strange room, and 
 that would make her discontented, so she'll be best with me, 
 and then I can look after her clothes and see that she keeps 
 herself clean and neat ! " 
 
 Muriel felt alittle compassion for the small Scotchwoman, 
 but she did not express it, and, as the event proved, it was 
 not needed. The child was as well-taught as Margery had 
 surmised, and gave no trouble in any way. Her low, soft 
 voice and gentle manner of moving and speaking made 
 Miss Post " take to " her at once, and it was not long before 
 these two felt a real affection for each other. She had said, 
 when Muriel asked her name : 
 
 " It is Mary Macdonald, ma'am, but I've always been 
 called Maidie." 
 
 " And would you rather be called Maidie still ?" inquired 
 Muriel. 
 
 " If you'd just as soon, ma'am but it makes no matter," 
 she hastened to add. 
 
 So she was still called by her home-name, even Margery, 
 for a wonder, having nothing to say about " foolishness." 
 
 Muriel had no desire to worry Aunt Sally with her ap- 
 prehensions concerning her engagement with the " mob,'j
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 219 
 
 but she could not entirely conceal the anxiety which she 
 felt as the day approached, for the room was engaged for a 
 term of six months, and she had not yet decided what the 
 " exercises " were to be. She had been so strenuously 
 warned, by Mr. Duncan especially, but also by Mr. Dwight 
 and Miss Harley, against indiscriminate giving that she felt 
 afraid to provide any thing beyond the promised cake and 
 stick of candy for each one. But as her friend of the trow- 
 sers had suggested that four more " fellers " would like to 
 come, and she had given free permission, others might be 
 added in the interval, so she armed herself with refresh- 
 ments sufficient for two dozen. 
 
 " And if more should come, said Dick, encouragingly, " I 
 can cut out and get you enough to finish them up at Miss 
 Harley 's it'll be her baking-day, you know." 
 
 He was not able to conclude the arrangement for which 
 he had been negotiating until Friday afternoon. Then he 
 came to her in triumph, with : 
 
 " It's all right, Miss Muriel ! There's two of the fellows 
 in our glee club Jim Burnham and Charley Armitage 
 who say they'll be proud and happy to come and sing for 
 you to-morrow afternoon. And they can sing, I can tell 
 you Jim's a tenor, and Charley's a bass and they think 
 it will be a regular lark ! " 
 
 " Oh Dick," exclaimed Muriel, almost crying vith the 
 sudden relief his words brought her, " Will they really do 
 it, and not think it a trouble ? How lovely ! How kind 
 you were to see about it." 
 
 " Oh, that was nothing," said Dick, who always shrank 
 from praise, " but I couldn't stand it to see you so worried, 
 Miss Muriel, and I just told those two fellows all about it, 
 and how indignant you were with me for having cracked 
 my voice, and I didn't even have to ask them, they really 
 offered to come and sing whatever you liked best, ' from
 
 220 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 11 Old Hundred " to " My Grandfather's Clock," ' Jim said ; 
 but he didn't put it as a message to you, it was just a re- 
 mark." 
 
 Muriel laughed at this profound joke, in the light 
 ness of her heart, in a way which it did Dick good to hear. 
 Then she said, struck by a sudden thought : 
 
 " Do they live very far from here, Dick your two kind 
 friends ?" 
 
 " Why no, not very somewhere about half-way between 
 here and the flat." 
 
 " And do you think, if they have no engagement, they 
 would mind coming here this evening, and having a little 
 talk with Aunt Sally and me about what we'd better do ? " 
 
 " I don't believe they would very much. To tell the 
 truth, Miss Muriel, I thought you'd want to coach them a 
 little, and so did they, and they're to meet me at the drug-- 
 store just below here, at eight o'clock ; they said if you had 
 indicated to me in any way that you didn't wish to see 
 them, they should insist upon my treating them to soda- 
 water, and I said I would." 
 
 " Oh Dick ! How can I ever thank you enough ? You 
 have thought of every thing. Must you go ? It's such a 
 long walk to take twice over in one evening. Why can't you 
 just stay and have dinner with me, or supper with Aunt 
 Sally, according to your ' previous condition ' ? Do ! " 
 
 " Thank you, I shall be most happy ! Now, Miss Muriel, 
 will you give me your solemn assurance that I didn't fish 
 for that invitation ? " 
 
 " Why, of course, you didn't ! What put such an absurd 
 idea into your head ? " 
 
 " Oh, well, when I was coming away this afternoon, I had 
 told the girls about the whole business and they're as in- 
 terested as can be, by the way, and very anxious to hear 
 how it turns out and 1 said that if you really insisted upon
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 221 
 
 it, I might stop to tea, or dinner, or whatever you call your 
 evening meal, with you, so they need not be alarmed if I 
 did not appear at seven, and Marion said that of course, if I 
 went in that frame of mind, I should fish for an invitation ; 
 then she got out of it by adding, ' not consciously, perhaps, 
 but you'll do it ail the same ! ' And so I wanted you to ena- 
 ble me to confound her." 
 
 " She deserves to be confounded ! You didn't say the 
 least thing like it, and I shall tell her so the first time I see 
 her. Now you must excuse me for a few minutes, while I 
 go call Aunt Sally, and tell Rogers you are going to stay ; 
 he will feel deeply injured if I don't." 
 
 And as it was, Rogers said rather anxiously, " I wish I'd 
 knowed about it in time to tell cook to have a little ex- 
 tra soup, Miss Muriel ! A young man of Mr. Richard's 
 age is apt to eat pretty hearty, but she can broil three 
 or four more chops, and that will make up, and would 
 you think favorable of some ice-cream for dessert ? You 
 know there's nothing but fruit ordered." 
 
 " Why yes," replied Muriel as she would have replied to 
 almost any suggestion made in that tone by her major- 
 domo. " I think that would be very nice here's the 
 money, and if you're busy ask Ann to go. And, Rogers, you 
 just give me a very little soup, and then there will be 
 enough, and I think, after this but I'll speak to Betsy my- 
 self to-morrow." 
 
 Rogers bestirred himself to put the extra touches 
 on the table, which it was his delight to give when- 
 ever he had the excuse of " company," and when Dick, 
 with Aunt Sally hugged up to him on one arm, and Muriel 
 decorously " taking " the other, came into the brightly- 
 lighted dining-room, he exclaimed involuntarily: 
 
 " How jolly !" 
 
 "I don't know," replied Muriel, "it's so much too large,
 
 222 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 Dick. If it were not for the fuss it would make, I should 
 have a partition run across the middle, but the screen is bet- 
 ter than nothing, and next winter I shall cut off the lower 
 half with a nice thick curtain." 
 
 "It's queer," said Dick, "how it all depends on 'the 
 point of view ; ' it's just because it is large, that I like it ; 
 though I don't suppose I should, if it were not so pretty, 
 too." 
 
 Muriel could not long refrain from telling Aunt Sally 
 about Dick's arrangement with his friends, and the old lady 
 looked at " her boy " with tender pride, but all she said 
 was : 
 
 " That was like your father, Dick. You're growing more 
 like him all the time." 
 
 There was an animated discussion as to what songs had 
 better be sung to the mob, and they lingered so long over 
 the dinner-table, that Dick, glancing at the mantle-clock, 
 begged to be excused that he might " go after the boys." 
 He came back with them in less than half an hour, and in- 
 troduced them with due gravity. 
 
 " Miss Bowne, Miss Douglas, allow me to present my 
 friends, Mr. Burnham and Mr. Armitage." 
 
 They had such nice, frank, boyish faces, that Muriel felt 
 quite at her ease with them, and said gratefully, as she held 
 out her hand : 
 
 " It is so very good of you to allow yourselves to be pre- 
 sented, under the circumstances, that I don't know how to 
 thank you." 
 
 " I am very glad you don't, Miss Douglas,' replied Mr. 
 Burnham ; " it's so dreadfully embarrassing to be thanked. 
 And we feel like conspirators, anyhow, our motive is so ut- 
 terly base." 
 
 " Please speak for yourself," exclaimed Mr. Armitage. 
 " I confess that I am anticipating a lark, if you will excuse
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 223 
 
 the expression, Miss Douglas, but it is the first time I ever 
 anticipated a philanthropic lark, and I am conscious of 
 being on a higher moral plane than usual." 
 
 They were evidently two or three years older than Dick, 
 though neither of them was so tall as he was, but it was 
 quite as evident that they had not yet begun to consider 
 themselves experienced men of the world, and Aunt Sally 
 and Muriel exchanged pleased glances as the two boys 
 entered with interest upon the arrangement of the pro- 
 gramme, as they insisted upon calling it, although Muriel 
 said that name was much too alarming. 
 
 " I am to meet my mob at five o'clock on Saturday after- 
 noon, and the rendezvous is only a few blocks from the 
 ' hall," so I think, if you will be there at four, 1 will send 
 Dick on to meet you, and I will presently appear, conduct- 
 ing the mob." 
 
 " You don't think you'd better let one of us go with you 
 to meet the mob ? " suggested Mr. Burnham, doubtfully. 
 
 " No, thank you," replied Muriel, " Dick will walk with 
 me to the trysting place, and see that there are no high- 
 waymen about, and Miss Harley ; a friend of mine who 
 lives in the end house of the row just in front of the ware- 
 house, has promised to station a policeman where he can 
 look on, without being suspiciously near. You see, I have 
 been warned that these Arabs are very distrustful, and in- 
 deed, I was accused, at the very outset, of giving candy 
 merely because I wished to follow it up with a ' track,' so I 
 do not mean to do any thing which will arouse their suspi- 
 cions. I think I have one friend among them, and I am 
 counting on his influence perhaps unduly." 
 
 And she described her champion, and told of her 
 conversation with him, to the great amusement of the 
 boys. 
 
 " He's not so far out of the way in his views on ' licking,'
 
 224 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 I'm afraid," said Charley Armitage, "but I hope he will not 
 feel called upon to mar the harmony of the occasion by 
 exhibiting his prowess to-morrow." 
 
 " Indeed, I hope he will not ! " replied Muriel, so earnestly 
 that they all laughed, and Dick assured her that he would 
 protect her. 
 
 " The girls somehow afflict me more than the boys do," 
 said Muriel. " I wonder if a bad girl really is any worse 
 than an equally bad boy ? She always seems so. I tried to 
 fancy any of those dreadful little creatures playing with a 
 doll, or sewing, but I couldn't do it and I heard one of 
 them swear like a trooper." 
 
 " And yet you'd find, if you offered any of 'em a doll, 
 that you'd misjudged them," said Aunt Sally, " and if I 
 were you, Muriel, that's just how I'd begin take half the 
 room for the girls, and lend them dolls to play with, only 
 you'll have to see that they have the same ones every time, 
 and after a little you can begin to teach them to sew for 
 the dolls." 
 
 " I might try," she answered, doubtfully, " and I wish I 
 could think of something to start the boys with some sort 
 of work that would seem like play. Can you think of any 
 thing ? " And she turned to the three boys present, who 
 were listening with amused interest. 
 
 " How would it do to have knives, and hammers, and 
 nails, and a lot of lumber for them?" inquired Jim Burn- 
 ham, with sudden animation. 
 
 " I think it would be a very good plan," replied Muriel, 
 gratefully. " It was stupid in me not to think of it, but I 
 know so little about boys." 
 
 " You'll know all you want to by to-morrow evening, I 
 reckon," said Aunt Sally, " but you're settling for every 
 thing but to-morrow, and I thought it was that you were 
 so anxious about? "
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 22$ 
 
 They all laughed at this gentle reminder, but Jim Burn- 
 ham said at once : 
 
 " What had you thought about the songs, Miss Douglas ? 
 Were there any in particular that you wished ? " 
 
 " It seemed to me," replied Muriel, " that if we could 
 find something with an air that was easy to catch, and a 
 chorus, and tell them to join in as soon as they could, it 
 would fix their attention. I suppose there are very few of 
 them who can not turn a tune ? There's an old war song 
 that came into my head to-day. My father was in the army 
 during the war, and I found this song put away with some 
 books and music of my mother's only the other day, and my 
 cousin played and sang it for me. It is called ' Marching 
 Through Georgia ' have you ever heard it ? " 
 
 " We know it quite well," replied Jim. " One of us hap- 
 pened to hear it, and got it for the club to learn, on account 
 of the chorus there's a real ring in it. And we know some 
 negro songs, with choruses, that have simple tunes how 
 would they do ? " 
 
 " Capitally, I should think," said Muriel. " We need not 
 make the session very long indeed, I was advised not to 
 so I think two or three songs would be enough, with the 
 cake and candy act." 
 
 " And your speech ! " put in Dick, mischievously. 
 
 " And my speech ! Thank you. Besides, I was not able, at 
 such short notice, to have any benches put in the hall, and 
 it will not do to keep the poor little sinners long, when we 
 can not even ask them to sit down. But I hope to have the 
 benches by next week ; be sure you don't forget to speak to 
 that carpenter to-morrow, please, Dick." 
 
 " I will not. And, Miss Muriel, if you'd like to have the 
 benches for to-morrow, very much I might rush round in 
 the morning, and see what I could do about hiring some." 
 
 " Oh, no ; thank you ; you are doing quite enough ! And
 
 226 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 they can sit on the floor if they get very tired ; I don't 
 believe it will be a novel experience to any of them to do 
 that, judging from some of the ' interiors ' I have seen 
 lately, in passing." 
 
 "Aunt Sally," said Dick, suddenly, "Miss Muriel admits 
 that she has a small gift for each member of the mob, but I 
 can not induce her to tell me what it is. Do you know ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied Aunt Sally, " I know, and I don't see why 
 she should be ashamed of it." 
 
 " You see," said Muriel, laughing, but flushing a little at 
 the same time,." I saw that several of them, in addition to 
 washing their hands and faces, had evidently made an 
 attempt to mitigate their hair, although it looked as if 
 the attempt had been made with the traditionary ' three- 
 legged stool,' and as I didn't dare to buy them any thing 
 worth while, in the face of all the solemn warnings I have 
 received, I am going to give them these." 
 
 She brought out a parcel from the under part of the 
 nearest book-case for they were sitting in the library and 
 revealed to their gaze several dozen pocket-combs. 
 
 The boys laughed, of course, but Dick immediately said : 
 
 " That's a very good idea, Miss Muriel. I can remember 
 distinctly, the winter we went to the district school at 
 Dovedale, sitting next to, and envying, a boy who had a 
 pocket-comb, which he used with needless ostentation ! " 
 
 " But you'll have to explain what they are for, Miss 
 Douglas," said Jim, "and if you like, I will take Dick or 
 Charley and give an example while you're doing it ! " 
 
 "Thank you," said Muriel, laughing. "You are very 
 kind, but I will not trespass on your kindness to so large 
 an extent." 
 
 " Miss Douglas will be quite unfitted for the mental strain 
 which is before her, if we stay any longer," said Jim, rising 
 as he spoke. "Good-night, Miss Douglas. I wonder if
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 227 
 
 you will let us come to see you sometimes, quite independ- 
 ently of the mob ? " 
 
 " I will, with a great deal of pleasure," she answered, 
 cordially, and then there was a general hand-shaking, and 
 the three boys went, but Dick pulled Aunt Sally behind the 
 door and kissed her audibly, to the great edification of his 
 comrades. 
 
 " I'd like to know the fathers and mothers of those two 
 boys," she said, as soon as they were out of hearing. " What 
 nice, frank, manly fellows they seem to be ! I've often 
 heard Dick speak of them, and wished he would bring them 
 home with him, but he's always been queer about that. I 
 don't think he's ever felt at home for a minute, there at the 
 flat, and he never seemed to want to bring any of his friends 
 there. The girls felt the change from the large house at 
 Dovedale, too, of course, but I really don't think any of 
 them have minded it as much as he has ; he does love the 
 farm." 
 
 " I like to see him work in the garden," said Muriel ; " he 
 is so good and strong, and the tools all seem to go exactly 
 where he means them to. Now, when I try to hoe, I am 
 always surprising myself by seeing where the hoe comes 
 down." 
 
 " You've not had quite as much practice as he has. He's 
 been at it ever since he could run alone. I can see him 
 now, trotting about after his father, all over the farm, and 
 trying to do every thing he saw the men do. But come, my 
 dear, it's quite true that you ought to have plenty of sleep 
 to-night, and if you're going to read Miss Post her chapter, 
 it's high time you were going." 
 
 " I am so glad to find that Maidie can read aloud re- 
 spectably," said Muriel, as she obediently rose to follow 
 Aunt Sally. " Miss Post does not mind her Scotch accent 
 at all ; she says it is pretty. And the child seems delighted
 
 228 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 to have the opportunity. I'm so very glad you knew about 
 her and told me, aunty. I hope ' Lizzy ' will not put any 
 mischief into her head." 
 
 " They'll not need to be together at all, except when Miss 
 Post is by," said Aunt Sally, over her shoulder, " so I 
 wouldn't do any trouble-borrowing there, child." 
 
 " Do you know of any place where you would do it, 
 dear?" asked Muriel; and Aunt Sally replied with her 
 usual candor : 
 
 " Well, no ; I can't say that I do." 
 
 This cheery declaration, and the unexpected help which 
 Dick had brought, sent Muriel to bed in good spirits, but 
 she did not feel quite so sanguine the next morning, and 
 had a cowardly wish that Aunt Sally would offer to go with 
 her. in the afternoon. But this the old lady refrained from 
 doing, because she thought Muriel would get on much more 
 rapidly and successfully with her ' mob ' if she were left wholly 
 to herself ; which was perfectly true. What Muriel chiefly 
 lacked was confidence in her own powers and resources, and 
 this lack was wholly owing to her education and surround- 
 ings, for the part of a girl's education which is obtained at 
 school is a very small thing, compared with that which is 
 imbibed unconsciously at home. The strongest and healthi- 
 est plant will be bleached and distorted if it be grown in 
 a cellar, in a place too small for it, and only the exceptionally 
 strong and healthy ones can ever outgrow the effects of the 
 process, though brought, after the mischief is done, into 
 fullest sunshine and widest space. 
 
 Aunt Sally watched, with ever deepening interest, the 
 effect of moral sunshine and fresh air upon her new " niece," 
 anxiously careful lest she should in any way hinder the pro- 
 cesses of growth and expansion ; and she soon found that 
 she must steel her heart and practice a little seeming cruelty 
 to be truly kind. Muriel wondered more and more, as her
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 229 
 
 little appeals, such as " Which way would you do it, Aunt 
 Sally?" "Do you think I had better undertake " this or 
 that, were met with advice to " Think it out and decide for 
 yourself, dear ; " for she had not failed, in being thrown so 
 much with the Raymonds and their cousins, to hear a good 
 many laughing and teasing allusions to Aunt Sally's entire 
 readiness to give advice, when she " saw her way clear." 
 
 " And you know you always do see your way clear, aunty, 
 and that's what makes you so merciless to people who 
 don't," Marion happened to say one day. To which Aunt 
 Sally had replied : " I hope I'm not merciless to any body. 
 I'm sure I've no right to be ; but I will say that I like to 
 see people who know just what they mean to do, and then 
 go ahead and do it without loss of time." 
 
 She had been trying to think of something which should 
 entirely divert Muriel's mind from the ordeal before her, 
 knowing that nothing would b'e gained by a wearying round 
 of the same thoughts and speculations ; but it was difficult 
 to find any thing sufficiently interesting to compete success- 
 fully with the mob, and she was really glad when, rather 
 early in the morning for calling hours, Julia Hardcastle was 
 announced. A queer, contradictory sort of liking was grow- 
 ing up between Aunt Sally and Julia, its outward manifes- 
 tation being generally a tilt of words between them when- 
 ever they met. Julia announced at home that Miss Bowne 
 was "delicious," while the latter's dictum concerning Julia 
 was : " She's too sensible for a fool, but she's 'most foolish 
 enough for one, sometimes." 
 
 Aunt Sally happened to be alone in the library when Julia 
 was shown in, and her greeting was unusually cordial, for 
 the reason above stated, a phenomenon which did not escape 
 Julia's observation. 
 
 " I came very near calling you Aunt Sally, Miss Bowne," 
 she said. " You haven't appeared to disapprove of me so
 
 230 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 little since I had the pleasure of making your acquaintance ; 
 but I hope I know my place too well too presume upon 
 what must 6e only an accident, or, worse still, a delusion." 
 
 " If you do know your place," said Aunt Sally, ignoring 
 the rest of the speech, "/would like to know why you don't 
 go to work and fill it." 
 
 " Do you know, Miss Bowne, that same question has often 
 puzzled me," replied Julia, and just then Muriel entered, 
 and Julia's attention was turned to her. 
 
 Muriel had not intended mentioning the mob to Julia, 
 until she began to see her way a little more clearly, but her 
 mind and heart were much too full of the subject not to run 
 over at a touch, and almost before she knew it she was tell- 
 ing the whole story, and hoping that Julia's quickness might 
 hit upon some better plan than had yet been discovered. 
 It was, in reality, Julia's genuine interest which had drawn 
 her on, after the first unguarded sentence, which could easily 
 have been passed over had she been talking to some one 
 who was politely indifferent. Miss Hardcastle began by 
 being very much amused, then, as Muriel described the mob, 
 and more especially the champion, and told how, to do any 
 thing at all with them, suspicion and prejudice must first be 
 overcome, and a belief established among them that their 
 entertainers meant nothing but kindness, she grew inter- 
 ested ; it would be like playing a difficult and exciting game. 
 She had a curiosity, too, to see how Muriel would stand such 
 a trial of courage and resource as this would undoubtedly 
 be. And besides, and above all this, she had a very honest 
 desire to " lend a helping hand." 
 
 She was quite silent for a moment or two, when Muriel 
 paused rather than stopped, for the subject was by no 
 means exhausted and presently she said : 
 
 " You're the funniest combination of heroism and cow- 
 ardice, Muriel, that it has ever been my luck to meet with !
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 231 
 
 I could no more have thought of and started such an under- 
 taking as this promises to be than I could have flown to 
 the moon, but yet, if by any miracle, I had started it, I 
 shouldn't be a bit afraid of the whole of them, nor have the 
 slightest desire to back out ! " 
 
 " I know you wouldn't," said Muriel, wistfully, " and I 
 suppose it was just this knowledge which led me on to talk 
 to you about it, as if your courage might perchance be 
 catching. I only wish it were, for I am dreadfully tempted 
 to run away." 
 
 " It isn't courage," said Julia, " it's a variety of things. I 
 can't explain, for I do not more than half understand it 
 myself, but I am very certain that courage has nothing to 
 do with it. I wish you were more easily amused, Muriel. 
 I really don't think there are more than three things in the 
 world which are altogether serious two, I might say, per- 
 haps, with safety." 
 
 " I don't see what that has to do with my courage," 
 replied Muriel. 
 
 " It would have a great deal ! A good laugh is a great 
 power for scattering fears and apprehensions ; isn't it, Aunt 
 Bowne ?" 
 
 Aunt Sally's lips twitched, but she answered serenely : 
 
 " Yes, it is, and I'm always glad to hear people laugh 
 when it isn't at the expense of something that is worth even 
 more. But there's an old proverb that says, ' too much of 
 any thing is good for nothing.' " 
 
 " That remark will not condemn you to the obnoxious 
 title of partisan, Miss Bowne. I don t quite know whether 
 you agree with me or not. Muriel, I wish you'd let me go 
 with you this afternoon, or rather meet you there, and ' lend 
 a helping hand ' with the girls. I've had a small class of 
 ragamuffinesses at the sewing-school since Lent began, and 
 I'm quite surprised to find how well I get on with them.
 
 232 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 And I'll not interfere with any thing you may have ar- 
 ranged. My position shall be very meek and subordinate. 
 May I come ? " 
 
 Muriel was genuinely surprised, not only by the request, 
 which was totally unexpected by her, but by the pleasure 
 and alacrity with which she found herself accepting Julia's 
 offer. And Aunt Sally hid her disappointment that Muriel 
 was, after all, not to be left to her own devices, and tried to 
 believe firmly that it was " all for the best." Julia took her 
 leave soon after the hour for the appointment had been set, 
 renewing her promise to act strictly under orders s and con- 
 gratulating herself that she had happened in that morning.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE NEXT STEP. 
 
 " The lions were chained." 
 
 "Pilgrim's Progress" 
 
 DICK arrived punctually, just as Muriel was beginning 
 to be afraid that something had detained him, and 
 laughed at her anxious face. 
 
 " The boys have gone on," he said. " I gave them the key, 
 ' as per agreement,' and they'll open the windows as soon 
 as they get there. I couldn't catch any body to sweep it 
 this morning ; the boy I meant to ask was not at home, so 
 I just borrowed a broom of your friend Miss Harley and 
 did it myself, and if I do say it as shouldn't say it, it's very 
 well done ; but if I were you, Miss Muriel, ' not presuming 
 to teach,' you know, I'd have the place thoroughly cleaned 
 before you have the benches put in. I had not time to 
 attack the windows, except just a brush to clear them of 
 cobwebs, but they look like very dirty ground glass ! And 
 the floor and walls are dreadful ; the man who owns it 
 ought to have it whitewashed, but I don't believe he will." 
 
 " I shall not ask him," replied Muriel, " it will cost so 
 little, and I do not wish to strike him immediately as a 
 troublesome tenant. It was very good of you to sweep it 
 out, Dick. I don't know how to thank you. And I'm sorry 
 we could not get the benches in time for to-day ; you'll all 
 be so tired, I'm afraid." 
 
 "I think we can stand it,' literally, for an hour," said 
 Dick, cheerfully, " and if we find we can't, the window-sills
 
 234 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 are wide enough to perch on, and we can take turns at them." 
 
 Muriel was tempted to suggest to Dick, as he stopped to 
 wait for a car, that they might as well walk all the way, but 
 she said to herself, sternly : " Don't be an idiot ! " and 
 stepped briskly into the car, determined not to let Dick see 
 how she was quaking. 
 
 He did see, however, and exerted himself to talk cheer- 
 fully and to make her laugh, and when they reached the 
 corner where they had agreed to part, he said : 
 
 " You're sure you'd rather meet your mob alone, Miss 
 Muriel ? For if you wouldn't, I'll either stand by you, or 
 prowl along the other side of the street, while you make 
 your arrangement known, whichever you like. I think, 
 perhaps, that would be better." 
 
 " No," said Muriel, with a grateful look, " I'm not really 
 afraid, it's only a little stage-fright, and I am not going to 
 give way to it ! You are as kind as you can be, Dick, but 
 I am afraid, if my mob were to see you with me, or suspect 
 that you were watching them, they would all flee different 
 ways. ' Go on, I'll follow thee.' " 
 
 He went on, more reluctantly than she knew, and joined 
 the others, who were waiting, with amused expectancy, for 
 Muriel and her cortege to arrive. But when fifteen minutes 
 passed and they did not come he grew uneasy, and in a few 
 minutes more was just starting out to ascertain the cause of 
 the delay, when the sound of voices and a shrill laugh 
 approaching made him wait, and presently the procession 
 appeared, headed by Muriel and her champion, who had an 
 absurd air of importance and patronage. They seemed to 
 be coming willingly enough, but this was partly accounted 
 for by the fact that Muriel had taken the precaution to leave 
 the packages containing the refreshments in Julia's hands. 
 
 As soon as the crowd which this time contained about 
 thirty was fairly in the room, Muriel tried to make herself
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 235 
 
 heard, but quite in vain, until the champion, suddenly com- 
 prehending the state of affairs, shouted out : 
 
 " The lady's tryin' to speak, and, if you haven't the 
 manners to hold your noise, I'll try what me fists'll do for 
 you ! " 
 
 There was an immediate silence, and Muriel, judging it 
 best to take advantage of it rather than administer a reproof 
 for this entirely well-meant announcement, said quickly : 
 
 " You shall have the cakes first, and then there will be 
 some music, and then I have something to tell you and 
 something useful to give you, and then you shall have the 
 candy, and after that you can go home." 
 
 It was certainly to the credit of Muriel's aids that no 
 audible laughter followed this speech, which was fired at 
 her audience as if she mistrusted their power to keep still 
 a moment longer. They saw nothing funny about it, fortu- 
 nately, but the champion cried, shrilly : 
 
 " Three cheers for the lady ! Hoo-roar ! " and a deafen- 
 ing response immediately filled the room. The explosion 
 seemed to do them good, for they instantly subsided, and 
 then the cakes were promptly produced. 
 
 " May I make a remark or a suggestion, Miss Muriel ? " 
 whispered Dick. 
 
 " Of course, you may ! " she answered, and he stepped 
 forward a little, saying : 
 
 " If any body would like to sit down on the floor and eat 
 his or her cake, there's no reason why you shouldn't ! " 
 
 The response was an immediate flop, which shook the 
 building, and only a few remained standing. 
 
 Muriel was amazed to see Julia. While she herself stood 
 helpless, unable to think of any thing to say, Julia went 
 brightly about among the different groups, saying pleasant 
 things to them, and as much at her ease as she would have 
 been at an afternoon tea.
 
 236 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 The cakes were disposed of in an alarmingly short time, 
 and then the boys, at an imploring glance from Muriel, took 
 their places side by side to sing, and Jim prefaced the song 
 with : 
 
 "We're going to sing you a song with a rousing good 
 chorus, and if anybody feels like joining in so much the bet- 
 ter ! " 
 
 They struck up " Marching Through Georgia," with all 
 the strength of their voices, and the effect was electrical. 
 Many of the children sprang to their feet ; heads and hands 
 and feet began keeping time, and when the chorus to the 
 second verse was reached, there was a rush of voices which 
 nearly drowned those of the chief singers, and Julia whis- 
 pered to Muriel : 
 
 " How did they catch it so quickly ? Look at your knight, 
 Muriel ! " 
 
 He was worth looking at ! Vibrating all over in time with 
 the music, his eyes, apparently fixed on the ceiling, he was 
 singing at the top of his voice, with a look of total absorp- 
 tion, which made Muriel say to herself : 
 
 " Here is the key to this nature, at last ! If other things 
 fail I shall know what to try ; his face looks positively gen- 
 tle ! " 
 
 And, as if in special mockery of her thought, at that very 
 moment he made a dash at a boy standing some paces 
 away and knocked off his hat, and in the momentary pause 
 between the verses the champion's shrill voice was heard to 
 say, in accents of strong and righteous indignation : 
 
 " Haven't you no manners at all, you dirty little black- 
 guard, to keep your hat on your ugly head when there's 
 ladies around ! Next time I'll knock your head, I can tell 
 you, and not just your hat." 
 
 Julia's face disappeared behind her handkerchief, and 
 there was a tremor of suppressed laughter in the voices of
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 237 
 
 the singers, but they went bravely on. When the song 
 ended there was a shout of applause, and a clamorous de- 
 mand for " another." 
 
 " And we'll all jine in if it is as easy as that one was ! " 
 said the champion, affably. 
 
 Thus encouraged the singers struck up " Red, White 
 and Blue," and the " jiningin " was not long in following. 
 They began to shout for " another " as soon as it was 
 finished, but a motion of Muriel's hand, backed by a much 
 more significant gesture from her knight, secured a minute 
 or two of silence, in which she said : 
 
 " You have not had the candy yet, you know, nor the use- 
 ful thing I am going to give you ; " and the song was no 
 longer demanded. 
 
 There had been a hurried and whispered conference be- 
 tween the musicians, and now, as Muriel stood near them, 
 opening her parcels, Jim advanced, and said in a low 
 voice : 
 
 " Miss Douglas, we thought may be, as the little beggars 
 seemed to like it so, and are so quick in catching a tune, 
 that you'd like us to come next time, and really try to teach 
 them something. We can do it quite well if you're going 
 to hold the meeting on Saturday. Shall we ? " 
 
 " You are very, very kind," said Muriel, gratefully, " and 
 I should be only too thankful if you would, but it isn't right 
 to you to take your time on your one holiday." 
 
 " Oh, an hour isn't much ! " he said, cheeefully, " and its 
 been great fun, so far ! The captain there is worth several 
 songs. I'm going to scrape acquaintance with him pre- 
 sently. Then you'll let us come ? At the same time next 
 Saturday ? Very well," and he went to speak to the " cap- 
 tain," who proved gracious, and even expressed his willing- 
 ness to learn some more songs. 
 
 " I know how to sing well enough, a'ready," he added,
 
 238 W 'A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 complacently, " but I don't mind learning a few more toons, 
 I'm tired of the old ones, most of 'em ! " 
 
 " Where did you learn to sing ? " asked Jim, with praise- 
 worthy gravity. 
 
 " Oh, all about in spots ! Hand-organs, mostly, and con- 
 cert-halls, sometimes ; outside seats, where you could leave 
 without obserwation if you got tired durin' the puffaw- 
 mence ! " 
 
 And he winked at Jim in a manner which moved that ami- 
 able youth's mind to envy. 
 
 He was all ready to act as moderator of the meeting, 
 when Muriel tried to speak again, and by this time she was 
 beginning to feel more confidence in herself, from that which, 
 in spite of his truculence and high-handed methods of dis- 
 cipline, she began to feel in him. She had dreaded the 
 noise and turbulence of her mob more than any thing else, 
 and expected to have great difficulty in making herself heard 
 at all, and the relief of this unexpected smoothing of her 
 way was proportionate. She waited until the candy was 
 distributed, which helped materially in the quieting process, 
 and then she said : 
 
 " I want you all to come here next Saturday afternoon 
 at four o'clock. I shall not have any cake or candy for you, 
 but I am going to bring some other things, which you will 
 like to see, I think ; these gentlemen are coming to sing for 
 you again, and to teach you a new song besides. And we 
 will have benches, and tables, so that we may have a nice 
 comfortable time. Now, all of you who will come, with 
 perfectly clean hands and faces, remember, and who will 
 behave nicely after they come, can hold up one of those nice 
 clean hands they brought here to-day ! " 
 
 Every hand went up and a voice began : 
 
 " Three cheers " 
 
 But Muriel hastened to interrupt with :
 
 W 'A YS AND MEANS. 239 
 
 " Not just yet, please ! In a few minutes you may, if you 
 like. I saw, the last time I met you, and I see again to-day, 
 with much pleasure, that some of you have combed your 
 hair, so I have for each of you a pretty little pocket-comb, 
 which shuts up in a case, and I hope before the next time 
 we meet, each one of you will give his head and her head a 
 good combing and and washing, and make yourselves look 
 just as neat and clean as ever you can, and see how pleased 
 we shall be ! And another thing, if we are to be friends, as 
 I hope we are, I would like to know your names, and to shake 
 hands with each of you before you go ; just think, if I want 
 to speak to any one of you, I can't call you any thing but 
 ' you,' and I don't like that it isn't good manners. So now 
 please come as you go out I will stand here, near the door 
 and shake hands with me, and tell me what your names are." 
 
 There was a silence for a moment a silence which Muriel 
 could not fail to see was suspicious then a low hum of dis- 
 cussion, in the midst of which Muriel's "knight" stepped 
 boldly up to her and held out his hand, saying : 
 
 " Them cowards can do as they please, but when a lady 
 as is a lady asks me to shake hands, and tell her my name, 
 I ain't agoing to hang back, and if they knowed what they'd 
 ketch when I get 'em outside of here, may be they wouldn't 
 neither ! My name is Jake, and I don't care who knows 
 it ! " 
 
 " But what is your last name, Jake ? " said Muriel, keep- 
 ing the hard, bony little fist which he had laid in her hand. 
 
 " It's Jake, ma'am, same as my first ! I give you my 
 affidavy, lady, I ain't never had but the one, as I knows of ! " 
 
 " But what is your mother's name, and your father's ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 "Ain't never had neither," he answered, soberly. " I'm a 
 young man with a hist'ry, I am ; old Granny Jake, which 
 picked rags for her livin', found me in an ash-bar'l, when I
 
 240 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 wasn't any longer'n that "and he measured about six inches 
 on his arm " and kep' me to beg for her, 'cos I was 
 starved-lookin' ! And since she died, I've kep' myself ! " 
 
 Muriel asked no more questions, for the effect of Jake's 
 intimation as to what the others would " ketch " if they per- 
 sisted in " hanging back," together with the fearless manner 
 in which he announced his own name, was almost immedi- 
 ate, and all, save a few, who were either stronger or fleeter 
 of foot than the champion, and so did not fear him, filed 
 slowly past, giving an awkward hand-shake and a mumbled 
 name, as they did so. At least a third of them had no sur- 
 name, and insisted, upon being questioned, that they never 
 had, and Muriel was puzzled to decide whether this were a 
 measure of caution, a literal fact, or an imitation of Jake. 
 
 Dick and Julia had been " primed " beforehand, and they 
 stood, each facing a window, taking down the names as 
 they were given, Dick the boys, and Julia the girls ; al- 
 though to make perfectly sure which were which, they 
 were obliged sometimes to glance around. 
 
 It was over at last ; the last " perfectly clean hand " had 
 been laid in Muriel's, and as she turned from the door, her 
 eyes were brimming with tears. 
 
 " Oh ! " she exclaimed, as soon as she could trust herself 
 to speak, " I had not had a good look at their faces before, 
 and it seems as if they must come from some dreadful un- 
 der-world, which we pretend does not exist." 
 
 " You must not take it so hard, dear," said Julia, speak- 
 ing far more lightly than she felt, because she saw Muriel's 
 over-wrought condition. " I know just what you are doing ; 
 you are fancying howjv would feel if you were suddenly 
 obliged to wear rags, and sleep in ash-barrels, and live in a 
 society where polite conversation included swearing, but you 
 must remember the vast difference it makes, never to have 
 known any thing better."
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 241 
 
 " Yes, that would make a difference ; I see that it would ; 
 a very great difference, though the degradation and misery 
 are the same in the abstract, but I am glad you thought of 
 that, Julia ; it is some little consolation. And yet, it will 
 make it all the harder to dig them out, I am afraid ! " 
 
 " Now don't spoil your little consolation, the minute you 
 begin to play with it ; instead, listen to these most extraor- 
 dinary names ! '' 
 
 And she read her list aloud. 
 
 " It beats mine," said Dick, " and do you know, Miss 
 Muriel, I've an idea that a good many of those imps made 
 up their names on the spur of the moment, and are chuck- 
 ling now, to think how cleverly they've done us ! " 
 
 " It's more than likely ! " assented Muriel, resignedly; 
 " but I don't think my champion did. I wish he had not 
 such an ugly name, for fierce and dreadful as he is, he 
 somehow interests me more than all the rest put together. 
 I suppose because he is the only one of them who seems at 
 all interested in me ! But was it not pretty, Mr. Armitage," 
 she said, turning to Charley, " to see them respond to the 
 music ? I shall no longer think the monkey is the sole at- 
 traction, when I see them following a hand-organ." 
 
 " I came upon an open-air ball the other day," he replied ; 
 " about a dozen of the raggedest little wretches imaginable, 
 gathered about a man who was playing on a most villainous 
 organ, but it was wheezing out the ' Fisher's Hornpipe,' and 
 I wish you could have seen the dancing ! That was just 
 before Dick spoke of your enterprise, and lamented his 
 cracked voice in such touching terms, and I will confess that 
 my recollection of the scene influenced me to volunteer. I 
 had an idea that there would be a good deal of fun, and 
 there has been ! But I will also confess, that when that 
 infant with the big, innocent blue eyes, and pinched, white 
 little face, swore like a Turk because her neighbor ' scrouged '
 
 242 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 her, the performance lost a good deal of its charm for me, 
 as an abstraction though it gained in interest." 
 
 Muriel would not put her thought into words, but she 
 felt very sure that it was after this light-hearted boy heard 
 the blue-eyed baby swear, that he had arranged with his 
 comrades to come again the following week, and this was 
 indeed the case. His life, guarded by intelligent training 
 and inherited character, had been a very clean one, and he 
 had seen but very little of the "dreadful under-world" of 
 which Muriel spoke ; never enough to arouse either interest 
 or more than a very transient compassion ; but in thinking 
 over afterward the events and impressions of this after- 
 noon, it seemed to him that he could never regain the care- 
 less and indifferent regard of all phases of life, save that in 
 which he moved, which contact with these poor little waifs 
 and strays had destroyed. And, rather to his own surprise, 
 he did not wish to. The effect upon Jim Burnham was far 
 less strongly marked, but he was good-naturedly willing to 
 do whatever might be asked of him in the cause, chiefly 
 because he liked Muriel and thought he should like Julia, 
 and had a very sincere friendship with both Dick and 
 Charley. 
 
 They were turning to leave the room, when Muriel said, 
 suddenly : 
 
 " I'm afraid this place will be very damp, if we should 
 happen to be here on a rainy day. I wish I could have 
 found a room with some sort of fire-place in it. I wonder 
 if it would be possible to cut a stove-pipe hole in one of the 
 outside walls, or put a tin pane with a hole in it in a window. 
 I saw that, the other day, in a house somewhere near here." 
 
 " Yes, it would be quite possible," said Dick, " but I don't 
 believe the owners would let you do it. Mr. Duncan says 
 the upper part is full of stored furniture, and such things. 
 And yet, if you keep on coming all the year, there will have
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 243 
 
 to be some way of warming it. Would you like me to see 
 the owners, and ask, Miss Muriel ? I could get the address 
 from Mr. Duncan, you know." 
 
 " If you can do that, I will not let you take any further 
 trouble about it. I will go speak to the owners myself," 
 replied Muriel, and Dick did not remonstrate with her, for 
 he thought it probable that she would succeed much better 
 than he would, were any concession to be asked. 
 
 They all five walked together to the corner which the car 
 passed, the boys intending to walk home when they had 
 seen Muriel and Julia safely in the car, but as they stood 
 waiting, Muriel said : 
 
 " I wish you would all come and have dinner with me, or 
 tea with Aunt Sally, and then we can have a little more talk 
 about my mob that is, if you are not entirely exhausted, 
 both with your labors, and with the subject ! " 
 
 " I am not, either," replied Julia, seeing that the boys 
 were waiting for her to speak first. " And I will do so, with 
 much pleasure, if you will send Rogers home with me a 
 little before ten. That is the witching hour at which mam- 
 ma begins to think that ' something must have happened,' 
 if I do not appear or send a representative." 
 
 " I'd like nothing better, Miss Douglas," said Charley, 
 as frankly as she had herself spoken, " but my mother would 
 wait dinner for me, I'm afraid, for the girls, my sisters, are 
 not at home just now, and father is so irregular in his be- 
 havior concerning dinner that he simply takes it when he 
 arrives upon the scene, and doesn't like us to wait for 
 him." 
 
 " I'm afraid my circumstances are equally adverse, if not 
 exactly the same, Miss Douglas," said Jim, regretfully, 
 " only might I ask at what time the mysterious double- 
 headed repast to which you alluded takes place ? " 
 
 " It will not take place until seven o'clock this evening,"
 
 244 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 said Muriel, smiling, "for I did not know how late the ' ex- 
 ercises ' would keep me, and Aunt Sally firmly declined to 
 sit down to a solitary meal, so I fixed seven." 
 
 " Then, if I may be permitted, I shall have time to go 
 home and allay my mother's apprehensions, in which case I 
 shall be delighted to accept." 
 
 " And could you not do that, too ? " asked Muriel, turning 
 to Charley. 
 
 " I certainly could," he replied, "but I had not the auda- 
 city to propose it. We modest, retiring people lose a great 
 deal, I am beginning to find." 
 
 " You would have deserved to lose, in this case," said 
 Muriel, laughing. " You'll come, Dick ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Dick. " I was only waiting my turn to 
 speak, and to tell Miss Hardcastle that I hope she will ac- 
 cept me as a substitute for the venerable Rogers ; but I 
 must go home first, too, and tell the girls, or they II wait. 
 You will not take advantage of my absence to engage 
 Rogers, Miss Hardcastle ? " 
 
 " Have no apprehension of that sort," replied Julia, in 
 her pleasantest manner ; " Rogers is saved for this 
 evening." 
 
 " What a very agreeable thing an agreeable boy is," she 
 said to Muriel, after they were seated in the car and the 
 boys had left them ; 4< and how friendly and unaffected 
 those two young fellows are. I hope they will not consider 
 it necessary to put on any airs as they grow older. That's 
 the worst of every thing, Muriel nothing stays as it is, and 
 if we don't realize that a change is going on, that makes it 
 all the worse when we do." 
 
 " It isn't always the worst of every thing, by any means," 
 replied Muriel ; " just think how hopeless some lives most 
 lives would be, if we had not the certainty of change to 
 look forward to."
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 245 
 
 " Yes, of course ; there are two sides to every thing, but 
 I wish one might have a little voice .in the matter, and at 
 least avert the change until it is desired." 
 
 She spoke with a gravity almost amounting to sadness, 
 for which Muriel could not account, and perhaps this feeling 
 was indicated in the latter's face, for Julia changed the sub- 
 ject rather abruptly and returned to her every-day manner. 
 
 They reached Muriel's home by a little after six, and she 
 went at once to acquaint Rogers with the state of affairs. 
 He was much too well-behaved to express to her the con- 
 sternation which he felt when he heard that four unexpected 
 people were coming to dinner in little more than half an 
 hour, three of whom were "young gentlemen," but he re- 
 marked solemnly to Margery, as soon as Muriel was out of 
 hearing : " I could wish that Miss Muriel would not be quite 
 so unconsiderate and previous. I am that flustered and 
 the table to be unset, and a leaf put in, and dessert to be 
 purchased, and after-dinner coffee to be served." 
 
 " And don't you see that it's a compliment the young 
 mistress is paying you and the cook ? " said the good-tem- 
 pered Irish housemaid ; "and sure a pair of fine chickens 
 is dinner enough for twice four ; and I'll see to the table for 
 you, and run out for some dessert as soon as they're seated 
 if you'll ask Miss Muriel what it shall be. It's the great 
 mercy that we've a good confectioner so near hand." 
 
 Rogers was consoled, and the dinner was all any body 
 could have asked, and only fifteen minutes late. Muriel 
 had already, brief as had been her reign, shown a kindness 
 of feeling toward her servants which had won their hearts, 
 and they served her with a willingness which, without her 
 knowledge, saved her much of the friction which attends 
 most lives. 
 
 Aunt Sally was genuinely pleased when Muriel brought 
 Julia in, and said that Dick and his two friends were coming
 
 246 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 presently. It was not only because the best-beloved of her 
 " children " was one of the party, although that greatly 
 added to her pleasure ; but she was thoroughly glad to see 
 Muriel emerging from the reticence, almost amounting to 
 shyness, which had seemed a few weeks ago part of her 
 nature, but which, as Aunt Sally was now beginning to per- 
 ceive, had merely overlaid it. 
 
 The dinner was a most cheerful meal, and lasted a good 
 deal more than long enough for the cook to make the coffee, 
 about which Rogers had been concerned. Aunt Sally's 
 questions about the afternoon's experience were numerous, 
 and her heart went out in an especial manner to Charley 
 Armitage, as she discovered from little signs and tokens, 
 quite unconsciously given by him, how deeply his feelings 
 had been touched. She expressed her entire approval of 
 Muriel's intention to go to the owner or agent of the ware- 
 house, and see what could be done about some arrangement 
 for fire. The day had been one of the suddenly-warm ones 
 which so often come in late spring, but it would not be safe 
 to trust to the chance of always happening on warm days. 
 There was a great deal of talk as to what should be put 
 into the room, and Aunt Sally vetoed so many of Muriel's 
 proposals that the latter declared she had never been so 
 snubbed in her life. 
 
 " My dear," said Aunt Sally, earnestly, " don't you be one 
 of the crowd of people who are trying to run before they 
 can walk. Make the room thoroughly comfortable. You're 
 quite right about having backs to the benches and some 
 sort of carpet on the floor, and you'll give most of those 
 poor little souls a treat every time they come there ; but 
 they'll be the very first to detect, and to take advantage of, 
 any foolishness, and you must be very careful, for a while, 
 at any rate, and do nothing rash." 
 
 " Will it be rash to hang some pictures on those staring
 
 WA YS AND MEANS, 247 
 
 walls, and some simple curtains over the staring windows ? " 
 asked Muriel, meekly. 
 
 " You know well enough that I don't think it will," said 
 Aunt Sally, severely ; " but when you talk of buying a kin- 
 dergarten outfit before your next meeting, it's high time to 
 stop you." 
 
 " But, aunty, the little children must have something to 
 do, as well as the big ones. I can't teach a little tot of 
 three years old how to sew." 
 
 " Then you can take some colored picture-books for them 
 to look at, and I'll make you a big rag doll before you go 
 again, and sew some scarlet braid into ' lines ' for them to 
 play horse with. It'll never do for you to try to keep them 
 too still, especially just at the first. And I wouldn't let 
 them stay more than an hour, either, any of them ; they'll 
 be twice as ready to come back if they go before they're 
 tired. The way that little monkey who calls himself Jake 
 suspected you of ' tracks ' and Sunday-school designs is a 
 hint as to the tactless way in which so many good people go 
 about their good works, that you'll do well to remember." 
 
 " I wish you'd tell that to the temperance agents, Miss 
 Bowne," said Charley Armitage. " They invite a lot of 
 poor wretches, who haven't any home worth the name, to 
 sit in a cold hall and be preached to for an hour or more, 
 and then let them go home, if they succeed in catching any, 
 without giving them a thing to eat or drink, while right 
 across the street, perhaps, is a saloon throwing glimpses of 
 magnificence through the doors and windows, looking 
 warm, and bright, and cheerful, and in the front window, a 
 picture of an abnormally large oyster with the legend: ' A 
 fried oyster with every drink ! ' ' 
 
 " I know," said Aunt Sally, " I've seen that picture of the 
 oyster and the legend a number of times, and I never 
 knew of but one temperance-lecturer who had sense enough
 
 2 4 8 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 to make use of that idea, and he wasn't what's generally 
 called a lecturer either. He was a little lame man who 
 kept a coffee-stand, he and his wife together. He was gen- 
 erally called ' The Ready Reckoner,' because, whenever he 
 could catch any body who drank, he'd reckon up what their 
 ' moderate drinking ' cost them in the course of a year. He 
 sold his things just as cheap as he could, to make a living 
 for his wife and himself, and he had all sorts of queer signs 
 stuck up all over his stand, such as 'A fried oyster with 
 every drink of coffee!' 'A knock -you-down-and-carry- 
 you-out cup of tea for five cents ! ' I can't remember the 
 half of them it was a good many years ago, when the 
 ' temperance agitation,' as they called it, was first beginning. 
 But he really shut up two or three of the worst saloons in 
 the neighborhood just by destroying their custom, and the 
 good he did'll never be known in this world." 
 
 " What has gone with him, aunty ? " asked Muriel, deeply 
 interested, for here were suggestions about which she meant 
 to ask more, at a suitable time. 
 
 " He's gone to Heaven, my dear, years ago, and his wife 
 too, and after he died, it didn't appear to occur to any body 
 to take up his work and carry it on. I only wish it had. And 
 I wish all the reformers would do more to amuse the people 
 they're trying to reform ; it's half the battle, it seems to me." 
 
 " Why don't you write an ' open letter ' to some of the 
 papers or magazines about it, Miss Bowne ? " inquired 
 Charley. 
 
 She looked at him sharply for a moment, but she saw 
 that the question had been asked in entirely good faith. 
 
 " I couldn't do it," she said, simply ; " all my ideas would 
 fly to the ends of the earth the moment I tried ! But I'm 
 always hoping that some body who can write will do it for 
 me, and if it's somebody who has hold of the public's ear 
 already, so much the better."
 
 WA YS AND MEANS, 249 
 
 Julia had never seemed to Muriel, and to Aunt Sally as 
 well, so likeable, and even lovable, as she seemed this even- 
 ing, and they were both sorry when she rose to go. Her 
 interest in Muriel's project, and her liking for the boys, 
 were evidently sincere, and Muriel only wished that the side 
 of her character which was now uppermost might be allowed 
 to remain so. 
 
 Dick's friends went when he did, and there was an evi- 
 dent sincerity in their parting words about their enjoyment 
 of the evening and their intention to call " very soon," which 
 pleased Muriel much. 
 
 She drew a hassock to Aunt Sally's feet, after her visitors 
 were gone, and laid her head on the old lady's knee, saying : 
 
 " The lions are chained again, aunty. I wonder if they 
 always are ? " 
 
 " If they aren't," was Aunt Sally's somewhat enigmatical 
 answer, " they don't unchain themselves, that's certain."
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENT. 
 
 "Bravely the ships in the tempest tossed, 
 Buffet the waves till the sra be crossed ; 
 Not in despair of the haven fair, 
 Though winds blow backward, and leagues be* lost. 
 
 F. W. BOURDILLON. 
 
 IT must not be supposed that Mr. Douglas Keith had al- 
 lowed Muriel's promise to permit him, at some time in 
 the near future to call upon her, to remain unclaimed. 
 She had met him in the street, soon after Aunt Sally's install- 
 ment, and he had managed skillfully so to arrange the conver- 
 sation that before they parted he had received the coveted 
 invitation, and he did not permit much time to elapse before 
 he availed himself of it. He had nothing to say now about 
 her business affairs ; she had, without intending to, made 
 it very manifest that she preferred to hold the needful in- 
 terviews with the senior partner, and with these arrange- 
 ments he had sufficient tact not to interfere, especially as, 
 under existing circumstances, he preferred not to talk to 
 Muriel about her money. He could not understand the 
 motives which were prompting her, and consequently he 
 set down the actions which seemed to him so singular to 
 the score of whims, and waited patiently for the " attack of 
 charity," as he termed it, to wear itself out. 
 
 He had made up his mind when his father called upon 
 him for help in settling the estate, and before he had seen
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 251 
 
 Muriel at all, that, unless he found her positively repellant, 
 he would fall in love with her, and, after an engagement as 
 short as she could be induced to make it, marry her. He 
 had never yet allowed himself to fall in love with any one, 
 for he had been well aware that, unless he could discover a 
 charmer who possessed the solid charm of a fortune, mar- 
 riage would mean, for him, an amount of economy and self- 
 denial which he by no means felt inclined to practice. He 
 had a small inheritance from his mother, the interest of 
 which, with his share in the business, gave him an income 
 upon which he managed to dress faultlessly and move in the 
 best society, to smoke the best cigars, to drink, in very small 
 quantity, the best wine, and to go every summer for three or 
 four weeks to the gayest and most fashionable resorts. But 
 he was laying nothing by, he was obliged to do without a 
 great many things which he would have liked to have, and 
 the impression grew upon him that something must be done. 
 He was much too cautious to resort to speculating or stock- 
 gambling ; indeed, it was a fixed rule with him to do nothing 
 in secret which he would be ashamed to let all the world 
 know, and he had too much genuine good feeling and affec- 
 tion for his father to count upon his death. His older 
 brother, with a much better head for business than he him- 
 self possessed, was making money in various perfectly legit- 
 imate and respectable " outside " ways, which enabled him 
 to lay by nearly all the income which he received as a mem- 
 ber of the firm, but he " gave the whole of his mind to it," 
 caring nothing for general society and living very simply 
 and economically. 
 
 It was quite certain that Muriel would never be consid- 
 ered, or consider herself, a beauty, but her face pleased most 
 people, and sometimes under the influence of pleasant ex- 
 citement was very pretty. Her figure was good ; she car- 
 ried herself well, and was too free from self-consciousness
 
 252 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 ever to be awkward, and Mr. Keith was most agreeably im- 
 pressed during the business interview which began their 
 acquaintance. This impression deepened, as he meant that 
 it should, every time he met her, in spite of his disapproval 
 of the new turn of affairs given by her charitable schemes. 
 He regretted very much that she was not going into general 
 society, which he relied upon to change a good many of 
 her views as to the best manner of spending her money, but 
 he consoled himself with the reflection that her seclusion 
 need not be of very long duration ; then, when she should 
 emerge, with the worldly advantages she possessed, it was 
 scarcely possible that her zeal should last. 
 
 He confided his ideas to no one, but set quietly to work 
 to win, first of all, the position of a friend of the house, who 
 should be welcome whenever he should choose to come 
 there, and, perhaps, had Muriel been in charge of a nomi- 
 nal chaperone, instead of a friend so real, and so wide 
 awake to her best interests, as Aunt Sally was, he might not 
 have found this position very difficult to win, but as it was, 
 he did not seem to himself to make much progress. Muriel 
 was more than merely civil ; she was pleasant and friendly, 
 for he always amused her, and managed, besides, without 
 becoming fulsome, to let her see his admiration for, and in- 
 terest in her. The most difficult part of his self-assigned 
 role was that of listening, with an appearance of interest and 
 approval, when she talked of the rebuilding of the row of 
 houses recently purchased, or of kindred schemes, while in 
 reality, he considered his father culpably remiss in not re- 
 straining her from every thing of the kind. And almost as 
 difficult was the work of keeping on even outwardly friendly 
 terms with Aunt Sally. She had an apparently innocent 
 way of showing up the weak spots in his conversation, which 
 kept him painfully on the alert, for there was nothing which 
 so annoyed him as a suspicion, however remote, that he was
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 253 
 
 being laughed at. And he wondered very much, but had 
 no way of solving the problem, whether it were by accident 
 or design that Miss Bowne was always " about " when he 
 called on Miss Douglas ! 
 
 Another cause of uneasiness to him was the frequency 
 with which he began to meet Neil Duncan at the house, and 
 the very evident favor with which Aunt Sally regarded him. 
 About Muriel's views he was uncertain ; her quiet, almost 
 indifferent manner to Mr. Duncan might be assumed for 
 the benefit of a discerning public. And Mr. Duncan, he 
 observed, either really was, or managed to seem to be, 
 thoroughly posted on the subjects which, for the present, 
 occupied so large a share of Miss Douglas's thoughts. 
 Meanwhile Muriel, happily unconscious of the various 
 speculations and comments of which she was the object, 
 became daily more engrossed with the work which seemed 
 to unfold itself before her. She succeeded in working Aunt 
 Sally up to the pitch of going with her to investigate the 
 place of which Miss Prudence Harley had told her, and, 
 although the time of year was not very favorable to the some- 
 what rugged aspect of the country, she was so delighted 
 with it that she declared her intention of founding a sum- 
 mer colony there, apart from the one which she hoped to 
 found for the benefit of the dwellers in the row. The small 
 houses of which Miss Harley had spoken were in somewhat 
 better condition than her description had led Muriel to 
 expect, and the agent, who had had no offer for them for 
 years, was quite willing to make them habitable for the sum- 
 mer, if he could be assured of renting them for four months. 
 Aunt Sally and Muriel visited every one, planning and sug- 
 gesting as they went from one to another, until by the time 
 they had made the round, they had " located " every family 
 which could be expected to come, and settled in the largest 
 house fragments of three or four of the families which had
 
 254 W 'A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 members whose business engagements compelled them to 
 spend the summer in town. 
 
 There was not even a country tavern in the place, and 
 none of the boarding-houses were yet open, so Miss Harley 
 had insisted upon giving them a letter of introduction to 
 "Jane," who seemed delighted to see them, and entertained 
 them most hospitably, urging them to stay all night, and 
 " look about a little more " the next day. Muriel was greatly 
 tempted to do this ; the free air of the hills seemed to her 
 so thoroughly delightful after her long imprisonment, but 
 she saw that Aunt Sally would prefer to return the same 
 day, so the invitation was gratefully declined. It seemed to 
 Muriel that she could hardly wait till the next day, when 
 they reached home that evening, so eager was she to spread 
 her plan before her tenants, and witness their pleasure at 
 the idea of four months in the country. It was already late 
 in April, and the row ought to be vacated by the middle of 
 'May, at the latest, so there was really no time to be lost, and 
 Muriel went on her mission early the next morning smiling 
 and confident. Aunt Sally was a prey to dark forebodings, 
 as she saw Muriel set forth in this frame of mind, but said 
 nothing, except to herself, and to this trusty confidant she 
 whispered : 
 
 " There's no use in throwing cold water on her before- 
 hand, poor little soul ! How sweet and bright she looks. 
 I'm afraid she'll be singing another song when she comes 
 back." 
 
 She was. With one exception only, her plan had met 
 either with mere toleration or downright opposition. All 
 the tenants, when they were once made to understand the 
 advantages which the rebuilding of the row would give 
 them, and, with much more difficulty, that on their return 
 the rent was not to be " raised on " them, had been quite 
 willing to leave the houses for the time required, and had
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 255 
 
 graciously consented not to fix upon their temporary homes 
 without first consulting either Miss Harley or Muriel her- 
 self. It was one of Aunt Sally's suggestions that Miss 
 Harley might be appointed as a sort of agent to report to 
 Muriel any thing which the tenants wished reported, or any 
 of her own observations which would help in the " adminis- 
 tration of justice." Miss Harley was a clear-headed woman 
 of business, and . had told Muriel frankly what she would 
 consider a fair compensation for doing this, which, she said, 
 would not take so much of her business-time as it would in 
 the cases of many other people, because her shop was so 
 much resorted to by the dwellers in the row, and they were 
 so in the way of coming to talk to her about their affairs. 
 The sum she named had been so small that Muriel had 
 tried to insist upon doubling it ; this Miss Harley had 
 gratefully but very firmly declined, and Muriel, seeing that 
 it would be useless to urge it, desisted. 
 
 Muriel could have chosen no one for this unique situa- 
 tion who would have filled it so satisfactorily as Miss 
 Harley did. She seemed to know by instinct exactly 
 what was and what was not worth repeating, and any 
 information which she was not able to give Muriel off- 
 hand she appeared to have no difficulty in obtaining for 
 her. She had not considered it within her promise to 
 repeat the various expressions of dissatisfaction at the 
 trouble of finding temporary quarters, and of moving 
 twice within so short a time, which she had heard, and 
 she had exerted all her influence to awaken gratitude, 
 and failing that, reasonableness, among the people ; but 
 her success had only been very partial. Most of them were 
 of opinion that the houses were good enough as they were, 
 or that, at any rate, all they needed was a little repairing. 
 One of them had mentioned her views on the subject 
 directly to Muriel, who, thinking some of the others might
 
 256 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 feel the same, had caused the houses to be thoroughly in- 
 spected by a builder. His verdict was, that they had been 
 badly built in the first place, that one or two would soon be, 
 if they were not now, positively unsafe, and that none of 
 them were worth repairing, and she told Miss Harley to cir- 
 culate this statement freely, and Miss Harley did it, and 
 about three people in the row believed it ! But Muriel had 
 fancied that whatever reluctance about leaving their homes 
 might be felt by these people was due to the belief expressed 
 by Mrs. Boyce, that it would be almost or quite impossible 
 to find homes in so decent a neighborhood for the amount 
 of rent they were paying there, and it seemed to her that 
 most of them, and especially those who had children, would 
 be rejoiced with the opportunity to spend a whole summer 
 in the country. She went first to Mrs. Boyce and unfolded 
 the plan to her, but without mentioning her intention regard- 
 ing Lizzy and Robert. Mrs. Boyce's tired eyes sparkled 
 with animation as Muriel described the country and the 
 vacant houses at from one to two dollars per month, and the 
 cheapness of so many articles of food. But the light died 
 out as she said, shortly and ungraciously : 
 
 " You mean to be kind, I believe that ; but even if I 
 could find plenty of work there, as you seem to think I could, 
 Lizzy and Robert must not lose their situations. If any 
 body I know should go, though, I would like to send Fred- 
 erick there to board for a few weeks, if I can manage it ; 
 he is quite able to do light work in part payment for his 
 board." 
 
 " I have a plan," said Muriel, hesitatingly, and feeling 
 strangely embarrassed, " if you will not think I am imperti- 
 nent ; indeed I do not mean to be. A friend of mine, who 
 is nearly blind, and will soon be quite, is staying with me, 
 and will be at my house all summer ; I expect to be away 
 from home a good deal, and Miss Post that is my friend's
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 257 
 
 name will miss me, I am afraid, for although she has a 
 very nice little maid to wait upon her, I am in the habit of 
 reading to her for awhile every evening, and of course she 
 would miss that. My house is far larger than is necessary 
 just for my aunt and myself, and I thought, perhaps, you 
 would be willing to let Lizzy come to me as soon as you 
 could be ready to go to Hartswell, and Robert too, for there 
 is a little garden which I wish kept nice through the sum- 
 mer, and he could easily do all that is to be done in it in the 
 evenings, and perhaps sometimes in the early morning. 
 There are two small rooms near those occupied by Miss Post 
 which are never used, and though the house is on the out- 
 skirts of the city, I think they could manage the distance." 
 
 " And do you mean," asked Mrs. Boyce, looking keenly 
 at Muriel, "that you would consider that what they could 
 do outside of their business hours would pay for their board 
 and lodging, or only the lodging?" 
 
 " I mean both of course," said Muriel, speaking much 
 more at her ease now that she had made her proposal. 
 " You see," she added, in her most business-like manner, a 
 manner which she was sedulously cultivating and of which 
 she was already rather proud, " where five people are to be 
 provided for, the board of two more will be a very slight 
 additional expense ! " This was a sudden inspiration from 
 a recollection of something she had heard Miss Harley say, 
 and she could see that it took instant effect. 
 
 " That's true," said Mrs. Boyce ; " but still it seems very 
 little for any body to do for their board and lodging, very 
 little ! " 
 
 " That depends upon how you look at it," said Muriel, 
 smiling. "Lizzy and Robert may think it a great deal to 
 give up their evenings as well as their days, and of course 
 you can not give me an answer until you have spoken to 
 them, so I will not detain you any longer now."
 
 258 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 " I can, and I will," she said, with sudden decision. 
 " My children have never yet openly disobeyed me, and 
 whatever they may think, they shall do as I say. If you 
 will let me take the smallest and cheapest of those houses, 
 one of those which rent for a dollar a month, I will do it, 
 and whatever may be your real motive for making this offer 
 to my children, I thank you." 
 
 Muriel dared not remonstrate, or suggest that coercion 
 was not the best form of government. The woman's som- 
 ber manner made her thoroughly uncomfortable, and she 
 was glad to escape into the open air ; but first she asked 
 that Lizzy and Robert might be sent to see her, either that 
 evening or the next, and Mrs. Boyce promised that they 
 should. 
 
 She was glad even of this grim and reluctant consent, 
 and consoled herself with thinking how different would be 
 the reception of her proposal by the other families ; and it 
 was different, but difference does not always imply improve- 
 ment. At the next house, a widow with two little children 
 worked in a laundry, and took lodgers in two rooms which 
 she managed to spare from the three which the house con- 
 tained for having no back buildings, none of the houses 
 contained more and as she was a good workwoman, she 
 made a comfortable living, and was able to pay the small 
 fee demanded at the day-nursery where she always left her 
 children. She admitted that she had meant to dismiss her 
 lodgers and re-nt a single room during the time occupied by 
 the rebuilding of the row ; that she would have no difficulty 
 about being " taken on " again at the laundry, upon her re- 
 turn, and that, if she could get two or three washes, or 
 day's work, every week, at Hartswell, it would " about 
 make it square ; " but she did not think she would like the 
 country ; it must be very lonesome ; the children were well 
 enough where they were ; they would miss the day-nursery,
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 259 
 
 where they 'were learning nice ways and their letters. And 
 it would cost more than it would come to, to send furniture 
 away off there, just for three or four months. 
 
 Muriel was ready for this emergency. 
 
 " I expect to send up what furniture will be really needed 
 for each house," she said, ''and I shall charge nothing for 
 the use of it, as I am obliged to ask you to leave your 
 homes at some inconvenience to yourselves ; but I have no 
 interest to serve in urging you to take one of these houses 
 they do not belong to me and as, from what you say, I 
 infer that you have a room in' view, we will say no more 
 about it." 
 
 " You don't need to be so hasty, Miss Douglas," said the 
 woman, as Muriel opened the door, utterly discouraged. " I 
 haven't any room engaged, and if it's all as you say about 
 them houses, and no charge for the furniture, and work to 
 be had in the near neighborhood, I don't care if I go. I 
 dare say it will be good for the children, after all." 
 
 " Very well," said Muriel, trying to keep down the pro- 
 voked feeling which rose at the condescending words and 
 manner. " Do you wish one of the larger or smaller houses ? 
 The largest are only two dollars a month." 
 
 "Then I'll take one of them," she replied, quite gra- 
 ciously. " Four rooms, I think you said ? It may come in 
 my way to take a few lodgers or boarders." 
 
 The interviews varied, of course, in some particulars, but 
 the spirit was the same, almost without an exception, and 
 Muriel resisted the temptation to finish her campaign by 
 going to Miss Harley for sympathy, fearing she should say 
 something to be repented of concerning her tenants." 
 
 " Why, you poor child, you're all tired out," said Aunt 
 Sally, as Muriel came into the library, and dropped wearily 
 into a chair. " Did you walk all the way home ? What in 
 the world have you been doing to yourself?"
 
 260 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " I've been having it done to me, dear," replied Muriel, 
 "and I don't feel as if I should ever smile again." 
 
 And she proceeded to give Aunt Sally the minute account 
 of her adventures which was always looked for and listened 
 to with such keen interest now ; and before she had finished 
 they were both not only smiling, but laughing, for some- 
 how, as Muriel told of her various receptions, she began to 
 see the ludicrous side of the affair, and by the time she had 
 finished she was quite ready for the consolation which she 
 knew would be forthcoming, and for the cup of tea which 
 Margery quietly brought in. 
 
 " Oh, how nice ! " exclaimed Muriel, gratefully. " How 
 did you know I was tired to death, you best of good wo- 
 men? " 
 
 " And what need is there for you to tire yourself to death 
 I would like to know, Miss Muriel ? " asked Margery, sternly, 
 as with gentle hands she removed Muriel's bonnet and 
 wrap, and placed a footstool under her feet. " A body 
 might think you worked for your living, to see the way you 
 come home of late." 
 
 But she did not say how a chance word from Rogers 
 about his young lady's pale, tired face, when he opened the 
 door, had sent her in with the welcome cup of tea and the 
 scolding. 
 
 " My dear," said Aunt Sally, when Margery had departed 
 with the empty cup, " I don't wonder you should feel a 
 little put about with having your kind intention toward 
 those poor souls so ill received ; but so far as I can make 
 out, only those who were really tied by their work, which 
 they dared not lose, refused to go to Hartswell, and you've 
 gained over the one you were most concerned about, Mrs. 
 Boyce, and that's a double gain, for the more I think of 
 what it will be to have that light-headed little girl come 
 under Miss Post's care and influence, the better I'm pleased
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 261 
 
 with the whole arrangement. And after all, there are two 
 sides to the question, as there always are, if we would only 
 believe it, and these people can't be altogether blamed for 
 hanging back a little from what must seem such a great un- 
 dertaking to them. Just think ; I suppose at least half of 
 them have never been an hour's journey outside the city, 
 and they don't know whether they'll like it or not. And 
 they certainly showed a good deal of faith in you in con- 
 senting to go at all." 
 
 " Yes, they did ; I see that they did," said Muriel, in 
 such cheerful tones that Aunt Sally saw she need not con- 
 tinue her exordium, nor add the lecture. " And I do believe 
 that some of them are really glad of the chance of a few 
 months in the country, only they're quite above saying so. 
 It was funny to see how afraid they were of expressing any 
 pleasure, much less gratitude." 
 
 " They're not alone in that," said Aunt Sally. " I've 
 wondered more than a little, and many a time, at the calm 
 way in which people take favors as if they'd say ' thank 
 you,' because it was good manners to say it, but that, if 
 you did but know it, they were only getting their due. 
 And that's what we've got to learn, or part of the what ; to 
 keep right ahead, and do the right thing, whether we're 
 thanked, or ignored, or blamed, and to do our own share of 
 thanking whether other people do theirs or not." 
 
 " That is one thing about Miss Post," said Muriel. " I 
 don't think I ever saw any one so sweetly, beautifully grate- 
 ful for every thing that is done for her, and even for a good 
 intention, as she is. It always seems a surprise, as well as 
 a pleasure, to her. Do you notice how Maidie adores her 
 already, and is jealous and almost sulky if Margery dares 
 to wait on her ? " 
 
 " Yes, I've seen that several times. That little girl 
 won't be a half way friend to any body. She's a queer,
 
 262 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 fierce little soul under her quiet, prim manner. But she can 
 hardly fail to catch, some of Miss Post's gentleness." 
 
 " I wish I might catch a little ! I was so provoked at those 
 people this afternoon that I felt like saying : ' Do you think 
 it matters to me what becomes of you ? Just go wherever 
 you please ! ' How surprised they would have been if I'd 
 said it ! " 
 
 And Muriel laughed at the vision conjured up by her 
 words, as she jumped up lightly and went up stairs with her 
 bonnet and wrap. But when she was alone, the subject of 
 one of her discussions with May came up again. Did she 
 really feel more encouraged about her tenants, as she 
 thought over her talk with them, or had the pleasant room, 
 and comfortable chair and timely cup of tea been the true 
 causes of her modified view ? It was very puzzling ; hope- 
 lessly so ; so instead of wasting any more thought upon it 
 she turned her mind to the arrangement of the room in the 
 warehouse. The days flew by so ; here was Wednesday, 
 already, and if she did not set to work at once Saturday 
 would catch her unprepared. And she would have some 
 pictures on those bare, ugly walls, even though Aunt Sally 
 should scold her for extravagance ! And she must not fail 
 to go to-morrow and see if she could make any arrangement 
 for a possible fire. 
 
 She went rather late in the afternoon by Aunt Sally's ad- 
 vice, for the man who received the rent for the warehouse 
 was a " wholesale dealer " down town, and would probably 
 be too busy to attend to her in the morning. He seemed 
 almost too busy as it was, but he listened patiently, and 
 seemed really sorry to be obliged to tell her that he feared 
 the risk would be too great ; that the owner of the ware- 
 house used the upper part for the storage of furniture, of 
 which he was a manufacturer, and that his loss would be 
 heavy should a fire occur. They could have rented the
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 263 
 
 lower room long before, he added, if they could have con- 
 sented to having a fire in it, 
 
 That gave Muriel an idea. 
 
 " Then there is a fireplace ? " she half-asked, half-asserted. 
 
 " Yes," said the man, and then looked vexed with him- 
 self for having made the admission, but having made it, he 
 went on to explain : 
 
 " You see," he said, " that place was once a dwelling- 
 house, a good many years ago, but when the neighborhood 
 began to be taken for shops and warehouses, it would not 
 rent for any thing worth while. Mr. Sellers was not willing 
 to turn it into a tenement-house, and the rooms were too 
 large if he had been, so he began to store there the furni- 
 ture that was crowding his manufactory, and now he keeps 
 the upper part full pretty much all the time. He don't put 
 any thing in the lower room, both because he's afraid of 
 dampness, and because it's been broken into once or twice. 
 He had that down stair's chimney-place boarded up and 
 whitewashed over, so that it wouldn't show. If it had been 
 me I'd have had it bricked up solid ! " 
 
 Muriel did not say so, but she thought : 
 
 " I am very glad it was not ' me ! ' ' 
 
 " I will not detain you any longer, " she said. " Good- 
 afternoon." 
 
 " Good-afternoon, miss, and I'm sorry we can't accommo- 
 date you, " he said, evidently both surprised and relieved that 
 she made no attempt to take advantage of his incautious 
 admission that there was a fireplace. 
 
 " His name is Sellers and he is a furniture-dealer," she 
 said to herself, as she walked briskly away from the scene 
 of her apparent defeat. " I am afraid he will wish he had 
 bricked it up, but I'm so very glad he didn't ! " 
 
 She stopped at the first drug-store to which she came, 
 and consulted a directory, finding the address without any
 
 264 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 difficulty, and having "made a note of it," she went home 
 much better satisfied than she had expected to be. 
 
 Aunt Sally had gone to take tea with her children, who 
 were giving what Dick insisted upon calling "a fandango," 
 to a little bride who was a friend of theirs. 
 
 " It's so very mild, Miss Muriel, only the Craigs and the 
 Osbornes, besides the happy pair," he had pleaded, when he 
 brought the invitation ; " don't you think you might 
 come ? " 
 
 But Muriel, mindful of her resolution not to give needless 
 offense, regretfully declined, and wrote for May and Miss 
 Forsythe to come and dine with her. 
 
 May came alone. 
 
 " I did not know whether you would want me, without 
 aunty," she said, " but when I said that aunty made a little 
 remark about ' the pride that apes humility,' which sent me 
 for my hat at once ! How glad I am to see you again. 
 How well you're looking ! Give me another kiss ?" 
 
 They had not met for two weeks, through no fault on 
 either side, and Muriel was quite as glad of the meeting as 
 May was, although she really felt disappointed that Miss 
 Forsythe had not come too. 
 
 " Aunty fully expected to come," pursued May, " but just 
 at the last minute, literally, a young girl in whom she is in- 
 terested came in, and we found she was thinking of going 
 this evening to one of those hateful variety-theaters, with a 
 party of men and young girls from the store. She's a nice 
 warm hearted little thing, and has done so many pleasant 
 things for aunty, but she has about as much head as a bon- 
 net-pin, and her home is very dull and dreary. So aunty 
 did what is polite for winking at me, and I didn't dare not to 
 mind, so I hurried on my things and said good-by, and just 
 as I left, aunty was saying : ' Now you'll take off your 
 hat and stay and have tea with me, Lizzy, and I will walk
 
 WA Y5 AND MEANS. 
 
 as far as the car with you, when it's time for you to go 
 home ! ' And it will please me to know what they'll find 
 to eat, for when we're going out to dinner, we act ac- 
 cordin' ! However, aunty is quite capable of cooking break- 
 fast for tea, and buying another breakfast as she comes 
 home from putting Lizzy in the car." 
 
 " Then you think the girl staid ? " 
 
 " I don't doubt it ! She is very fond of Aunt Agnes, and 
 whoever has the last word with her has the influence as a 
 general thing. And she is so pretty I could just sit and 
 look at her ! " 
 
 " And her name is Lizzy, you said ? What is her last 
 name? " 
 
 " Boyce. Why, do you know her ? " 
 
 " I have met her once ; she called on me," said Muriel 
 smiling. " If you hadn't dodged me with a persistency 
 worthy of a better cause, lately, I should have told you all 
 about it." 
 
 " And you couldn't tell me now, I suppose ? " 
 
 So Muriel told and May listened with eager interest and 
 sympathy, for she had not heard the result of Muriel's effort 
 to put some of her tenants in country homes for the summer, 
 although she had heard all about the homes, and had begun 
 to talk, at first jestingly, and then in sober earnest, of per- 
 suading her aunt to take the best of the " huts " and go 
 into camp for the two weeks' holiday, which was all that 
 Miss Forsythe was allowed. She was delighted when she 
 heard of Mrs. Boyce's consent to take one of the houses, 
 and of the arrangement which was to be made for Lizzy and 
 Robert. 
 
 " The way is opening, isn't it dear ?" she said. " Its curious 
 how one part fits on to another like a Chinese puzzle, or 
 like that story of which I used to be so fond in the days of 
 my very early youth, where the pig wouldn't go over the
 
 266 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 bridge, and all the hard hearted creatures and things refused 
 to help. Do you remember ? " 
 
 " I never so much as heard it." 
 
 " You poor child ! You shall, then, even at this late 
 day, hear the happy conclusion. The old woman who 
 owned the pig had simply told all these creatures and things 
 to help her, but when the last one refused, being a 
 mouse, she offered an inducement a piece of cheese, and 
 at once ' The mouse began to gnaw the rope, and the rope 
 began to hang the butcher, and the butcher began to kill 
 the ox, and the ox began to drink the water, and the water be- 
 gan to quench the fire, and the fire began to burn the stick, and 
 the stick began to beat the dog, and the dog began to bite 
 the pig, and the pig went over the bridge, and she did 
 get home in time to cook her old man's supper after all ! ' 
 Now, I wish the modern novelist would take this simple 
 tale for his guide. I do so like a story with a nice com- 
 fortable ending ! " 
 
 " Then you think ' the moral of that is,' that in one shape 
 or another, the piece of cheese is always necessary to begin 
 with, at least ? " 
 
 " In one shape or another, yes. It does not always do 
 to take it too literally. And that reminds me how are 
 you coming on with the arrangements for your mob ? " 
 
 "Why, just at this minute, the pig isn't going over the 
 bridge so fast as I could wish. There is a little bother 
 about the room, but I don't feel particularly discouraged, 
 for I think I have the key to it." 
 
 And Muriel explained about the chimney, ending with : 
 
 " I think I'll write my note to Mr. Sellers at once, if you 
 will excuse me, for I wish you to read it, and see if it can be 
 made any politer" 
 
 So the note was written, and pronounced as polite 
 as it was possible for a note to be, and then dinner
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 267 
 
 came in, but did not interrupt the flow of eager talk, and 
 May wondered to herself at the change which even two 
 weeks had made in Muriel ; she was so much more cheer- 
 ful and courageous ; she was showing such an increase" 
 of confidence in her own power to will and act ; and in 
 it all, May detected, or fancied that she could detect, 
 Aunt Sally's bracing influence. The end of the evening 
 came a great deal too soon for both of them, but soon 
 after ten, and when they both thought that it was soon 
 after nine, Aunt Sally appeared, escorted by Dick, and 
 Dick insisted upon substituting himself for Rogers as 
 May's escort, and he did not have to insist very strenu- 
 ously, for there was a hearty liking between these two, 
 and they always enjoyed being together.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE WAY OPENS. 
 
 "And if some things I do not ask 
 
 In my cup of blessing be, 
 I would have my spirit filled the more. 
 
 With grateful love to Thee; 
 More careful, than to serve Thee much, 
 
 To please Thee perfectly." 
 
 MURIEL had arranged with herself not to expect an 
 answer to her note to Mr. Sellers for three days 
 from the time at which it was posted. " That will allow," 
 she said, " for his being away for a day, or wishing to think 
 about it, or to consult his agent, and I mean in all my busi- 
 ness transactions to be very reasonable ! " 
 
 So she was agreeably disappointed when the noonday 
 delivery brought her a very yellow envelope, directed in an 
 unknown hand. But she found the note which it contained 
 painfully brief ; it merely said ; 
 
 "Will Miss Douglas be kind enough to call, between four and five 
 
 o'clock on Friday afternoon, at No. , Devonshire street, and oblige, 
 
 W. SELLERS." 
 
 " Do you think it looks as if he would yield, aunty ? " 
 asked Muriel, laughing, as she handed the answer to her 
 effort at polite letter-writing to Aunt Sally. 
 
 " I can't exactly say that, child," replied the astute Miss 
 Bowne, " but it is certainly hopeful, for if he meant posi- 
 tively to say no, it would have been much easier to write it 
 than to bring you there, and say it to your face ! "
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 269 
 
 " Why, of course it would ! I think he is all ready to 
 yield, but wishes to appear to have to be convinced in or- 
 der to satisfy his agent." 
 
 She encouraged herself in this hopeful view of the case, 
 and went quite cheerfully in the afternoon at the appointed 
 time. She found the place without any trouble a large 
 furniture-establishment and was shown at once to Mr. 
 Sellers's office. Her first impression was very favorable ; 
 he was a tall, heavily-built old man, with a shrewd, kindly 
 face, and white hair. He met her courteously and apolo- 
 gized for bringing her to see him, rather than going to see 
 her, on the score of want of time. Muriel thought this might, 
 perhaps, be a hint that the interview need not be a long 
 one, and so proceeded at once to business, saying that she 
 hoped, since he had not refused her request, that he meant to 
 grant it, if she could satisfy him that he would incur no risk. 
 
 " That is about it," he said, with a very pleasant smile. 
 " You see, Hearns, the agent, told me what you wanted the 
 room for, and I hated to lay a straw in your way, but I have 
 a good deal of money stored up above there in the shape of 
 furniture, and materials for it, and I felt a little doubtful 
 in fact, I may say, a good deal doubtful about letting you 
 have a fire there, but I thought I could tell better after I 
 saw you. I had a sort of an idea that you'd be well, 
 somewhat older than you would appear to be, and I thought 
 if you seemed like a careful person, and would promise to 
 let nobody who wasn't careful have any thing to do with 
 the fire, we might see about it. How often do you expect 
 to use the room ? " 
 
 " Only once a week, for the present," replied Muriel. 
 " And I think I could safely promise all you wish, even if 
 we should come, as we very possibly may, to use it oftener. 
 I would not ask you, of course, to be at the expense of 
 opening the chimney."
 
 270 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " How do you know there's a chimney to open ? " he inter- 
 rupted ; " it doesn't show from the front outside. Did you 
 see where it was boarded up inside ? " 
 
 Then as she remained silent, fearing to make trouble for 
 the agent, he burst out laughing, and said : 
 
 " I see ! That's just like Hearns ! What sort of a stove 
 did you think of putting in, Miss Douglas ? A good deal 
 would depend upon that." 
 
 " I had not gone that far," replied Muriel, with rising 
 spirits, " and I would be willing to leave that entirely to 
 you, Mr. Sellers." 
 
 " Come now ! That's reasonable enough, I'm sure. You 
 see, I've been thinking the matter over, and I've come to the 
 conclusion that it would be safer for you to use wood ; then 
 the fire need not be made long beforehand, and it can be put 
 entirely out before you lock the room. Wood's expensive, I 
 know, but I doubt if it will cost you much more than coal, 
 used in this way, and it will be time enough to think about 
 coal, if we find wood isn't going to make the room warm 
 enough for cold weather. I should think you'd better 
 have a little fire every time a shut-up room always has 
 a chilly feel, even on a hot day, and a fire helps 
 ventilation !" 
 
 " Is the chimney deep enough for a fire on the hearth ?" 
 asked Muriel. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; it's deep enough," he answered, "it was built a 
 good long while ago, that house was, but I'm a little afraid 
 to let you try that a few loose bricks somewhere up the 
 chimney might make mischief. I'll tell you what, and he 
 brightened suddenly, " There's an old Franklin stove, in 
 my garret at home, an unusually large one, that I will never 
 use again, most likely. How would you like me to put that 
 in for you ?" 
 
 " I think it would be delightful !" said Muriel, warmly ;
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 271 
 
 " they could see the fire then, just as well as if it was on the 
 hearth." 
 
 " So that's it, is it ? Well, I don't know but you're right ; 
 it's a cheerful, homelike thing, an open fire. I don't think 
 these modern contraptions are clear gain, by a good deal. 
 How soon do you expect to use the room again ? " 
 
 " To-morrow afternoon ; so I am afraid we can't have 
 the fire till next time. It does not matter, though, for the 
 weather is quite mild, and I will have the shutters opened 
 in the morning and the windows lowered from the top. I 
 have a friend in the neighborhood who will look in every 
 little while and see that all is right. Besides, I have the 
 wood to order yet, and I don't believe I could get it and 
 have it sawed in time now." 
 
 " You'll want a place to put your wood," he said ; " so 
 when you get it send a boy that you can trust to me, and 
 I'll give you a key to the cellar ; the door's outside, round 
 in the alley. You'll keep the key yourself, please, along 
 with the one to the door. And some of your scholars ought 
 to saw and split it for you, I should think." 
 
 " Perhaps they can ; and I am very much obliged to you 
 for speaking of the cellar. I was wondering where I should 
 put the wood. Of course, you will let me pay you for the 
 use of the cellar and of the stove ? " 
 
 " For the cellar, yes," and he named what seemed to Mu- 
 riel a very trifling sum, " but for the stove, no. It's doing 
 no good where it is, and so I'll do as a good many of us do, 
 I reckon, in our so-called charity, give something I can't 
 use myself and shan't miss ! I suppose you wouldn't let 
 me drop in if I should ever be passing of a Saturday after- 
 noon ?" 
 
 " Only if you'll help," said Muriel, smiling, in the light- 
 ness of her heart, as she rose to go ; " if you'll sing them a 
 song or tell them a story, you may come and welcome."
 
 272 WA YS AND MEANS. ^ 
 
 He laughed good-naturedly, saying : 
 
 " I might manage the story, but I'd rather be excused 
 from the song, and they would, too, if they did but know it ! " 
 
 They parted in a very friendly manner, Mr. Sellers telling 
 her not to be afraid to come again if there was any thing 
 she wanted, and to come straight to him without going to 
 Hearns first. 
 
 She stopped at a large art-store on her way home, de- 
 termined to have one or two pictures on the bare walls the 
 next day, and resolving to sacrifice her own feelings, and 
 choose some brilliant chromos, but she felt so entirely at a 
 loss as to subjects that she told the clerk who waited upon 
 her that she wanted them for the walls of " a sort of ragged 
 school," and especially wished for something which would 
 please the boys. Her sweet, earnest face and pleasant man- 
 ner enlisted his interest, and he pulled out his wares with 
 great good will, offering suggestions of which she was very 
 glad, and the result of which was that she purchased the 
 three which he assured her were the most brilliantly-col- 
 ored of the whole stock a prairie on fire, with a stampede of 
 wild horses and buffaloes in the foreground, a fiercely- 
 contested naval engagement, in which no less than three 
 ships were in different stages of fiery consumption, and a 
 truly startling eruption of Mount Vesuvius. 
 
 " I think I ought to have something that the little girls 
 would like, too," she said, smiling at the effect of these 
 three works of art ranged in a row beneath the counter ; so 
 a dazzlingly-white cat, with three spotted kittens ; a hen 
 with some very yellow chickens, and a field full of sheep 
 and lambs, the lambs as white as the cat, and the grass as 
 green as green paint could make it, were added, and the 
 address of the warehouse given, with the request that the 
 " order " should be sent the next morning by some one who 
 would hang it effectively.
 
 IV A YS AND MEANS. 273 
 
 " They really are dreadful ! " said Muriel, with a shud- 
 der ; " are you quite sure the children will like them as well 
 as real pictures ? " 
 
 " I am quite sure," replied the clerk, emphatically but 
 respectfully ; " if you do not find that they ' give satisfac- 
 tion ' we shall be most happy, of course, to exchange them 
 for pictures of a higher grade." 
 
 She was about to leave the shop when her eye was caught 
 by a very beautiful steel engraving of "Christ Blessing Lit- 
 tle Children." 
 
 " Oh ! " she exclaimed, " I must have that, too. Surely 
 any one, the mot utterly ignorant, can see the beauty of 
 that Face." 
 
 So she added this one " real picture " to her order, with 
 great satisfaction, directing that it should be hung in the 
 most conspicuous position, and then hurried home to tell 
 Aunt Sally her good news, sure of that helpful sympathy 
 which was the great secret of the attraction felt by nearly 
 every one who came even within the limits of acquaintance- 
 ship with Miss Bowne. 
 
 She found Dick waiting for her, with a favorable report 
 concerning benches ; they were to be " on hand " the next 
 morning, when he would be, too, and would arrange the 
 room, which had been cleaned and whitewashed, for the 
 afternoon's campaign. 
 
 So she had two deeply-interested listeners instead of one, 
 and Mr. Sellers would, doubtless, have been much gratified 
 could he have heard the flattering remarks which his be- 
 havior called forth. 
 
 " But I'm sorry you didn't let him go ahead and have the 
 chimney opened for to-morrow, Miss Muriel," said Dick, at 
 the conclusion of her narrative ; " I could easily have scared 
 you up enough wood just for the hour we shall be there, 
 and it would be so much jollier to have a nice bright fire."
 
 274 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " Of course it would," said Muriel, " ever so much ; but 
 when he was being so very nice and kind, I did not like 
 even to seem to take advantage of him. And there'll be the 
 pictures ; I didn't tell you about them yet." 
 
 And she proceeded to describe the chromos, adding : 
 
 " The eruption of Mount Vesuvius is almost sufficient 
 of itself to warm the room, and the weather is so mild now 
 that I don't believe we shall suffer. Miss Prudence is 
 going to look after the room through the morning, and 
 see that it is well-aired ; and by next Saturday we shall 
 have our Franklin stove and the room will look lovely ! 
 Miss Prudence has put up the curtains and put down the 
 carpet too, and just think what a difference that will 
 make." 
 
 " May I ask what you propose to do with your mob to- 
 morrow besides giving it a singing-lesson, Miss Muriel ? " 
 inquired Dick. 
 
 " I have the dolls and some ' pieces ' and sewing-ma- 
 terials for the girls," she answered, " but I was afraid to 
 buy tools by myself ; I don't know any thing about them, 
 so I thought, perhaps, you would get me something in the 
 morning, though I hate to ask for so much of your time 
 on your one free day." 
 
 " That's all right. I have no special engagements for to- 
 morrow ! But I'm a little puzzled about it, myself. Do 
 you suppose any of them would have sense enough to learn 
 scroll-sawing, for instance ? " 
 
 " Why, yes.! Of course they would ! Do you know how 
 to do it yourself ? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am. I had quite a fit of it a year or two ago, 
 and I think I might give instructions on a pinch. So I'll 
 get some proper wood and a dozen saws. I suppose that'll 
 be enough to start with ? I can do it in the morning." 
 
 " Then I'll give you the money at once. That is a great
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 275 
 
 relief to my small mind. Oh, Dick, what a comfort you 
 are ! I wish I might have had a brother." 
 
 " Here when I am brothering you with all my might, 
 that's all the thanks I get for it ! "I shall go home at once ! 
 
 " No, stay to dinner. Make him stay, Aunt Sally ! I 
 haven't finished talking to him, and you've not had a chance 
 to say a single word, nor to hear how the girls are after the 
 ' fandango,' or any thing ! " 
 
 " I can't, really, this time," said Dick. " I promised the 
 girls some carpentering this evening. But you ask me the 
 next time I'm here, Miss Muriel, and see if I don't. Good- 
 by !" 
 
 " Aunt Sally," said Muriel, when he was gone. " I wish 
 you might have the opportunity to ' bring up ' a whole 
 orphan asylum ! " 
 
 " I've wished that myself, sometimes," said Aunt Sally, 
 with that perfect candor which occasionally became start- 
 ling, but which Muriel always found refreshing, " for I 
 don't think there's any other work in the wide world that's 
 half so interesting. But, then, there's the other side. A 
 boy like Dick, with such a father, and mother, and home as 
 he had, was more than half brought up by the time he 
 knew how to talk ! I'll not deny that I think I've been 
 able to help it, for it does my heart good to think so, but it's 
 been such a little, compared with what I found done to my 
 hand, that it's hardly worth mentioning. And you're help- 
 ing him, Muriel, too helping him over one of the hard 
 places of his life. He doesn't talk out his grievances the 
 way most people do, and sometimes I think they go all the 
 harder with him for that very reason ; but he's having all 
 he can do to keep on going to school, and wait till he's 
 eighteen before he takes hold of the farm. He's a born 
 farmer ; he hates living in a city, and he's so tall and 
 strong, and so well posted about his chosen pursuit, that it's
 
 276 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 my belief that he could take hold of that farm to-morrow 
 and farm it well, though I don't expect to tell him so ! I 
 don't think any amount of driving would keep him in the 
 road, but he's being led. He knows well enough that if he 
 should take his head and do as he likes, there's nobody 
 with the real authority to hinder him, for if he couldn't get 
 hold of Dovedale just yet, he'd have no trouble in getting a 
 good place on one of the farms in the neighborhood, for 
 he's known and liked all through there ; but he knows just 
 as well that the half-dozen or so of people whom he really 
 loves would be grieved and disappointed, and that's what 
 holds him back And that's the way in which I should 
 bring up the orphan asylum not with ' You must not ' and 
 ' You shall not ' every other word, but make them love 
 their Saviour and their earthly friends too well ever will- 
 ingly to give them pain. I picked up an old book of ' Gail 
 Hamilton's ' the other day. I forget the name of it, but it 
 was one of her early ones smart, but not too smart and I 
 was mightily tickled with a story she told about a calf and a 
 fence. She said sLe saw a movable fence, to set down on a 
 lawn, so that you could let a cow or a calf graze without 
 hurting the shrubbery, and she told that man she calls 
 ' Halicarnassus ' about it, and said what a good plan it 
 was, and if they only had one they could let the calf graze 
 in the front yard. So the next morning he called her out 
 and told her to come look at the new iron fence, and the 
 calf grazing ; so she went, and there was the calf, tied by a 
 long rope to something she couldn't quite make out 
 what, at first and then, all of a sudden, she said, ' Why, 
 that's our old crowbar ! " And Halicarnassus said : ' Well, 
 the fence you saw was a centripetal fence, and this is the 
 new centrifugal iron fence that's all the difference ! ' So it 
 seems to me that a centrifugal fence will hold firm, when a 
 centripetal one would be knocked down or jumped over."
 
 WA YS A ND ME A NS. 277 
 
 " You only drive my conviction in deeper, aunty," said 
 Muriel, laughing. " I shall not be satisfied till you take 
 an orphan asylum ! " 
 
 A sudden change in the weather on Friday night made 
 Muriel wish that she had been more prompt in investigating 
 the fire question. Saturday morning was raw and chilly, 
 with a gray haze instead of sunshine, and a decided threat 
 of rain. By afternoon it was a little less threatening, but 
 the wind was still east, and uncomfortably cool. 
 
 " You mustn't stay long in that room to-day, child," said 
 Aunt Sally, as Muriel was making ready to go, " and I do 
 wish you had something hot to give those poor little souls 
 instead of dolls and scroll-saws ! I'd put off every thing but 
 the singing and a little talk till next week." 
 
 " I suppose I'll have to," said Muriel, rather dolefully, 
 " but I did so wish to see how the little girls would behave 
 when they saw the dolls. Well, at any rate, it will be fun to 
 hear what they say about the pictures." 
 
 The suggestion of " something hot " appeared to Muriel 
 so good that she revolved it in her mind as the horse-car 
 jogged along, and, being in very good time, she stopped at 
 Miss Prudence's shop, and asked if there were any res- 
 taurant near enough for a supply of soup and soup-plates, 
 or bowls, to be sent in. 
 
 " Why, yes," said Miss Prudence, " there's a little French 
 place right around the corner here, where they make first- 
 rate soup very likely out of the bones folks leave on their 
 plates, but that's neither here nor there and the man who 
 keeps it is an obliging little soul. I have my bread and 
 cakes baked there, often, in warm weather. Now, if you 
 like, Miss Douglas, I'll go and give the order he'd not be 
 a human restaurant-keeper if he didn't charge you two 
 prices and I suppose if he hasn't enough of one kind, he 
 can just send whatever he has ? "
 
 278 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " Yes," replied Muriel, greatly pleased, " and I'm so very 
 much obliged to you, Miss Prudence. You'd better say 
 enough for forty there were thirty last time and oh ! 
 a slice of bread apiece, don't you think, too ? " 
 
 " I'll fetch the bread from a bakery and my bread-knife. 
 There's no use in paying five cents a slice for it. And if 
 he can't send all the soup, I know of another place. You 
 go on, Miss Douglas, I'll see that it's all right." 
 
 With a much lightened heart Muriel went on, but stopped 
 at the door with a bewildered feeling that she must have 
 come to the wrong place. She had not seen the room since 
 the carpet had been put down and the curtains hung, and 
 she was prepared for a change ; but the chimney had been 
 opened, the Franklin stove put up, and a merry little fire 
 was crackling and sparkling on tall, brass andirons. The 
 benches and tables had been placed conveniently about the 
 large room, and seemed to diminish its size. The chromos 
 adorned the snow-white walls, and Muriel was obliged to 
 admit they added to the general cheerfulness ; the engrav- 
 ing hung over the fire-place, somewhat lower than the other 
 pictures, and in front of it the few children who had 
 already come were gathered, holding out their claw-like 
 hands toward the fire. Dick and his two friends stood on one 
 side of the fire-place watching her face as she took it all in, 
 but they came forward as soon as she saw them, and then 
 she saw that Julia was there, too. 
 
 " You didn't ask me," said Julia, meekly. " So I will go 
 home, if you say I must ; but I did want just to see how 
 the room looked. Please, may I stay ? " 
 
 " May you stay ! " repeated Muriel. " Of course you 
 may ; don't be a goose ! I did not suppose you cared to 
 come again. I thought if you did you would have said so, 
 and I was afraid if I asked you, you would come just to 
 please me."
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 279 
 
 " And I was afraid," replied Julia, " that if I asked leave 
 to come, you would be too polite to refuse, even if you 
 didn't want me ; so I resigned myself to fate, though I 
 really did wish to come extremely, and then I met Mr. 
 Raymond accidentally, and he told me about all your ar- 
 rangements, culminating in the Franklin stove. That was 
 before lunch, this morning. So, after lunch, I pretended 
 to myself that I had an errand somewhere in this neighbor- 
 hood, and after that I simply came ! " 
 
 " I am very glad you did very glad, indeed," said Mu- 
 riel, with such evident cordiality and sincerity that Julia 
 looked much pleased. " You have a way of talking to them 
 that fills me with admiration and envy, and, with you to help, 
 I even feel that one or two of them may possibly learn to 
 thread a needle. But I am overcome by that stove. Dick, 
 were you in the conspiracy ? " 
 
 " Only since this morning," said Dick, " when I was here 
 having the benches and tables put in. Two men came first 
 and opened the chimney, and they'd hardly finished and 
 gone away when two more came with a half-wagon load of 
 wood, sawed, but not split, and the stove perched on top of 
 it. I helped put the wood in the cellar they brought the 
 key, and left it with me, after they'd made sure I was re- 
 sponsible and came back in time to light the fire. They 
 left a note for you, too ; I've got it somewhere ; oh ! here 
 it is." 
 
 This was ail there was of it : 
 
 " Will Miss Douglas allow an old man, who is too busy 
 making money to look after his neighbors, to salve his con- 
 science by giving a little of the money ? 
 
 "Very respectfully, W. SELLERS." 
 
 " Yes, I think I will," said Muriel to Julia, who, respons- 
 ive to her gesture, was reading over her shoulder. " If
 
 280 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 he'd just sent money, perhaps I wouldn't ; but he's taken 
 the trouble to send 'money's worth.' And I begin to see 
 such boundless vistas of ' opportunities.' Where are the 
 rest of you ? " she asked, turning to the children, some 
 half-dozen, who were now going from picture to picture, 
 making free and very amusing comments. 
 
 " They're comin', lady ; they're waitin' for Jake," said 
 the boy who was standing nearest to her. " But Jake, he's 
 too stuck-up for us, and we're not goin' to let him boss us 
 no longer ! He said for all of us to wait for him up on the 
 corner yander, and then he'd a' marched us in, like he 
 owned the whole bilin' of us ; but we weren't takin' none o p 
 that in our'n, so we jest " 
 
 The doughty speaker's voice suddenly died away, and he 
 stepped behind Julia, thus placing her between himself and 
 the door. For at that minute a scuffle of feet and con- 
 fusion of tongues was heard, and Jake appeared at the head 
 of his army, the balance of the thirty who had come on the 
 previous Saturday, but, somewhat to Muriel's surprise, no 
 more. He pulled off his ragged cap as he entered, and, 
 evidently prompted by this signal, the rest of the boys did 
 the same. 
 
 " You can hang your hats up here," said Dick, coming 
 forward and directing them to one corner, where a long, 
 narrow board, decorated with a row of clothes-pins driven 
 well into it, hung within reach of the smallest boy there. 
 
 " Oh, Dick ! " said Muriel, beaming on him. " You 
 think of every thing ! " 
 
 Which remark seemed to Dick " an over-payment of de- 
 light " for the hour which he had devoted to the manufac- 
 ture of the hat-rack. But before he could say that, or any 
 thing else, Jake's voice was heard in its most truculent tones, 
 saying : 
 
 " And so you thought you'd be mighty smart and git the
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 281 
 
 start of me, hey ? Well, you just come outside here for 
 about a minute, where the ladies can't see us, and I'll show 
 you how smart you are ! " 
 
 " No," said Charley Arrnitage, stepping forward as the 
 "smart" boy, braced by the stinging taunt, was about to 
 accept the invitation. " You take me instead ; that boy 
 isn't as big as you are by several sizes, you know, and gen- 
 tlemen don't fight with fellows smaller than they are. Come 
 on, and I'll stand quite still while you pitch into me, and 
 then we'll come back and have the music the ladies are 
 waiting, you see ! " 
 
 Jake's face was a study, but he did not stir far a moment. 
 Then he turned his back on the enemy, with a great show 
 of lofty scorn, remarking : 
 
 "The gentleman's right you're too small entirely for 
 me to take any notice of you, or to keep the music waiting 
 while I lick you ! " 
 
 Julia, with her face entirely concealed from view, ap- 
 peared to be rapt in a study of Mount Vesuvius. Muriel's 
 fright at the threatening aspect of affairs deprived her of 
 all desire to laugh, at the time, and the three boys managed 
 not to laugh aloud. 
 
 " Come," said Julia, turning round suddenly ; " sit 
 down, please, all of you you see there are plenty of 
 seats to-day and then we will have the music at 
 once. You are to join in just as soon as you can pick up 
 the tune." 
 
 They sat down immediately, and Jim and Charley struck 
 up the song agreed upon, in which there was to be a slight 
 change in the words of the last verse, so as to leave out the 
 " ghost." 
 
 It was " Cockles and Muscles," and had been chosen for 
 the pretty, plaintive tune, so easy to catch. As before, the 
 children began to sing almost immediately, and were fairly
 
 282 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 shouting when they came to the last verse. As soon as it 
 was finished two or three boys called out : 
 
 " Let's have ' Marchin' Through Georgy ' agin' ! " 
 
 So they had it, and went so wild over it that Muriel 
 hailed with joy the appearance of Miss Prudence, followed 
 by two waiters, with apparently unlimited soup. She her- 
 self had a large basket of bread. 
 
 " Well, I declare ! " she said, as she came in ; " what a 
 nice, clean-faced parcel of children ! " 
 
 " Our hands is clean, too, ma'am," said the blue-eyed 
 baby, without any profanity this time ; and it pleased Muriel 
 to see that this made a good many of the children laugh. 
 
 But it made her heart ache to see the eager, hungry look 
 which came into their faces as soon as they smelt the soup, 
 and the wolfish greediness with which it was devoured. 
 She paid the waiters for the soup, and Miss Prudence for the 
 bread, very glad that her order had been for forty, for not 
 a vestige of either was left. 
 
 Then Muriel, feeling far less shy and awkward than she 
 had felt a week ago, unwrapped the dolls, while Dick dis- 
 played the saws, and she explained to the children that 
 these treasures were to be kept in the room and used every 
 week. The boys nearly all showed pleasure and eagerness 
 to learn, but it was nothing, compared with the delight of 
 the girls over their dolls. A very few were indifferent, but 
 most of them astonished Muriel by the change which came 
 over their faces. They hugged and dandled and rocked 
 the dolls. When Muriel and Julia began to write the name 
 of each girl on a slip of paper, and to pin it to the doll she 
 held, until they could be marked with ink, several of them 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " Oh, lady, please don't stick a pin in my baby ! " 
 
 They had been made to understand why the names were 
 put on the dolls that each one might have the same doll
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 283 
 
 next time and Julia and Muriel exchanged glances, as at 
 least half a dozen of them gave names which were not on 
 the list made the week before. But they judged it best to 
 take no notice of this discrepancy. 
 
 " We must fix up some kind of a locker for them to keep 
 their things in, Miss Muriel," said Dick, as he piled up the 
 saws in the corner, while Julia collected the dolls, for it was 
 too late to begin the lessons to-day. 
 
 " I think a row of little closets, with their names on the 
 doors, would be best," replied Muriel. " There might be a 
 shelf or two in each. But I'll have a carpenter to do it, 
 Dick that one in whose shop you work sometimes and if 
 you will leave the order for me, you can make him under- 
 stand better than I could." 
 
 " I suppose I must," said Dick, regretfully ; " but I 
 do wish there was time for me to make them. It would 
 take me two or three Saturdays, though, and you ought to 
 have them by next time." 
 
 " I'm just as much obliged to you as if you did it," said 
 Muriel, gratefully. " I suppose we must tell the poor little 
 souls to go," she added. " I hate to do it look how they're 
 gathering about the fire. But it's after five, now, and Aunt 
 Sally will be worried if I'm late." 
 
 " She wouldn't thank you for saying she'd be ' worried,' " 
 said Dick, laughing. " She despises people who worry. 
 Miss Muriel, look there, will you." 
 
 Muriel looked. Jake was standing in front of Mount 
 Vesuvius, looking at it with critical and rather skeptical 
 eyes. He turned to Julia, who had purposely come near 
 him, and asked : 
 
 " What's that a picture of, anyhow a chimbley ? " 
 
 " No," said Julia. " It is a mountain, Jake, that is all on 
 fire inside, like a chimney." 
 
 " What's a mountain ? "
 
 284 W 'A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 Julia paused a moment ; then : 
 
 " See here ; I'll show you," she said. " Come here to the 
 hearth." 
 
 And taking the shovel she heaped up a little pile of ashes 
 and coals, saying, as she worked : 
 
 " Now, we'll suppose the hearth is the flat ground like 
 the street, and this match is a man ; see, when I stick him 
 up so, in this crack, the mountain is ever so many times 
 higher than he is." 
 
 " Oh," said Jake, " then a mountain's just a hill that's 
 growed up higher. Are they all on fire inside, like that ? " 
 
 He had returned to the picture, and gazed, fascinated by 
 the display of fireworks depicted by the artist. 
 
 " No," said Julia ; " only a few of them." 
 
 " How did they get afire, anyhow ? " 
 
 " We don't know. There seems to be fire in the inside 
 of the earth, and sometimes it breaks out through the top 
 of a mountain." 
 
 " Why don't they put it out ? " 
 
 Julia glanced at his face. He was in dead earnest. 
 
 " What could they put it out with? " she asked. 
 
 " Water," he replied, with evident scorn of her ignorance. 
 
 " They can't," she said. " Where could any body find 
 water enough to put out a whole mountain on fire ? " 
 
 " Out of that river," and he pointed to the Bay of 
 Naples. " I'll bet they'd do it, too, if it was here in 
 Boston." 
 
 " Perhaps they would," said Julia, in a quivering voice ; 
 and then Muriel asked for silence, and made her little 
 speech, praising them for their clean hands and faces, and 
 " much neater " hair, inviting them for the next Saturday, 
 and promising that the girls should learn to make clothes 
 for their dolls, and the boys to saw, and that there should 
 be " more soup."
 
 "Taking the shovel, she heaped up a little pile of ashes and coals." 
 
 P. 284.
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 285 
 
 They listened quite quietly, but when she stopped, Jake 
 said : 
 
 " Please, lady, wouldn't they give us just one more afore 
 we go ? " 
 
 And he jerked his thumb toward Charley and Jim. 
 
 " Will you ? " asked Muriel, smiling. 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said Jim, readily. 
 
 Charley said something to him in a low tone ; he looked 
 a little embarrassed, but nodded, and they began, " I was a 
 wandering sheep." 
 
 Muriel was greatly touched and pleased too much 
 touched to meet their eyes, for, once more, she felt that her 
 own were filled with tears ; the children were singing di- 
 rectly, the tune only, of course, but either she fancied it, or 
 a change stole over the little faces, all of them either bad, 
 or brazen, or hard, some of them all three. She was stand- 
 ing close by Julia, and quite unconsciously caught her hand 
 and held it fast till the singing ceased. Then their eyes 
 met, and Muriel whispered unsteadily, " Why, it's made you 
 cry, too !" 
 
 Jake stepped forward and held out his hand, saying : 
 " Thank you, lady ; we've had a high old time, and we'll 
 all come next Saturday. And I won't lick no more of 'em 
 that ain't my size you can tell him and he pointed at 
 Charley. " Nobody shan't say I'm no gentleman ! And 
 we'll go right off, as soon as you've told us, but who's He, 
 and what's He doin' to them children ? " 
 
 Muriel's heart leaped ; she had been much disappointed 
 that none of them had spoken of this picture. She thought 
 a brief, fervent prayer for the right words. 
 
 " That," she said, distinctly enough for them all to hear, 
 "Is the Saviour of the World, one. Who died to save all of 
 us from badness and sorrow, and punishment. He has 
 gone away to His home in another world, a beautiful world
 
 286 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 where nobody is sick, or poor, or in pain any more, and if 
 we follow Him, He will take us all where He is, when we 
 die. I am going to tell you a great deal more about Him 
 next time ; but now, say this after me, all of you, please, 
 Who loved me, and gave Himself for me ? ' " 
 
 After two or three trials every voice seemed to join, and 
 then she let them go. 
 
 " You are the bravest, after all," whispered Julia, as the 
 last flutter of rags disappeared.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ADVICE ASKED AND UNASKED. 
 
 ' 'Tis an awkward thing to play with souls." 
 
 ROBERT BROWNING. 
 
 JT was only by taking backward glances, from week to 
 week, that Muriel could see much growth in her scholars. 
 Little by little they learned, with humiliating, discouraging 
 lapses and relapses. Jake's fiery temper and domineering dis- 
 position came very, very slowly under the law of love, but 
 they came for when Muriel, trembling at her own daring, had 
 told them in simplest words, the story of the birth, the life, 
 the death of the Saviour of the World, it seemed to impress 
 none of them as it did Jake. He had implicit faith in 
 Muriel, by this time, and when she told it, he listened with 
 eager interest and excitement, raging at the wickedness and 
 cruelty of the Jews, wondering why " God didn't kill the 
 whole of them." But when, at last, he fully comprehended ; 
 when Muriel told him of the two great armies all over the 
 world, the army of God, and the army of the devil, the 
 spirit of evil and sin ; that one must take one side or the 
 other ; that the Saviour Himself said, " He that is not with 
 Me is against Me ; " that every time he conquered his tem- 
 per, or a temptation to lie, or steal, or swear, he was win- 
 ning a victory for his Saviour, the Captain of his salvation ; 
 then the change began which she wondered to see. The 
 struggle was as fierce as every thing about him seemed to 
 be ; he would come to her with heart-broken questions, as 
 to whether he could be forgiven and allowed to " try again,"
 
 288 iv A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 he talked to the other children, trying to fire them with zeal 
 to " fight for our side," and as he had a following of ad- 
 miring imitators, and was feared as well as admired, his in- 
 fluence was noticeable in the behavior of the rest. His iove 
 for, and devotion to Muriel were very touching to see, and 
 comforted her under many discouragements. And the vivid 
 manner in which his belief impressed itself upon his life, 
 often made her ashamed for her own lukewarmness. 
 
 Aunt Sally went with her to the warehouse on the third 
 Saturday ; she had managed to decline on the two previous 
 ones, and Muriel decided in her own mind that she had been 
 purposely left to herself, that she might " find her feet " and 
 stand firmly. Julia kept oncoming ; Kate began to come ; 
 May stole the time once or twice from her busiest day in 
 the week, that day to which nearly every thing but her daily 
 school duties seemed to be postponed ! Dick kept on with 
 ever growing interest and resource ; Charley and Jim came 
 for a closing " sing," or, if they were hindered, sent sub- 
 stitutes, until before very long, Muriel knew and liked the 
 whole club. 
 
 Mr. Sellers " dropped in " more than once, and always 
 told the required story ; the children liked him and listened 
 with eager attention to his : " Now, when / was a boy," 
 and whatever reminiscence would follow. The number of 
 children kept on increasing till the room was well-filled, 
 and Muriel discovered after a good while the reason why 
 it had not increased more rapidly at first the first comers, 
 led by Jake, had forborne to mention their new resort, fear- 
 ing that if too many came, " the lady " would stop giving 
 them things ! But after Jake began to " fight " in earnest, 
 he was as eager to gather his mates in, as he had been be- 
 fore to keep them out. 
 
 All this, of course, was the growth of many weeks, and 
 many other things were growing at the same time. The re-
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 289 
 
 moval of the families in the Row, under Miss Prudence Har- 
 ley's able generalship, was accomplished without much fric- 
 tion, and her suggestions were most valuable. 
 
 Muriel happened to speak to her about the furniture she 
 meant to send, and mentioned mattresses, when Miss Pru- 
 dence exclaimed : 
 
 " Now Miss Muriel ! Why should you run into such a 
 needless expense ? What you want is, to send up a dozen 
 large sacks, the size of a bed, of some coarse, cheap stuff, 
 and they can fill them with fresh, sweet rye-straw, and throw 
 it away when they come back ! And don't you go buying 
 bedding make each family take its own. They won't need 
 so much as if it was winter, but they'll need more than just 
 sheets, for its chilly up there ! " 
 
 This was only one instance out of many. Muriel fell 
 into the habit of consulting Miss Prudence on all doubt- 
 ful points connected with the summer campaign, and always 
 found her equal to the emergency. 
 
 May Douglas was quite in earnest about taking one of 
 the houses for the two weeks' holiday in July, and Miss 
 Forsythe consented, more to please her than because she 
 herself felt very enthusiastic about it. She would have pre- 
 ferred a plan which would have given them both rest from 
 the "wearing" housekeeping which attends a narrow in- 
 come. But she very rarely urged a plan simply and 
 solely because she preferred it. Before the bargain was 
 concluded, however, May, in the fulness of her joy about 
 it, told the Raymonds what they were about to do, and 
 was met with a general outcry : 
 
 " Why, May ! " said Marion, " we've been counting on 
 having Miss Agnes and you for your vacation. We've 
 talked so much about it that we considered it quite settled." 
 
 " After all your talk about liking to garden and fish, and 
 take long tramps, Miss May ! " said Dick, reproachfully.
 
 290 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " Please don't take the house, dear ; we shall be so very 
 much disappointed if you don't spend your vacation with 
 us," said Alice, earnestly. "We're going to ask Miss Muriel 
 to come for as long as she will, not just because we want 
 Aunt Sally, but because we like her, and want to see more 
 of her, and we thought we would try to arrange to have you 
 all there together. Isn't that an inducement ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Marion, before she could answer, " and Rose 
 and Jack, and Fanny and Stephen are all coming, and we 
 meant to have somebody in every single room, and go on a 
 pic-nic nearly every day. You can't resist that ! " 
 
 " But it's all so sudden," said May laughing. " You take 
 away my breath. Pray, how was I to know that you were 
 hatching such a delightful conspiracy ? " 
 
 " You weren't to know till it was ripe," said Dick, " we 
 were going to spring it on you, as it were, after every thing 
 was arranged ; but when you go to talking of dragging 
 poor Miss Agnes off to a howling wilderness, where you'll 
 not have any thing much to eat but wild raspberries, and 
 will have to do your own cooking, it is high time for your 
 friends to interfere ; and, unless you really prefer the 
 society of the Row to that of the Raymonds, you haven't a 
 word to say, but ' Yes, thank you, I shall be most happy ! ' " 
 
 " I am very much tempted to say it," replied May, " sub- 
 ject, of course, to Aunt Agnes's veto ; but one reason I had 
 for wishing to go to Hartswell was, that Muriel expects to 
 be there a good deal of the time this summer, and is talking 
 of trying to find places for some of the ' mob ' to board for 
 a few weeks, and I thought perhaps I could help her in 
 some way. I haven't been able to, you know, on account 
 of the school." 
 
 " I think you ought to rest during your short holiday ^ 
 dear," said Alice, "and I know Miss Muriel would think so 
 too. Come, will you leave the decision to Miss Forsythe ?
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 29! 
 
 You know you have great confidence in her judgment, so 
 you can trust her to decide." 
 
 " If I did not mean to go I should have stopped my ears 
 and fled at the first attack," said May, " for it sounds very 
 tempting and 1 feel myself wavering, so I will save my 
 dignity by leaving the decision with Aunt Agnes." 
 
 " Then we are quite safe ! " said Marion, joyfully, " for I 
 know she'd rather come to Dovedale than go to that out- 
 landish place and consort with the ' mob.' " 
 
 Which, although Miss Forsythe did not put it quite so 
 forcibly, proved to be precisely her view of the case, and 
 May's slight disappointment at the failure of her plan was 
 entirely effaced when she found that Muriel had accepted the 
 invitation to Dovedale for at least the two weeks when May 
 and her aunt would be there. Aunt Sally would stay a 
 month ; but Muriel said it must depend upon how her 
 various affairs were prospering, whether she also could stay 
 so long or not. There would be no trouble about leaving 
 the house. Margery and Rogers had summered and win- 
 tered there for so many years that they would have felt it 
 more of a penance than a pleasure to take a holiday now. 
 The housemaid would go home for a visit, for she would 
 not be needed during Muriel's absence. Miss Post had 
 been urged to say freely whether she would prefer to stay 
 where she was or to go to some quiet country place during 
 this time, and, finding that the house would remain open in 
 any event, she had elected to remain there. 
 
 " You see, my dear Miss Douglas," she had said to 
 Muriel, " I am quite used to these two rooms now, and can 
 find my way about easily, while it would take me some time 
 to get used to a new place. I don't think Maidie will 
 suffer, or I would not stay ; but this house really is almost 
 in the country, and much better situated than her aunt's, to 
 which she would go back if she were to leave here. I can't
 
 2Q2 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 help thinking what it might have been if you had not found 
 me just before this little cloud settled upon me. It gives 
 me such confidence for all future straits. It would be abso- 
 lutely wicked ever to doubt after this ! " 
 
 Muriel found her room at the warehouse so cool, even 
 during the sudden and " trying " warm weather which came, 
 as it so often does, early in May, that she had a great desire 
 to give the children more benefit of it than the two or three 
 hours a week which they spent there allowed them. Aunt 
 Sally and she agreed that if only some suitable person 
 could be found to sit there and keep order, and see that 
 nothing was carried away, they might be permitted to come 
 there and work or play, as they chose, two or three times a 
 week. But where could they find the suitable person ? 
 
 " It's my belief Margery would do it," said Aunt Sally, 
 after " studying," as Rogers would have said, for several 
 minutes. " You've told me, you know, my dear, how it was 
 she who first helped you to help any one, and I've been 
 thinking lately that now, when your chances are widening 
 so, it would be only fair to see if she wouldn't like to share 
 some of them with you. She's such a sensible body, and 
 so warm-hearted under her stern manner, that she could be 
 fully trusted in any thing she would undertake, I think. 
 And she's very fond of children, and good to them, I should 
 judge, by the way she's behaved to Maidie, and is behaving to 
 that young flibbertigibbet who came the other day, and who 
 is nothing but a child, for all her little grown-up airs and 
 graces." 
 
 " Yes," said Muriel, switching Aunt Sally back to the 
 main track, as one of her own children might have done it, 
 " Margery is very good to Maidie and Lizzy, and to Robert 
 too. She is really quite enthusiastic about Robert ; he is a 
 young man after her own heart. I heard her telling Maidie 
 only yesterday, that he never forgot to hang up all his things
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 293 
 
 in their proper places ! I suppose poor Maidie had been 
 leaving something that should have been hung up on a 
 chair, or, still worse, on the floor ! She's only human after 
 all. So perhaps Margery would enjoy having a chance at 
 my ' mob ' two or three times a week. It's really a shame 
 for me to call it a mob any longer ; but the name seems to 
 stick. I will ask her, anyhow, and if for any reason she 
 should not see fit to do it, she will not hesitate to tell 
 me so." 
 
 " No, that's one thing I like about her," said Aunt Sally, 
 " you may always believe exactly what she says about every 
 thing." 
 
 " But, aunty, don't you you think it is possible for one to 
 be perfectly frank and honest without being quite so blunt 
 as Margery is sometimes, and saying things that are calcu- 
 lated to hurt people's feelings or make them angry ? I am 
 used to her and don't mind her, generally speaking, because 
 I know how much worse her bark is than her bite ; but I 
 should love her still better, I think, if she didn't even 
 bark." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose a body could be honest without being 
 blunt, and it isn't always necessary, either, to proclaim an 
 abstract truth because it is the truth. I've suffered for 
 speaking out more times than I could count, but never, that 
 I know of, for keeping still when I might have spoken. And 
 I've yet to find the person who has." 
 
 " You shall not put yourself in the same boat with Mar- 
 gery, Aunt Sally ! " said Muriel, stooping to kiss her. "You 
 might as well compare a Damascus blade with a butcher- 
 knife ! " 
 
 Aunt Sally laughed. 
 
 " You see you're calling me sharp, yourself, childie," she 
 said ; " sharper even than Margery is ! " 
 
 Muriel took the first opportunity to speak with Margery
 
 294 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 about the plan of opening the room two or three times a 
 week through the summer, for the benefit of the children, 
 and when the old woman admitted that it might be a good 
 plan, Muriel said : 
 
 " You see, we'd have to have some one to sit there and 
 keep order, and see that they don't carry off the things, and 
 lock up the closets after they're gone, and I was thinking, 
 Margery, if you would be willing to do it, you'd be just the 
 very person. You're so clever with tools, that you could 
 help the boys as well as the girls, and I don't know of any 
 body else, at all, whom I'd like to have for this so well as 
 I'd like to have you." 
 
 Margery's face showed her gratification, but she said 
 duly: 
 
 " I thought you had all the help you wanted, with your 
 fine cousins and Mr. Richard, and his young men from the 
 singing-class. I'm too old-fashioned, I'm thinking, to pull 
 in the same boat with the like of them ! " 
 
 Muriel threw her arms about her old nurse's neck, laugh- 
 ing, as she said : 
 
 " Now, Margery, don't pull your head in every time your 
 shell is touched ! You know you'll do it, and that the 
 children will all like you, and that the boys will think you're 
 a wonderful woman, as soon as they see how you can handle 
 a hammer and saw ! " 
 
 " And when would you like that I should go, Miss Muriel, 
 my dear ? " asked Margery, ignoring Muriel's speech, but 
 passing her hand softly over the " bonny brown hair," as 
 she spoke. So they settled upon two afternoons in the 
 week besides Saturday, and it was not long before Margery 
 was the most zealous of all the corps. 
 
 Muriel felt what almost amounted to a twinge of jealousy, 
 as she saw the queer friendship which presently sprang up 
 between Margery and Jake. But she need not have felt
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 295 
 
 even a twinge. No friendship for any one else could ever 
 supplant his " lady " in his heart, and it was partly because 
 Margery was of his lady's household, that he first gave her 
 his allegiance, and seconded her authority with the other 
 children. 
 
 She was astonished, as Muriel herself was, to see how 
 quickly the children had learned to use their hands, to be- 
 have with some sort of propriety, and to moderate their 
 voices. The rule regarding the " perfectly clean hands and 
 faces " had been rigidly enforced, and had done much in 
 the way of civilization. 
 
 Among the other additions to the room and it was one 
 of Julia's many suggestions, which, as she frequently did, 
 she carried out herself was a pair of large screens, each 
 with three leaves ; just light frames, like clothes-horses, 
 with brown chintz tacked upon them. These were put in 
 opposite corners, and behind each was a table, with basin 
 and pitcher, soap and towels. There had been several cases 
 of heart-breaking, and one or two of sulking, when children 
 had been sent home, as they expressed it to " clean their- 
 selves ; " so now, instead of being sent home, they were con- 
 ducted to the sheltering screen, and given to understand 
 that if they could not emerge with spotless faces and hands, 
 then, indeed, there was no appeal, they " must go ! " 
 
 " There's entirely too much Ancient Roman in your com- 
 position, my dear," Julia had said to Muriel, when this sub- 
 ject was under discussion ; " just consider I don't suppose 
 that half the poor little sinners have any place where they 
 can wash their hands and faces, except the drinking-foun- 
 tains, and I don't believe you'd make your own face ' per- 
 fectly clean,' with nothing but a drinking-fountain, and not 
 even a towel, much less a wash-rag ! " 
 
 " Perhaps I wouldn't," said Muriel, laughing, but in- 
 wardly wincing a little under the " Ancient Roman " accusa-
 
 296 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 tion, because she knew it was deserved ; " so we will have the 
 screens and the wash-basins, and I'll even go further I 
 will give each of them two towels, and a wash-rag, and a large 
 cake of soap, and see what comes of it. Aunt Sally was 
 bemoaning her hard lot last night, because, she says, she 
 doesn't have a quarter enough to do. I've Caught her 
 twice lately, through her own inadvertence, when she's been 
 'round at the flat making ginger-bread for 'her children '; 
 so I shall buy a piece of huckaback, with malice prepense, 
 and give her eighty towels and forty wash-rags to hem ! " 
 
 If there had been a little spice of mischief in Muriel's 
 voice and manner when she took the huckaback to Aunt 
 Sally, and gave the " order," it was entirely thrown away. 
 Miss Bowne produced her shears at once, with a lively 
 sense of satisfaction a feeling that she was not living in 
 vain, and all she said was : 
 
 " It's a very good idea, my dear of course, I suppose 
 about half of them will lose the towels and soap, and half 
 of the other half will sell them or pawn them for a few cents, 
 but if only a quarter of them put the soap to its proper use, 
 it will have been worth while, but you've only about an 
 eighth as much huckaback here as you'll need ; there's not 
 more than twelve yards in this piece. You'd better get at 
 least six more pieces to-morrow ! " 
 
 " I will," said Muriel; " I never thought to ask how many 
 yards there were. ' A piece ' of any thing like that always 
 sounds like such a great deal." 
 
 " That's no way to shop," said Aunt Sally, severely; " no 
 way at all ! You should always know just exactly what 
 you're buying, and how much you're paying for it. I 
 thought you were more business-like than that, Muriel ! " 
 
 "So did I," said Muriel, meekly. " But I'll never do sd 
 any more, Aunt Sally. You know that one of the aims of 
 my existence is to be business-like ! "
 
 WA YS AND MEAN'. *97 
 
 " And it's a very good aim to have, if it's an aim, and not 
 the aim," replied Aunt Sally, as she drew threads and cut 
 off her towels with a rapidity which made Muriel suggest 
 that perhaps she had better send for the other six pieces of 
 huckaback that afternoon. 
 
 " That is just the trouble," said Muriel, in the perplexed 
 tone which was so frequent with her. " It is so hard to 
 keep an aim from becoming the aim, aunty to keep one- 
 self from growing lop-sided ! And I do not suppose even 
 a thing which is very good in itself ought to be allowed to 
 swallow up every thing else, do you ? " 
 
 " No, my dear, I don't ; and I'm very glad you asked me 
 the question, for I have something on my mind I've been 
 wanting to say to you for some time. I've heard you say 
 that when you first left school, you meant to keep up cer- 
 tain of your studies, and especially your music and draw- 
 ing, but I don't see the least sign of it ! You may think you 
 have not time, but if you'll excuse me for saying so, you 
 have! I don't suppose you do more light reading than 
 most g'rls of your age do, and so far as I am any judge, all 
 the books you buy and take from the library are nice, bright, 
 wholesome things, with no harm in them intrinsically. But 
 all the same, to my way of thinking, they come under the 
 head of trash, for they fritter away your time, and leave 
 you nothing to show for it. Now don't misunderstand me, 
 dear, and think I would like you to be lop-sided the other 
 way, for I wouldn't at all. We all need to be entertained 
 as much as we need to be fed ; but over-entertaining is just 
 as bad as over-feeding, if not worse. Now I wish you'd 
 tell me, honestly, if you think I'm meddling, and would 
 rather I'd not go on ? I've not half finished yet ! " 
 
 Muriel drew a stool to the old lady's feet, sat down on it, 
 and looked up in the earnest face : 
 
 " Aunt Sally," she said, with equal earnestness, " what do
 
 9 8 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 you take me for? When you give me a nice, motherly 
 scolding like this, I feel as if I really belonged to somebody. 
 Please to go on and say every single thing that is on your 
 mind. I deserve it all, and a great deal more." 
 
 " Then I hope you'll profit by it ! " said Aunt Sally, 
 briskly, but following the remark up with a kiss, which she 
 rarely vouchsafed any body, voluntarily. " And if you don't 
 like it, you can stop me next time I begin. What I was 
 going to say was, that when you come home tired, and don't 
 feel like doing any thing special, if you'd really rest for half 
 an hour lie down and shut your eyes, and tell Margery or 
 me to call you, if you should fall asleep, when the time's up, 
 you'd be nicely freshened up, and ready to take hold of 
 something worth while ; but you drop into an easy-chair 
 and pick up a book, or one of these everlasting magazines 
 that are always cheating people out of their spare time 
 nowadays, and you don't half-read, nor half-rest, and per- 
 haps a whole hour will go off in that way, just because you 
 think it will soon be lunch time, or dinner time, or some- 
 thing, and it isn't worth while to go at any thing special. 
 But it is ! I hardly ever see, now, something mother and I 
 always used to have on hand that we called our ' pick-up 
 work ' something all ready to go on with, whenever we 
 happened on a few spare minutes or an odd half-hour. 
 And by keeping things like mending, and small makings, 
 for that, we left ourselves a great deal more of our solid 
 time, such as a long afternoon or evening, free for things 
 that couldn't just be picked up and laid down again in a 
 few minutes. I do believe that nobody ever yet accom- 
 plished any thing much, who hadn't this faculty of using 
 odd bits of time, just as nobody ever saved much money, 
 who thought five cents here and ten there didn't matter. 
 Now just think we're alone together here, at least half 
 our evenings, and with the good light you always have,
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 299 
 
 you could draw well enough, I should think couldn't 
 you ?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am ! Perfectly well ! " 
 
 " Very well, then I don't see why you don't do it ! Now 
 tell me, honestly, how many novels and stories have you 
 read since I've been here, besides what have been in the 
 magazines that is, if you can remember, for I should think 
 you'd have them all mixed up in a tangle like odd threads 
 of silk." 
 
 " Aunt Sally, you are merciless ! Let me see I was 
 reading, ' The Lady of the Aroostook ' when you came, for 
 I remember I couldn't help reading aloud the most delight- 
 ful places, and you laughed at them just as much as I did ! 
 That happened to be the first of Howells's stories for one 
 can hardly call them novels which I had read, and it 
 tickled me so that I went straight on with him, and read 
 'Their Wedding Journey,' and 'A Chance Acquaintance,' 
 and ' The Undiscovered Country ' that makes four." 
 
 " There was one more ; I saw it on the table here ; what 
 was it ? Oh, ' A Modern Instance,' wasn't it ? " 
 
 " Yes, but that does not count, for I only began it when 
 I came to where that horrible girl runs after the horribler 
 man, and makes him marry her, I threw it as far as I dared 
 throw a library book in a new binding, and didn't look at it 
 again. And I began one more of his and didn't finish it. 
 I forget even its name, but it is one in which he under- 
 takes to prove that the young woman the young gentle- 
 woman of the present day has but two resources, if she 
 becomes penniless, making bonnets for servant girls, and 
 marrying ! " 
 
 " See here, you are not sticking to the point ! Four, 
 you'd counted. Now go on ; you can criticize them after 
 we've finished counting, if you like." 
 
 4< Thank you ! Well, then I can't remember the order in
 
 3 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 which they came, but that's no matter. Uncle Arthur 
 brought me a lovely story called .' The Rose Garden/ by 
 Miss Peard ; he said he had seldom been so pleased with a 
 story, and somehow, though we are so different, I always 
 like the books he likes. So that led me on just as the 
 ' Lady ' did, and I read ' Cartouche ' most of it aloud to 
 you and Miss Post, Miss Bowne and ' Mother Molly,' and 
 ' Unawares,' that makes eight. And ' Rudder Grange ' is 
 nine ; and ' One Summer ' is ten ; but that is a very, very 
 small one ! I believe that's all." 
 
 "I should hope it might be ! I've been here just about 
 two months, so that's a little over one a week. And there's 
 your marker in ' The Making of England,' which you were 
 going to read aloud to Miss Post and me evenings, just 
 where it was when I came, if I'm not very much mistaken ! " 
 
 "You are not, you cruel woman. I only wish you were ! 
 But, really, I'm very much obliged to you, aunty. ' So very 
 much obliged,' as Margery tells me I said to the dentist who 
 pulled out a small aching tooth of mine some fifteen years 
 ago. I had no idea of my fiction-inebriated condition, and 
 I was under the impression that I had no spare time at 
 all. Oh, aunty ! it is dreadfully hard to be good all round, 
 isn't it ? " 
 
 " Yes, dear, it is ; there's no doubt of that, and I often 
 think we'd have a right to be discouraged if it wasn't for 
 such promises as ' He giveth more grace,' ' My grace is suf- 
 ficient for thee,' and for knowing that we only have to take 
 one day at a time. And, Muriel, when there's an open 
 mind, ready and willing to take such things as I've just said 
 to you, things that many a girl of your age would resent, or 
 else laugh at, it seems to me it's half the battle." 
 
 It certainly was in this case. Muriel took a very earnest 
 and prayerful resolution to save instead of squandering 
 time, and was not long in finding the comfort of it, and in
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 3 O1 
 
 discovering that the growth of her charitable enterprises 
 and the undertaking of new and more extended ones were 
 not incompatible with a fair amount of leisure for other 
 pursuits. 
 
 The invitation to Dovedale was given, and very grate- 
 fully received, but she could not convince herself at once 
 that she was at liberty to accept it, and only her reliance 
 upon Aunt Sally's clear judgment induced her to do so. 
 Aunt Sally knew just how beneficial to a nature like Muriel's 
 the busy, cheerful life of a large family would be, with what 
 renewed strength and freshness she would take up again her 
 orn burden after having her thoughts diverted from it fora 
 little while. 
 
 And there was another reason, which the old lady would 
 not formulate, even in her own mind. Neil Duncan had of 
 late become a very frequent visitor in Muriel's home, and 
 the stiffness, almost amounting to ungraciousness, which 
 had characterized his manner toward her in the beginning 
 of their acquaintance had entirely disappeared. Aunt 
 Sally, in what she afterward regarded as her " heathen blind- 
 ness," had taken an early opportunity to rate him soundly 
 for his want of " manners," and to represent to him how 
 valuable their friendship might be to both of them, if he 
 would only show himself friendly. 
 
 " But, Miss Bowne," he remonstrated, " just look at it 
 impartially ! Here I am a penniless clerk on a nominal 
 salary, without even good clothes, and here Miss Douglas 
 is, a sort of a millionairess. Yes, I know it isn't really mil- 
 lions, but it is from my standpoint, and if I were to go mak- 
 ing myself very friendly, as you call it, she would naturally 
 think but one thing, that I had designs upon her hand for 
 the sake of the fortune in it. It isn't so very long since 
 you were commending the wisdom which keeps me from 
 attempting to go into ' society,' and even from visiting
 
 302 W 'A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 much among nice girls who might shake my resolution not 
 to fall in love with any body until there is at least a remote 
 chance of my being able to marry her, for I don't mean 
 always to be nothing but an eight hundred dollar clerk, you 
 know, and I begin to see a prospect of a rise both in salary 
 and position. And now here you are, actually berating me 
 for not being ' more friendly ' with a young woman who, 
 while she is not strikingly beautiful, is certainly not wholly 
 unattractive, and who is so painfully rich by comparison, 
 that if I were to fall madly in love with her to-morrow she 
 should never know it !" 
 
 " I declare ! " said Aunt Sally, who had with difficulty 
 kept herself from interrupting him, "for a person with so 
 much sense, you're too foolish for any thing ! I did hope 
 you, at any rate, were above this penny-dreadful romance 
 idea that a man and a woman can't be friends without one 
 or the other falling in love, as you call it. Here's this girl 
 nice, sensible, warm-hearted, as free from nonsense of 
 that sort as if she were eighty, for she'd never believe, I'm 
 very sure, that a man loved her until he told her so in so 
 many plain words. She's trying to use her money for the 
 good of other people ; she's thankful for every suggestion, 
 for every opportunity,' as she calls it. And here you are, 
 with just exactly the experience and knowledge that would 
 help her, and just because of this foolishness you can't be 
 friends. I do believe," and she pounced round upon him 
 with sudden indignation, " that what you're really afraid of 
 is that she will fall in love with you." 
 
 He colored deeply, and a look of such extreme indigna- 
 tion swept over his face that Aunt Sally was half frightened, 
 but only half. 
 
 " I don't think I should submit quietly to having such a 
 thing as that said to me by any one but you, Miss 
 Bowne," he said presently, " and even to you I must
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 303 
 
 say that I hope you will never say any thing like it 
 again." 
 
 " I don't suppose I ought to have said it," admitted Aunt 
 Sally, not in the least penitentially, but in a spirit of fair- 
 ness and candor, "but it struck me suddenly, and I spoke 
 before I thought. But I suppose we're all of us more or 
 less welcome to our opinions, and if two and two don't make 
 four they certainly don't ever make any less !" 
 
 " I will not be so utterly misjudged," he said, hotly. He 
 had inherited more than his blue eyes and his Christian 
 name from that remote Irish ancestor of his, and Aunt 
 Sally had overtaxed his patience and almost his courtesy. 
 " You are assuming the responsibility," he added, more 
 quietly, " so I accept your dictum in the matter. Perhaps 
 I am foolish. I know I am much too self-conscious. I will 
 be as ' friendly ' with Miss Douglas, if she will permit me 
 to be, as if she had not a cent. How shall I begin, Miss 
 Bowne ? By inviting myself to dinner ?" 
 
 He was laughing now, by one of those quick changes of 
 mood which characterized him. Aunt Sally had an uncom- 
 fortable consciousness that a victory may be a good deal 
 like a white elephant. But she resembled the Gallant Cap- 
 tain of the Pinafore in at least one respect : " In the 
 stiff est sort of gale she was never known to quail." So she 
 merely said, calmly : 
 
 " I'm glad you've come to your senses at last, but don't 
 come out on the other side of them. What Miss Douglas 
 wants of you is, a civil answer to a civil question, and not to 
 be treated as if you had a patent on charity, and she'd bet- 
 ter be careful how sire infringed upon it ! " 
 
 He laughed heartily, now, with good-humor quite re- 
 stored. 
 
 " Have I really given her that impression ? " he said. " I 
 assure you I didn't mean to ! I suppose, since you will
 
 34 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 have me dissect myself for your benefit, Miss Bowne, that 
 I thought her charitable phase was merely a phase ; and 
 beside, you know, or ought to know, my horror of being 
 considered a Philantrophist spelt with a capital P. It is 
 very difficult not to be more charitable and amiable to oneself 
 than to any one else ! Don't you find it so ? I know you 
 do, though you may not like to admit it. I suppose I 
 ought to be willing to let Miss Douglas help some of the 
 people whom I'd like to help and can't, but I am afraid I 
 am not ! " 
 
 " Then it will be all the more credit to you if you do let 
 her help them, and help her to do it ! " 
 
 " Miss Bowne, are you aware that you are advocating the 
 doctrine of works of supererogation ? If I really thought 
 it would be ' credited ' to me, as a balance to certain dis- 
 credits whereof I am conscious, my last hesitation would 
 vanish."
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 UNSATISFACTORY. 
 
 " Love comes to some with smiling eyes, 
 
 And comes with tears to some ; 
 For some Love sings, for some Love sighs 
 For some Love's lips are dumb." 
 
 PAKENHAM BEATTY. 
 
 WHATEVER the real cause for the vanishing might 
 have been, there was certainly, after this engage- 
 ment with Aunt Sally, no more visible hesitation on Neil 
 Duncan's part about being " friendly " with Muriel. It is 
 just possible that the shaft which really flew home was the 
 accusation which had so stung him, and of which Aunt 
 Sally heartily repented, from all points of view, as soon as 
 she was left alone. 
 
 " For even if it's as true as preaching," she said to herself, 
 "and I'm not prepared to say that it isn't, either I'd no 
 business to say it. I'm forever making myself think of that 
 verse in the Psalm ' Be ye not like to horse and mule, 
 which have no understanding, whose mouths must be held, 
 with bit and bridle, lest they fall upon thee ' only I've 
 never yet been able to hold on to the bit and bridle as I 
 should ! Well, if I've done mischief, all I can do now is to 
 look out that it doesn't spread, if I can help it, and to try 
 not to do any more ! " 
 
 But for awhile it certainly did not appear that any mis- 
 chief was done. A very frank and pleasant friendship
 
 36 WA YS AND MEANS, 
 
 seemed to be growing up between these two people, who, be- 
 fore they met, had both thought a good deal upon the 
 same subject a subject to which both disliked to give the 
 name "charity," from the philological degeneracy of that 
 much abused word. Neil Duncan had a wrong-headed pre- 
 judice against nearly all charitable organizations, which was 
 not beneficial to Muriel, who had unconsciously imbibed 
 a similar prejudice from her grandfather's talk upon the 
 subject. It was this which had held her aloof from such 
 organizations, and made her try to devise ways of helping 
 which should have no tendency to degrade and humiliate 
 the helped. Neither of them discerned the truth, that 
 many of the applicants for public charity, if not most of 
 them, have humiliated themselves before any such applica- 
 tion is made, by degraded lives, and lost opportunities, and 
 that what would seem to an independent spirit galling in 
 the extreme, has no effect whatever upon them, and the 
 other truth, that any law or public measure must consult, 
 not the convenience of exceptional cases, but " the greatest 
 good of the greatest number." 
 
 Neil Duncan had to a certain degree lost the first en- 
 thusiasm, and faith in immediate results, which still sus- 
 tained Muriel, but, on the other hand, he had gained a 
 better, a more permanently encouraging faith. He saw 
 that much which appeared to be wasted and ineffectual, 
 worked quietly, and often quite unsuspected, toward at least 
 a small degree of good ; that the harvest often came in 
 long after there was much reason to think that the seed 
 had died in the ground. When Muriel's faith began to 
 be shaken by disappointments and apparent failures, his 
 encouraged her to keep on ; at first, merely because she 
 believed what he told her, and afterward because, by 
 slow degrees, proofs of what he asserted began to reveal 
 themselves to her. When the inhabitants of " the Row "
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 307 
 
 grumbled at their accommodations at Hartswell, and grum- 
 bled again at the new homes which Muriel had regarded 
 with such pride and pleasure, and confidence in their effect 
 upon her tenants, she was for awhile deeply disheartened, 
 and inclined to abate her efforts; but his earnest belief that, 
 under the grumbling, was not only an increased comfort, but 
 a carefully concealed gratitude, and that, even if there 
 were not, she had no right to doubt the ultimate result of 
 any honest effort, gave her the renewed courage without 
 which she would no doubt have kept on, but which made 
 keeping on so much more easy. And Aunt Sally, watching 
 keenly, yet without appearing to watch, the progress of this 
 friendship, for which she certainly was responsible, saw no 
 reason, as yet, to do any thing but congratulate herself and 
 them. 
 
 Muriel's liking for Marion Raymond steadily increased, as 
 did her intimacy with May and Miss Forsythe, and though 
 the engrossing occupation of all three of her friends made 
 very frequent meetings with them difficult of accomplish- 
 ment, she soon had no doubt of their regard for her, and 
 pleasure, in being with her, when it was possible, and 
 they all looked forward with very great pleasure to the 
 meeting, and the leisure to enjoy each other, at Dove- 
 dale. 
 
 A plan which includes so many people is very apt to 
 " fall through " to a greater or less degree before it's ac- 
 complishment, but this one, to all outward seeming, at 
 least, was destined to be fulfilled. The month of July had 
 been named, because of the several vacations ; neither 
 Marion nor Dick would be free before the latter part of 
 June, and Alice's engagements ran nearly to the same time, 
 as did May's term at the school in which she taught. Miss 
 Forsythe's vacation was to be the latter half of that month, 
 but she was anxious that May should not wait for her, but
 
 308 W A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 should go to Dovedale early in July, when Aunt Sally and 
 Muriel went. 
 
 " And leave you all alone for ten days or two weeks ? ' 
 said May, indignantly, "why, aunty ! What do you take me 
 for?" 
 
 " For a tired girl, in need of all the rest and country air 
 that she can find," replied Miss Forsythe, " and I should 
 not be alone ; I should borrow Miss Post ! " 
 
 " Miss Post would not lend herself to any such nefarious 
 scheme," said May, and there the matter dropped, for the 
 time being. Miss Forsythe did not intend, however, that it 
 should remain there, and took an early opportunity to see 
 Muriel, and open her negotiation for the ''loan "of Miss 
 Post, and, of course, her little maid, for she was entirely 
 blind, now, and more helpless than she had expected to be. 
 Muriel hesitated in a manner which surprised Miss Forsythe. 
 She began to speak twice, and immediately appeared to 
 change her mind as to the construction of her sentence ; but 
 at last she said : 
 
 " Dear Miss Agnes, I don't seem to find the right words 
 for what I wish to say, so you must only listen to my mean- 
 ing ! Why can't you just close the house, and come here, on a 
 visit to Miss Post, for the ten days or two weeks before you 
 go to Dovedale ? Indeed, I think you would, if you knew 
 how happy it would make me, and then, I am nearly sure, 
 we could persuade May to go with Aunt Sally and me ! " 
 
 Her eager, loving face, and the warm hand-clasp which 
 accompanied her words, gave them all the weight which she 
 seemed to think they lacked. Miss Forsythe had no 
 feeling which made her desire to be "coaxed," and she saw 
 at once the reasonableness of Muriel's suggestion about 
 May, so she accepted the invitation with as much affection 
 as, had the case been reversed, she would have given it with, 
 and May, under a triple attack, from her aunt, Aunt Sally
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 309 
 
 and Muriel, yielded, and began her preparations to go early 
 in July. 
 
 Muriel was not content that the building of the row of 
 new houses should go on without her own frequent super- 
 vision, and here, again, she often consulted Neil Duncan, 
 for the space which she could command for each house was 
 small, and she was anxious to make the most of it. She 
 had employed an architect to draw the main plan, but in 
 the smaller particulars, and more especially about the center 
 house, which was to contain cooking and other arrange- 
 ments for the comfort and convenience of all the dwellers 
 in the row, she wished to direct the building herself. She 
 hoped to have every thing so well advanced by the first of 
 July as to be able to go away with an easy mind, for the 
 journey to Dovedale was not a formidable one, and she ex- 
 pected to return to the field of action for a day, at least once 
 during the visit. Miss Prudence Harley proved a valuable 
 adviser concerning the houses, and to Muriel's great joy, 
 consented to occupy the upper rooms of the center house 
 and superintend the establishment ; for when Muriel asked 
 her to take the post it was with the assurance that she 
 should have all the help in the way of servants that she 
 wished. 
 
 " If I can find one strong, willing girl who will do as 
 she's told, and a good, stout boy to run errands and mind 
 the fires, I'll not ask any thing more," said Miss Prudence, 
 " for too much help is to the full as much trouble as too 
 little more, I think. And I shall see to it that the women 
 who come there to wash and iron and bake for themselves 
 clear up after themselves ; that will be only fair." 
 
 Lizzy and Robert Boyce were established in the two 
 small rooms before Muriel went away, and Muriel was as 
 much fascinated as May was with Lizzy's beauty. She was 
 a warm-hearted, feather-headed little thing, and Muriel
 
 310 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 could not help thinking that her mother's stern, repressive 
 manner had been an injury to her. It was very encourag- 
 ing to see her interest in and pity for Miss Post, and they 
 were excellent friends after one evening together. 
 
 " I'll coax her out for a walk every pleasant evening, Miss 
 Douglas," said Lizzy, earnestly, the next day, " and tell her 
 just how every thing looks, and take her where there's flowers 
 to smell and fountains to hear. It must be awful to be 
 blind, and she's just as sweet and pleasant and interested 
 in every thing as if she could see. Oh, you needn't fear 
 but I'll be good to her ! I would, even if she wasn't so 
 lovely to me ! " 
 
 Muriel was very much amused to see how Margery was 
 beguiled by the little thing's pretty face and easy, friendly 
 manner. The old Scotchwoman had evidently prepared 
 herself to be very dignified and not a little instructive, for 
 she had heard about Lizzy's " light-headedness " from sev- 
 eral of the women in the Row, in her goings and comings 
 with Muriel, but the beginning of her disarming was Lizzy's 
 neatness in all her " ways " and her pride in the pretty little 
 room, to which Muriel had added several attractions two 
 or three pictures, a glass bowl for flowers and a small shelf 
 of books. 
 
 " It would be a poor story if I didn't do all Miss Doug- 
 las wishes, mother," Margery heard Lizzy say, as they were 
 seeing Mrs. Boyce and " Frederick " off on the day when 
 the party from the Row went to Hartswell, " after all she's 
 put in my room. I just wish you'd had time to come and 
 see it. She couldn't have done any more for one of her 
 own folks." 
 
 This innocent speech made all the greater impression by 
 contrast with the coolness manifested by so many of Muriel's 
 beneficiaries, and when 'Lizzy unconsciously followed up 
 her advantage by sounding Miss Forsythe's praises all the
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 3 11 
 
 way home, Margery's conquest was complete, and she said 
 to Muriel the next morning- : 
 
 " I'm thinking it was jealousy made them talk of that 
 little girl as they did. I've seen no harm in her so far, and, 
 on the contrary, a gread deal of good, and I doubt the 
 mother has been too stern and strict with her. She's a hard- 
 looking woman ! " 
 
 This, from Margery, amused Muriel not a little, but she 
 did all in her power to encourage the kindly feeling toward 
 Lizzy, hoping much for the effect upon the child's mind 
 and character which this visit might have. 
 
 Robert's quiet, orderly ways, and readiness to help 
 Rogers in the short time which he spent at the house every 
 day, gave Muriel the assurance that he would be kindly 
 cared for. 
 
 He was delighted with the little garden, and disposed to 
 do too much rather than too little at it, and Muriel was very 
 glad when Lizzy beguiled Miss Post out to " see," through 
 her eyes, how nicely he was weeding the walks and trimming 
 the old-fashioned box borders, and Miss Post invited him 
 to come whenever he felt like it and sit with his sister in her 
 parlor. Miss Post had already " brightened up " wonder- 
 fully under Lizzy's care when Aunt Sally and Muriel went 
 away, and Margery had been heard actually heard to 
 laugh! Surely, even she would not call the house "dour" 
 now. 
 
 Muriel was trying to be patient about finding "oppor- 
 tunities " to fill some more of those vacant rooms. She had 
 no wish to introduce a false note into the pleasant chord 
 which now sounded through the house, and she was learn- 
 ing a little of that " long patience" which is necessary for 
 the ripening of many fruits besides " the precious fruits of 
 the earth." 
 
 She had told Neal Duncan her wishes about filling most of
 
 312 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 the rooms, for she had no ultra ideas which would lead her to 
 crowd herself out, and she meant always to have at least 
 two vacant rooms at her disposal for what Margery called 
 " her own company." Her object in telling him was sim- 
 ply to ask him, should he meet with any of the cases in 
 which a stay of a few days or weeks, during the heat of the 
 summer, would be a blessing to the guest and do no harm 
 to those already there, to let her know promptly, that she 
 might give the invitation. He promised to do so, and then 
 after a keen, curious glance at her face, which she did not 
 see by reason of a piece of " pick-up work " with which she 
 was occupied, he said : 
 
 " Do you know, Miss Douglas, that in spite of your 
 matter-of-fact manner of doing it, you are doing a very 
 strange and utterly unconventional thing ? " 
 
 " Then Miss Thackeray must be mistaken," said Muriel, 
 smiling, " when she says the chief difference between men 
 and women is that men do foolish things sensibly and 
 women do sensible things foolishly." 
 
 " That is merely a glittering generality; she would not be 
 able to prove it, though it has a clever sound. But I am 
 not to be so easily diverted from the subject in hand. I am 
 wondering if you realize how short the time will be before 
 your best acquaintances begin to call you 'that very pecu- 
 liar Miss Douglas.' Shall you mind it very much, do you 
 think ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Muriel, slowly, and, as he could see, reluct- 
 antly, " if they do talk of me in that way, I am afraid I 
 shall, very much." 
 
 " Then you had better take back what you have just said 
 to me there is yet time." 
 
 " Why should I take it back, if you please ? " 
 
 " Because if you are going to distress yourself over what 
 will inevitably be said about you when it is discovered that
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. $13 
 
 you are making suppers and inviting people who can not by 
 any possibility make suppers for you, I am afraid that you 
 will discover subsequently that your views have been 
 ' ultra ; ' that the people with whom you have filled, or 
 nearly filled, your house, can be just as well and far more 
 suitably accommodated elsewhere, if only you pay for the 
 accommodation." 
 
 She looked up from her pick-up work now; the soft color 
 in her cheeks deepened as she met his eyes, but still she 
 spoke quietly : 
 
 " I don't know why I should feel surprised at your mak- 
 ing such a mistake as that," she said, " for we have not 
 known each other very long, but somehow I am. I don't 
 suppose any body enjoys being thought weak-minded, 
 and it seems to me the lowest depth of weak-mindedness 
 to let one's convictions be shaken by one's inclinations." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Miss Douglas ; perhaps I was not 
 wholly serious but that only makes it worse, I see. But 
 you have made an apothegm which I shall endeavor to re- 
 member. And I am quite serious in saying that I think 
 your idea in this matter is a beautiful one. 'People with 
 homes do not realize, I think, the demoralizing influence of 
 homelessness, for no boarding-house can ever be considered 
 a home, and a visit in such a home as this can not be with- 
 out effect. I think," he added hastily, " that Miss Bowne 
 would make a cave in a desert island seem home-like after 
 she had spent one day no, half a day, there ; don't 
 you?" 
 
 "Yes, indeed," said Muriel, warmly, and only too thank- 
 ful to escape further discussion of herself and her plans 
 just then ; " I can never be sufficiently grateful to her for 
 coming to me ; she has done more for me than I can ever 
 repay, or perhaps even realize. I am frequently attacked 
 \>y the wish that she might have a chance at more people.
 
 314 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 She seems to have a peculiar power, not for governing, but 
 for suggesting." 
 
 " She has, she has, indeed," he replied, with a sudden 
 earnestness which made Muriel look up again. " But I 
 sometimes wonder," he added, in his usual tones, " how far 
 it is safe, or even allowable, to offer suggestions to other 
 people about the conduct of their lives. When it comes to 
 advice, I am almost convinced that nobody had better, un- 
 der any circumstances, give advice to any body! " 
 
 " And you do not call that a glittering generality ? " 
 
 " No; I assert fearlessly that I do not. Call it a solemn 
 warning if you like, and beware how you advise any body 
 to any thing, until these modern psychologists have per- 
 fected their discoveries and we can look into our neighbors' 
 minds. And even then, we shall only be looking at them 
 from the outside." 
 
 " That is a most disagreeable suggestion. I can not con- 
 ceive the possibility of any body's willingness to have his 
 mind looked into, even from the outside." 
 
 " I cannot, either. Let us hope that they will not succeed 
 until some time after our death ! " 
 
 " If nobody is, under any circumstances, to advise any 
 body, more than half the charm of the discovery will be 
 lost. Must you go ? I am expecting Aunt Sally every mo- 
 ment, and she is always disappointed when she misses one 
 of your visits. You ought to feel highly honored by your 
 place in her regard." 
 
 " I do, but I fear I must go, notwithstanding. What 
 was the apothegm, Miss Douglas ? ' It is the lowest 
 depth of weak-mindedness to let one's convictions be 
 shaken by one's inclinations ? ' I shall try to remember 
 it. Good-by." 
 
 " You were not at all agreeable to-day, Mr. Duncan," 
 soliloquized Muriel, as she heard the hall door close upon
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 315 
 
 him, " and I am not at all sorry, on my own account, to 
 have you go. There are times when it strikes me that it 
 would give you great pleasure, if you were not restrained 
 by principle, to be extremely unpleasant, and this was one 
 of them. I don't think Aunt Sally's loss is irreparable, this 
 time." 
 
 She was very sensitive to any thing like ridicule, and she 
 had an idea that Mr. Duncan had come very near ridiculing 
 her, if he had not quite done it, when he accused her of 
 making an " apothegm," and returned to the charge at the 
 last moment. Perhaps he was covertly testing the strength 
 of her own faith in her apothegm ? Well, let him test it. 
 It could stand a much more severe strain than any to which 
 he had yet subjected it, she hoped ! 
 
 If she had only known how far, in his heart of hearts, he 
 was from ridiculing her ! He had ceased, for many days 
 to feel the shadowy apprehension which had made Aunt 
 Sally's taunt so peculiarly stinging and unbearable, and into 
 its place had been gradually stealing a fear not shadowy 
 or vague, but very real that if he allowed himself much 
 more of this companionship so innocently " friendly " on 
 her side, so utterly unconscious of any thing deeper on his 
 he should say something which would, in his own eyes 
 and probably in hers also, degrade him forever. For what 
 could she, what could any one think, should a man in his 
 position ask a woman in hers to marry him ? He fancied 
 the most good-natured, the most charitable of his friends, 
 saying amiably : " Yes, he's done a very good thing for him- 
 self. Nothing to do but walk in and hang up his hat.- 
 He's a lucky fellow ! " 
 
 He had heard such talk ; he had even joined in it. 
 Could he make it possible that it should be applied to him ; 
 that her name would be coupled with that of a man who 
 would be supposed to marry her chiefly, if not wholly, for
 
 316 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 the worldly advantages which such a marriage would un- 
 doubtedly give him ? 
 
 But where was the will-power of which he had always been 
 so complaisantly conscious? Surely, he need not cut him- 
 self off from what was fast becoming the chief charm 
 of living, when all that was needed was a little no, a 
 great deal ! of resolution ? It would be very different if 
 there were the smallest hint or token that she was, how- 
 ever unconsciously, beginning to he would not finish the 
 sentence ; he felt his face flush hotly. He had been stung, 
 only a few days before by noticing how exactly the same 
 was her gentle courtesy to Dick, to the two members of the 
 glee club, whom she saw most often, and to himself ; he 
 even fancied that her manner to him was a shade less cor- 
 dial than her manner to the others, and in this he was right, 
 for her friendship with Dick and the " other boys " was 
 unshadowed by the small vexations which Neil Duncan's 
 words often caused her. But he would not, he resolved, do 
 any thing so sudden as to arouse her wonder. Surely, he 
 might govern both looks and words for the short space of 
 time in which she saw and heard them, so that she should 
 suspect nothing of what he was feeling and thinking ; and 
 in time, perhaps, he would be in a position which would 
 make it possible for him to speak. His employers thought 
 well of him, and he had a very reasonable hope of 
 steady advancement. His salary had just been raised to a 
 thousand dollars, and, if she were only poor and friendless, 
 he should not hesitate a moment to ask her to marry him 
 on that. So he would temporize and he scouted the idea 
 which thrust itself forward with disagreeable pertinacity, 
 that his only real safety lay in flight from temptation. 
 
 A discussion which they had recently held about a novel, 
 and which he happened to recall just now, served to 
 strengthen him in his latest resolution, if a deliberate yield-
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 317 
 
 ing to an inclination can be called by that name. It was 
 one of the too-numerous stories in which the heroine is 
 represented as the silent and saintly victim of a love for a 
 man who has never manifested more than a very ordinary 
 liking for her, and Muriel had been roused out of her usual 
 quietness of demeanor by his half-laughing defence of the 
 idea. 
 
 " And, pray, why not ? " he said. " What is there to hin- 
 der a woman from saying to herself, with ' Gentle Alice 
 Brown/ ' I think I could be happy with a gentleman like 
 you ? ' She need not say it aloud because she thinks it, 
 and I never could see " 
 
 " You are not in earnest, I know you are not," inter- 
 rupted Muriel, almost angrily. " The very fact, that every- 
 one recognizes, that she may not, must not say it, is enough. 
 I wish you would not say such things, even in jest. I don't 
 believe you would, if you knew how they offend me." 
 
 " I will not, then. But, seriously, Miss Douglas, does it 
 not strike you as slightly paradoxical that a woman who 
 has occupied this lofty position, who has been deaf and 
 blind, as it were, until a man says : ' Will you marry me ? ' 
 should discover, as if the proposal were an electric light, that 
 she loves him enough to say yes ? " 
 
 " It's a good deal like making soap," struck in Aunt 
 Sally ; she had kept her oar out as long as she possibly 
 could, and she saw, besides, that Muriel's genuine vexation 
 put her at a disadvantage in the discussion. " Two of the 
 'elements,' as I suppose I ought to call 'em, since I'm in 
 Boston, wouldn't mix if you stirred them around in the 
 same kettle till doomsday, but you just put in the third, and 
 it's done in a minute ! And the third is the proposal ! " 
 
 Even Muriel joined in the laugh, which Aunt Sally 
 frankly started herself, and Neil Duncan said : " I shall in- 
 sert a new reading in my Tennyson. I know now that what
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 he really meant to say was : ' A voice said faintly, Is there 
 any soap ? ' ' 
 
 And Muriel, instead of giving him the reproachful glance 
 which he had expected, said brightly : 
 
 " Yes ; and it throws light upon that bit of hopeless non- 
 sense, as it has been irreverently called, which begins : ' So 
 she went into the garden to cut a cabbage-leaf to make an 
 apple-pie.' We can see now distinctly why ' he died ' when 
 ' the great she-bear ' said, tragically, ' What, no soap ! ' " 
 
 " What in this earthly world, as Ann says, are you talking 
 about ? " inquired Aunt Sally, in a thoroughly-puzzled 
 voice ; whereupon Muriel glibly repeated the hopeless non- 
 sense, and then immediately began to talk of some- 
 thing else. 
 
 There was only a very civil and friendly regret in Muriel's 
 manner when she bade Neil Duncan good-by the evening 
 before she and Aunt Sally were to go to Dovedale, for, 
 while she was more and more impressed, as she came to 
 know him better, with the strength of his character, and the 
 beauty of his self-denying and busy life, unspoiled by any 
 desire for praise, or even recognition, she was so often puz- 
 zled and annoyed by his tendency to ridicule nearly every 
 thing, that her pleasure in talking to him was too nearly 
 counterbalanced. He had more than half expected that 
 Miss Bowne would invite him to come and see them during 
 the month of their absence, and had framed a sufficient 
 excuse for declining the invitation, by way of reply. This 
 being the case, he had a perfect right to accuse himself of 
 being " utterly senseless " for feeling disappointed when no 
 such invitation was given ; but it was so unlike Miss 
 Bowne, under the circumstances, to refrain from giving it, 
 that he felt, also, a sort of alarm. Could she by any possi- 
 bility have penetrated to the real state of his feelings ? 
 
 But it was her own feelings, and no suspicion of his, which
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 319 
 
 had kept her from asking him to come and see them at Dove- 
 dale. She had determined to take no more such responsi- 
 bilities as she had incurred when she insisted upon his 
 being " friendly " to Muriel ; there was quite enough of a 
 chance that the horse was not stolen to make it worth while 
 to lock the stable-door ! She did ask him, however, if he 
 was to have any vacation that year, and he said yes, two 
 weeks in August, and he and one of his fellow-clerks were 
 going to walk away all the first week and then walk back all 
 the second ! 
 
 Aunt Sally glanced over the tall, powerful frame, which 
 looked incapable of weariness or disease, and remarked : 
 
 " I suppose that is your idea of resting ? Well, I don't 
 believe it will hurt you ! " 
 
 He lingered still, mentally calling himself all sorts of 
 hard names, because he knew he was waiting for some word 
 or look from Muriel which should express a little real re- 
 gret ; a little hope of meeting him again. But none came, 
 and he said good-by at last, and Aunt Sally began, as soon 
 as he was gone, "to talk of many things," so that the re- 
 mark which Muriel was about to make concerning him was 
 not made, but it would, perhaps, have done Miss Bowne 
 good to have known that it was : 
 
 " I think Mr. Duncan was a little stupid to-day, aunty ! 
 I was not so sorry to bid him good-by for a month as I 
 thought I should be ! " 
 
 A delight for which she almost reproached herself took 
 possession of Muriel as she reached the station nearest 
 Dovedale, and saw the friendly faces beaming at her from 
 the large wagon, and Dick, still more beaming, at the door 
 of the car ; and it seemed to increase, rather than dimin- 
 ish, with every day of her stay. The affectionate care and 
 solicitude which surrounded her were so unobtrusive, and 
 left her so untrammeled, that she felt at home directly and
 
 320 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 ceased to wonder at Dick's irrepressible conflict with him- 
 self when he contrasted his real home with the flat ; indeed 
 she thought the wonder was that he submitted so patiently, 
 and made no parade of his submission. He had showed 
 her every nook and corner of the farm, and taken her on 
 most of his favorite " tramps " before the Craigs and Os- 
 bornes arrived. After that, it seemed to Muriel, the whole 
 family lived out of doors, coming into the house only to eat 
 and sleep, and not always for the former purpose, for what 
 with pic-nics, and teas and breakfasts on the broad veranda, 
 the dining-room was almost as much slighted as the parlor 
 was. Her frequent attacks of self-reproach for enjoying 
 that for which, or the like of which, such multitudes were 
 suffering, were always routed by Aunt Sally as being 
 " morbid." 
 
 " After you've done all you can for other people, my 
 dear," said the old lady, " or while you're doing it, there's 
 no reason why you should refuse the share of enjoyment 
 that falls in your own way honestly, and without your tak- 
 ing any unfair means to get it. To Miss Post and to Lizzie 
 and her brother, a share of your home is quite as delightful 
 as what you're receiving here is to you ; and after your ex- 
 perience with those people in the Row, and their more than 
 indifference to a home in the country, you ought to be able 
 to understand that what is one man's meat is often another 
 man's poison ! " 
 
 Muriel insisted upon going to Boston every Saturday, for 
 an hour at the ware-house, and as there was at this time of 
 year a fast return train at five o'clock, and she pledged 
 herself to take it, she was not seriously remonstrated with. 
 Dick quietly announced his intention to go with her, and 
 this pleased her very much. She had said nothing of the 
 arrangement to Neil Duncan, partly because she never 
 knew what form his comments on her designs would take,
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 321 
 
 and partly because she did not wish him to think she was 
 even remotely suggesting that, even if he wished, he could 
 see her at these times. She and Dick armed themselves 
 with huge bouquets of daisies and clover every Saturday, 
 and with smaller ones of garden-flowers, and from the first 
 they gave, as they went along to all the ragged children they 
 met, and to many others not ragged, whose longing eyes 
 said the "please give me a flower," as plainly as it was spoken 
 by the little ragamuffins who did not hesitate to put it into 
 words. She managed, by going up on an early train, to 
 spend an hour with Miss Post and Margery, and was greatly 
 cheered by the former's -account of Lizzy and Robert ; for, 
 even making allowance for the rose-colored spectacles 
 through which Miss Post, despite her blindness, continued 
 to see, it was evident from the facts she told, and from 
 Margery's account as well, that they were doing all in their 
 power to testify to their gratitude and content. And, besides 
 this, Lizzy heard once a week from her mother, and as she 
 always read her letter to Miss Post at least once, Muriel 
 heard a good many things about the daily life of her Harts- 
 well colony which she could have heard in no other way, 
 and she was surprised to learn from various indications, 
 rather than any distinct testimony, how thoroughly they were 
 enjoyin g themselves ! The chief boast of all of them seemed 
 to be how much they were " putting up " for next winter, and 
 there was always something about " Miss Prudence ; " either 
 she had invited one or another to tea at the farm, or she 
 had showed them some new way of putting up something, 
 or told them of something else they could put up. 
 
 " She is undermining her own business terribly, Miss 
 Post, isn't she ? " said Muriel, laughing, after hearing the 
 main facts of one of these letters ; " its a very good thing 
 she will be in a salaried position next winter, and able to 
 eat and give away all that she can not sell."
 
 322 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 Several times Muriel had letters from Miss Prudence 
 herself, cheerful, sensible letters like her talk, praising the 
 women in the little colony for their industry and readiness 
 to learn new ways, and always ending with a psean that she 
 was not obliged to live there " all the year round ! " 
 
 " Just imagine, aunty," said Muriel, after reading one of 
 these documents to Aunt Sally, " any body's tz.3\\y preferring 
 that stived-up little city street, with the warehouse behind 
 it, and others almost as near in front, to that lovely coun- 
 try about Hartswell ! It seems actually impossible ! " 
 
 " It isn't the street she prefers, my dear ; it's the home 
 she's grown accustomed to, and the business she's fitted 
 for, and the people she likes to meet, and the feeling of life 
 and stir only a few blocks off. I can understand how the 
 country, to born and bred city folks, might seem just as 
 lonesome and dreary as the city does to real country folks." 
 
 It was about the middle of July, after Miss Forsythe had 
 come, and when Aunt Sally and Muriel were thinking with 
 regret that their visit at Dovedale was more than half over, 
 that Muriel, looking over a daily paper which Jack Osborne 
 had handed her, exclaimed suddenly : 
 
 " Why aunty ' That nice old Mr. Sellers, who owned 
 the warehouse, is dead ; he died yesterday ! I've been won- 
 dering why he has not been to the Row for so long, and now 
 it says, ' after a lingering illness." How sorry I am that I 
 did not know he was ill ! " 
 
 And in another part of the same paper, a few days later, 
 she came upon a notice which filled her with excitement. 
 Mr. Sellers's estate, a large one, the paper said, was to be 
 settled immediately, and the warehouse was to be sold !
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 AND LAST. 
 
 " Labor is mortal and fades away, 
 But Love shall triumph in perfect day ; 
 Labor may wither beneath the sod, 
 But Love lives ever, for Love is God." 
 
 IT did not take Muriel long to conclude that here was an 
 " opportunity " which she could not afford to miss. Her 
 one room at the warehouse was already overcrowded, and 
 she felt sure that, with the first approach of cold weather, 
 there would be many more applicants for admission. Other 
 projects which had flitted before her mind at different 
 times could be carried out if she had such a building as the 
 warehouse at her disposal ; a gymnasium, a cooking and 
 sewing room, a kindergarten for the very little children, and 
 a day-nursery, the need for which she guessed by the con- 
 dition of several which she had recently visited. Aunt 
 Sally and she kept working each other up with suggestions 
 of the possibilities which that building held, until in a day 
 or two all the others were laughing at them, and uttering 
 mildly sarcastic wonders that they had never discovered a 
 structure of such gigantic proportions as this must be, from 
 all it was destined to contain, right in the heart of 
 Boston ! 
 
 " Oh, ' you may laugh,' as Aunt Sally says ! " answered 
 Muriel, gayly, "but you will find that with judicious man- 
 agement, it will hold every single thing we have planned,
 
 3 2 4 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 and possibly one or two more ! And when I go up on Sat- 
 urday morning, I am going straight to Mr. Keith's office to 
 get his consent and put the matter in train ! It is high 
 time to begin, if it is to be ready before cold weather." 
 
 She was fortunate in finding the " senior partner " in, and 
 alone, and though he listened with the kindest attention, as 
 she unfolded her plans to him, she fancied that his face 
 grew very serious, and he did not reply for several minutes 
 to the eager question with which she concluded : 
 
 " Do you think I might do it, dear Mr. Keith ?" 
 
 " The property is valuable in itself," he said, at last, " and 
 I see no risk in buying it, if it should sell for any thing like 
 a reasonable price, for it is pretty sure to rise in value, and 
 very sure, I think, not to decline. But do you know, my dear 
 young lady, that you are planning out an enterprise which 
 will, for at least a year to come, until it is fairly manned, 
 so to speak, and under way, absorb nearly all your time, if 
 you mean to do it justice ? And have you reflected that 
 the amount of money which it will require could be, per- 
 haps, bestowed upon some of the many excellent charities 
 which are already organized and in working order ? " 
 
 He did not know how those two innocent words, " organ- 
 ized charities " fixed her purpose, if that were possible, 
 even more firmly and made her feel willing to undertake 
 the labor and self-denial which she knew it must and would 
 involve. 
 
 " It is not just the money that I want to give," she said. 
 " I think it is, myself, too. Perhaps I am wrong ; I know 
 I am prejudiced, but indeed, I think a help, not a charity, 
 managed by people, not by a board, may do some things 
 which the best organizations must in their very nature fail 
 to reach. I have thought so much about it. And I have 
 seen what a dreadful thing money can be, Mr. Keith. I 
 pray every day that whenever it begins to be that to me it
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 3 2 5 
 
 may be taken from me, or I from it. So you will not hinder 
 me about this, my kind friend ? " 
 
 She laid her hand upon his and looked up at him with 
 pleading eyes. 
 
 " My dear, I will not ! " he said, as earnestly as she had 
 spoken herself. " I only wish you to count the cost, not in 
 money, but in other things, and to be sure that you would 
 not tire of this undertaking, and draw back, for that I 
 think would do far more harm than if you were never to 
 attempt it. But 1 think you are in earnest, and I feel very 
 well assured that this is just such a thing as your grand- 
 father, when he was dying, would have approved and sanc- 
 tioned. You have, so far, calculating by what you have 
 drawn per month, lived within your income, and I have no 
 fear that you will ever wish to increase your expenses by 
 any thing done merely for outward show. Beside, your 
 income, so far as I can see, will steadily increase for some 
 years to come. If I can help you in any way about this 
 enterprise, I hope you will have sufficient confidence in me 
 to command my help. I have withdrawn myself of late 
 from any very active participation in the business of the 
 firm ; my sons are quite able to manage it, and I am begin- 
 ning to feel like the old man that I am ; but to your affairs 
 I hope to attend so long as my mind does not share in the 
 feebleness of my body." 
 
 " How kind, how good you are to me ! " said Muriel, 
 gratefully. " I don't know how to thank you, Mr. Keith, 
 just for understanding ! You will let me know as soon as 
 my warehouse is really mine ? " 
 
 " I will, indeed. And don't cut short your visit in the 
 country, my dear. You are looking much better and 
 stronger for your absence, and to care for others effectually, 
 you must take all reasonable care of yourself." 
 
 " All reasonable care ! " said Muriel to herself, as she
 
 3 2 6 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 walked rapidly away, for she had staid longer than she had 
 expected to stay, and had only time for a hurried call on Miss 
 Post. " It is very hard, I think, to draw the line between 
 reasonable care of oneself, and self-absorption ! And yet 
 he must be right ; no skillful workman will neglect the care 
 of his machinery or tools." 
 
 So while she chatted with Miss Post, she ate the lunch 
 which Margery joyfully brought her, with the remark : 
 
 " If I'd known you'd be asking for lunch at five minutes' 
 notice like this, Miss Muriel, I'd have had something ready 
 for you, besides cold rolls and milk ! " 
 
 Muriel had hard work to keep her thoughts where they 
 belonged that afternoon, and to wait until she and Dick 
 had started for the train, to tell him about her interview 
 with Mr. Keith. He fairly rivaled Aunt Sally in plans and 
 suggestions as they whirled along, and they were both very 
 much surprised when the conductor shouted : 
 
 " All out for Dovedale ! " 
 
 The all included Stephen Craig, who had been in Boston 
 since the day before. They had not happened to see each 
 other either at the Boston station, or on the train, and he 
 was glad, he said, to find that they had not come by an 
 earlier train, and so left him to walk home. It struck Mu- 
 riel at once that he looked unusually serious, and as they 
 drove along he mentioned the reason he had heard, upon 
 good authority, that day, that a savings-bank in which he 
 knew that Miss Forsythe had recently deposited the small 
 sum which had been slowly and laboriously laid by against 
 that possible " rainy-day " for which every one looks more 
 or less, had failed disgracefully, as well as disastrously, and 
 he had also heard, although this he did not feel called upon 
 to mention just then, that a very promising stock-company, 
 in which he had been induced to invest the proceeds of 
 several of his recent sales of pictures, had gone totally to
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 327 
 
 pieces ; the only consolation to the stock holders being that 
 the same figure o stood alike for assets and liabilities ! 
 
 Both Muriel and Dick were distressed by the news of Miss 
 Forsythe's loss, and Muriel began at once to try to devise 
 some scheme for making it good, without wounding the pride 
 of that independent woman. With May alone, she was pretty 
 sure she could have managed " somehow," but about May's 
 aunt she did not feel so much confidence in this respect. 
 This bit of bad news damped the exuberant joy with which 
 she was bringing her good news to Aunt Sally and her other 
 friends, and she quite agreed with Stephen that it was un- 
 neccessary to tell the former that evening. 
 
 " It will keep perfectly well until morning," he said, add- 
 ing mentally, " and so will my latest intelligence for 
 Fanny," and they all three tried to throw off the depression 
 which they felt, and be at least as cheerful as usual. 
 
 That same evening, as Neil Duncan was returning from 
 one of the long tramps which helped to keep up his vigor 
 of mind and body, and was still in the outskirts of the city, 
 where the lights were not so numerous as in the more 
 thickly-settled parts, he found himself walking just behind 
 two young men, who, arm-in-arm, and keeping step, kept 
 just far enough ahead of him to prevent him from trying to 
 pass them. 
 
 He was paying no attention to their talk, when the name 
 of " Miss Douglas," distinctly uttered by one of them, 
 caught his ear, and he heard the other reply : 
 
 " Yes, it's a confounded shame ! Every cent, they say, 
 and though, I suppose, she still owns the house, it won't do 
 her much good, under the circumstances, unless she can 
 sell it." 
 
 " I'm sorry, very sorry," resumed the first speaker ; " she's 
 a thoroughly nice girl, and so, meaning no disrespect to her, 
 is the aunt too, I imagine. I wonder what they will do ? "
 
 328 IV A YS AND MEANS. 
 
 They turned down a side street before the other replied, 
 and Neil Duncan, walking slowly on, tried to quiet his 
 whirling brain and think. It never crossed his mind that 
 the " Miss Douglas " of whom they spoke could be any 
 other than Muriel, for he had remembered, almost immedi- 
 ately, seeing in that morning's paper a notice of the failure 
 of the stock company, in which Stephen's money had been 
 lost, and a statement that " several of our best families, who 
 had been induced, by plausible misrepresentations, to invest 
 in this concern, would probably suffer more than the rascals 
 who had fleeced them." 
 
 And he knew absolutely nothing of Muriel's affairs. A 
 very slight knowledge of them would have led him to sus- 
 pect that he must be mistaken, for any one who knew the 
 elder Mr. Keith would also know that Muriel would never 
 have been counseled by him to invest all her money in any 
 one concern. 
 
 One thought was most prominent, as his mind gradually 
 cleared and recovered it's balance ; he must see her at once, 
 before she had had time to be distressed and uneasy ; he 
 must win her promise, even if she did not and could not 
 love him now, to give him a chance to make her ! It seemed 
 to him that he was treading on air, so buoyant did he feel. 
 To be free to speak, to tell her something of what he had 
 lately been thinking and feeling, was so much, so very much ! 
 Surely it would be his own fault, now, if he could not win her. 
 He stopped at the first ticket-office to which he came, to 
 inquire about trains. It was still early ; it could not yet 
 be nine o'clock he thought ; perhaps he might go to-night, 
 and so be there ready to see her at the first possible mo- 
 ment in the morning. But he found that the last train 
 which stopped at the Dovedale station had been gone for 
 some hours, and that there would only be two each way the 
 next day, which would be Sunday.
 
 IV A YS AND MEANS. 3 2 9 
 
 So there was nothing for it but to wait, and as it seemed 
 more possible to wait while he was in motion, he started 
 forth once more, walked out well into the country, and 
 reached his lodgings near midnight, so completely tired 
 that he fell asleep as soon as he was in bed, instead of lying 
 awake and planning his campaign, as he had confidently 
 expected to do. But the fear which had haunted him, that 
 he would sleep too late for the early morning train, woke 
 him at dawn, and he was at the station half an hour too 
 soon. And here, by a co-incidence, another accidentally- 
 heard scrap of talk confirmed if it needed confirmation 
 his mistaken belief. It was just a few words, as before, 
 about " Miss Douglas and her aunt," and, " every thing gone 
 but the house, you know." 
 
 He caught himself wishing that the house had gone, too, 
 for it represented more money than he wished her to own. 
 
 " But very probably there may be liabilities," he reflected, 
 and this happy thought consoled him and made him resolve 
 not to let the house stand in the way. now that the far more 
 formidable obstacle of the fortune was gone. 
 
 He thought the country had never looked so lovely, and 
 he was struck by the number of pleasant-looking people on 
 the train. And then, suddenly, as he left the station and 
 started up the long country road, not much more than a 
 lane, which the ticket agent had pointed out to him, he be- 
 gan to reflect upon the strangeness of his unlooked-for de- 
 scent upon a family which he knew very pleasantly, but not 
 very intimately, in a place so far from his usual haunts that 
 his coming could not be accidental. And, " to cap the 
 climax," as Aunt Sally would have said, they would, in all 
 probability, just be sitting down to dinner. 
 
 And as soon as he thought of dinner he became con- 
 scious that he was ravenously hungry. He had eaten no 
 supper the night before, his breakfast had been hurried
 
 33 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 through his fear of missing the train, and he dared not 
 think of the dinner he might eat, even though the lady of 
 his dreams should be sitting directly opposite. The one 
 step between the sublime and the ridiculous had been taken, 
 and although his resolve was just as firm and his love as 
 strong, he began to realize that he had strayed a good way 
 from " the kingdom of common sense." So he stopped at 
 the first farm-house and asked if there were any tavern or 
 boarding-house near by where he could get his dinner. 
 None nearer than a good three miles, the farmer assured 
 him ; but they had just finished dinner ; there was a plenty 
 left, and 
 
 " Come right in and sit down, young man," said the 
 farmer, heartily, " and 1 reckon mother can scratch you 
 up enough to satisfy you. Mother ! " he shouted through 
 the open door. 
 
 Whereupon, Mother, a pleasant-faced woman, some 
 years younger than her husband, came forward and 
 confirmed the reckoning, and immediately proceeded 
 to verify it. They would accept no payment, and 
 he departed in receipt of a cordial invitation to "drop in 
 again if he happened to be passin'/' and went on his way 
 much refreshed and tranquilized, and very thankful that he 
 had not signalized his arrival at Dovedale by eating that 
 dinner ! 
 
 He knew the house at once as he approached it, from a 
 sketch which Muriel had shown him. There was a clump 
 of hazel bnshes near the entrance gate, in the midst of which 
 a bench had been placed, which bench was almost entirely 
 screened from view, but at one point in the winding car- 
 riage road it was visible. And on this bench, with a book 
 in her lap, which she was not even pretending to read, sat 
 Muriel, quite alone. He walked a little farther, and then 
 approached the place over the soft, thick grass from the
 
 WAYS AND MEANS. 331 
 
 side, so that she did not see him until he spoke. She started 
 up, but immediately sat down again, and save for a heighten- 
 ing of the color in her cheeks, seemed, as he rather dis- 
 mally reflected, entirely composed. 
 
 " I don't wonder you were glad you knew some people 
 in the country who would like to see you," she said, as soon 
 as he was seated on the other end of the right-angled bench, 
 and thus nearly facing her. "I was just pitying all the 
 poor people who are shut up in cities to-day. Aunt Sally 
 and all of them will be so glad to see you. I am very sorry 
 that I am the sole representative just now. They have, 
 everyone of them except Alice, walked to church, two miles 
 away. She is in her room with a headache, poor girl, and 
 I didn't feel like going, so they were kind enough to leave 
 me. That is one of the charms of this place one is abso- 
 lutely free to pursue happiness in one's own way." 
 
 He looked at her in astonishment. He had never heard 
 her talk so fast and fluently before, and he did not know 
 how plainly his purpose was written on his face. But some 
 instinct made him know that she had divined and was try- 
 ing to avert it, and he only waited for her to pause. Then 
 he stood up before her and tried to speak, but every word 
 that had been in his mind vanished as if by some wicked 
 act of magic. With a reverent touch he laid one hand over 
 her two, which were clasped upon her book. 
 
 " Muriel ! " 
 
 He could not have added another word if all his hopes 
 had depended on it, so he waited, and presently 
 
 " The silence drew her face up like a call," 
 
 and their eyes met. She did not take her hands, which 
 were trembling very much, away from his, but she said, 
 softly : 
 
 " I can not pretend not to understand you. I think I
 
 33 2 W-+ YS AND MEANS. 
 
 almost know that I am glad, but you must wait a little. 
 I must think you have taken me so by surprise." 
 It was the often-repeated lesson of life again : 
 
 " Worse than our hopes, but better than our fears." 
 
 He knew now that he had hoped for far more than this, 
 and that he had feared far more, too. 
 
 He drew his hand away. 
 
 " You shall wait," he said, very gently. " I did not mean 
 to startle you, dear. I will try to be patient. But can you 
 understand that lately, since I have loved you and dared 
 not tell you so, I have belied myself to you ? " 
 
 She thought a moment, and then her face brightened. All 
 that had puzzled and annoyed her seemed explained. But 
 why, she wondered, had he not dared, since he did not seem 
 at all afraid of daring now ? 
 
 One of his fears had been that the sudden change in her 
 fortunes would cause her to refuse him in such a way that 
 he could not be sufficiently certain of her reason to urge his 
 suit, and he blessed her for the evident unconsciousness of 
 every consideration of this sort which had marked her 
 answer. The more he thought in the sweet summer silence, 
 the more he hoped ; for over her face, which he was in- 
 tently watching, the thoughts of her heart were sending 
 fleeting expressions, like cloud-shadows and sunshine over 
 a landscape. Then a sudden panic seized him ; he could 
 not face even the friendliest faces just now, while the 
 balance still trembled uncertainly, in spite of all his hopes. 
 
 " I must go," he said, hurriedly ; " I am going back this 
 evening, and I can't oh, Muriel, you will try not to keep 
 me long in this fear ? If you only knew if I could only 
 make you understand it will be torment, when I am away 
 from you. Be merciful." 
 
 " I am sorry," she said, and her eyes filled with sudden
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 333 
 
 tears. " I wish I could say at once that I could be quite 
 certain. I ought to love you so much, to be able to say to 
 promise " 
 
 She looked up beseechingly. No thought of coquetting 
 with him, of testing his feelings, prompted that look ; she 
 was in honest doubt of her own, and yet he felt a joyful 
 thrill as he looked at her quivering face the statue was be- 
 ginning to throb with the woman's heart. 
 
 " I will write," she said. " I can tell you better what I 
 mean. But I know this much I am very glad you love 
 me." 
 
 " Then " he began eagerly, but he stopped himself ; he 
 would not be ungenerous. 
 
 " Good-by," he said, " good-by, Muriel," and he held 
 the hand she gave him fast in both his own for a moment, 
 and then he was gone, and she wondered if the whole thing 
 had been a dream. 
 
 And on his way to his lodging, after he reached Boston, 
 he met a friend, who, in the course of conversation, told 
 him all about the failure of the bank, and of the stock-tom- 
 pany, and how people were mixing them up, and how among 
 those " hit " by the former were Miss Forsythe and her 
 niece, Miss Douglas ; and here Neil Duncan gave a sudden 
 exclamation, and said : 
 
 " That Miss Douglas ? I understood that it was the 
 other her cousin ! " 
 
 " Oh, no, my dear fellow," and his companion laughed. 
 " You're betraying your lamentable ignorance. Old Keith, 
 the lawyer, has charge of Miss Muriel Douglas's affairs, and 
 although he seems to be letting her do a good many absurd 
 things with her income, you may depend he keeps his grip 
 on the principal. And a very pretty principal it is, I under- 
 stand ; enough to float a much more unattractive girl than 
 the temporarily-philanthropic Miss Douglas."
 
 334 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 Neil Duncan set his teeth hard, and managed to escape 
 from his loquacious friend without saying any thing besides 
 " Good-evening." 
 
 But a roaring like the sound of the sea was in his brain, 
 , and it seemed to him he must be walking unsteadily. So 
 this was what would be said ? A penniless man, a mere 
 fortune-hunter, had made a pretense of helping her with her 
 " temporary " philanthropy, of falling in with her views, 
 that he might win, incidentally, her love, and, through it, 
 her fortune. 
 
 And so, while Muriel, with a growing sense of happiness, 
 of security in a blessing all her own, was shyly telling Aunt 
 Sally something of what had happened, and framing in her 
 mind the letter she should write next day, and dreaming 
 those waking dreams which we can mold to our will, unlike 
 the arbitrary dreams of sleep, the lover of whom she 
 dreamed was nerving himself to write to her that night ; to 
 frame a note which should accept her hesitation as refusal- 
 He did not stop to analyze his motives. There is a wrong 
 side*to every nature, even the noblest, and the wrong side 
 of his was an over-sensitiveness to, a selfish regard for, the 
 opinions of the few people for whom he cared, while, as so 
 often happens, he was held to be utterly indifferent to any 
 judgment save his own. And, arguing from many remarks 
 on more or less similar cases, which he had heard at one 
 time and another, even his most intimate friends, the ones 
 who knew him best, would say things not only of, but to 
 him which would make him wince. And what could even 
 she think ? 
 
 " And she does not love me, yet, " he said to himself, try- 
 ing to take comfort from the thought, and smiling forlornly 
 as he remembered Aunt Sally's brisk dictum, " It's like mak- 
 ing soap ! " 
 
 There had been no swift response and surrender here-
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 335 
 
 He would be in time to prevent any mischief to any one but 
 himself. 
 
 As the summer dawn was breaking, fresh and sweet, 
 even within city limits, he wrote his letter ; but it suited him 
 so ill that he would not post it. He would keep it in his 
 pocket, and try once more in the course of the day, he 
 thought. He did not believe that she would write for sev- 
 eral days. 
 
 The head of the large wholesale house in which he was 
 employed came to him that day, with an offer which was 
 not the sudden and surprising thing which it seemed to him, 
 but was the result of a good deal of consultation and 
 thought among the older members. They wanted a rnan 
 whom they could trust, to go to India, and stay there for a 
 year ; and although, as they agreed, Neil Duncan was not 
 in all respects the man they wanted, in the most essential 
 points he was. The offer was, double his present salary 
 and all his expenses paid, for the part of the country to 
 which they wished to send him was not an especially health- 
 ful one, and they were willing, as they said, to make it 
 " worth his while " to go. 
 
 They were a good deal surprised by his immediate and 
 unquestioning acceptance of the offer, and the head of the 
 firm remarked that there was no need for such haste ; that 
 they expected him to take a day or two in which to make 
 up his mind. Had he no relatives or friends whom he 
 would wish to consult ? 
 
 " I have no near relatives living," he replied, gravely, 
 almost abruptly, " and the distant ones are distant in both 
 senses of the word. I can give you my answer as well now 
 as to-morrow or next day. I was wishing for a change, and 
 I shall be very willing'to go." 
 
 " And how soon could you be ready ? " asked his em- 
 ployer, next.
 
 33 6 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " To-morrow no, the next day," he answered, absently, 
 and not noticing the surprised glances which passed between 
 them. 
 
 " We had thought," said another member of the firm, " of 
 suggesting the steamer which leaves New York next Satur- 
 day. You will, of course, go by the overland route ; as this 
 is only Monday, that will give you two days more than you 
 require, for it will be well for you to be in New York by 
 Friday evening. Would this arrangement suit you ? " 
 
 " Perfectly," he replied, and, afraid that his manner would 
 cause them to doubt the wisdom of their choice, he roused 
 himself, by great effort, questioned them intelligently as to 
 the duties he was to assume, made notes of their replies, 
 and was told that he would receive written instructions be- 
 fore his departure, and, from time to time, after he reached 
 his destination- 
 
 There was some little comment, after he left the office, 
 upon the peculiar manner in which he had received their 
 offer, and his apparent eagerness to lose no time in getting 
 away. 
 
 " I don't exactly like it," said one of the younger men. 
 " It looks to me very much as if he were in some kind of a 
 scrape, and not only glad of the opportunity to go, but 
 anxious to be quick about it. I am not sure that we were 
 wise to clinch the business so promptly." 
 
 " I do not think you need be uneasy," replied the head of 
 the firm. " I have been watching that young man more 
 carefully than he knows, for some time, and I have entire 
 confidence in his integrity, which, in this case, is really the 
 chief requisite. He will have plenty of intelligent help 
 about the details of the business, and as for his eagerness 
 to get away, most young fellows would be glad enough of 
 the chance, danger and all. And if he is in any sort of a 
 scrape, it's probably some fuss with a girl he's a good-
 
 WA YS AND MEANS. 337 
 
 looking youngster, very and that is no earthly concern of 
 ours." 
 
 And so, in an hour's time, it was settled, and Neil Dun- 
 can, instead of trying to rewrite his letter, added a post- 
 script, stating briefly that he had just accepted a business- 
 commission which would oblige him to sail for India the 
 following Saturday, sealed the letter, and posted it, without 
 rereading it, for he was afraid that, should he read it again, 
 he would destroy it, and make the vain and hopeless 
 attempt to write something more to his mind. 
 
 Muriel had meant to write to him on Monday ; to tell him 
 of the growing happiness in her heart, the growing certainty 
 that she loved him ; but she had the feeling which some- 
 times comes in a morning dream, that if she spoke the 
 dream might vanish. 
 
 " I will wait till to-morrow," she whispered to herself, 
 " and perhaps I shall be even surer, then." 
 
 She had spoken to no one but Aunt Sally, and the state 
 of beaming delight which Miss Bowne could not conceal, 
 while it drew attention to her, aroused no suspicion as to its 
 cause, for no one knew any thing of Neil Duncan's visit. 
 
 His letter came to Muriel the next evening, just as the 
 family was going to tea. She had seen his writing before, 
 and knew it at once, so she put the letter in her pocket, 
 and, before the long summer twilight had quite faded, she 
 managed to escape alone to the bench among the hazel- 
 bushes, for she wished to read it there. And there, an hour 
 later, Aunt Sally found her. It was nearly dark, and the 
 dew was heavy on the grass, but Muriel had no wrap, and 
 was shivering in her thin summer dress. Aunt Sally was 
 indignant, and was about to give her indignation words, 
 when something in Muriel's attitude and her perfect silence 
 changed the words into : 
 
 " My child, what is the matter ? "
 
 33 8 WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 " I don't know I don't understand," she answered, in 
 dreamy, puzzled tones. " There must be some mistake 
 some very strange mistake." 
 
 " Come straight into the house, before you catch your 
 death of cold ; come up to my room, and tell me there," 
 said Aunt Sally, putting her. arm about Muriel, and almost 
 lifting her from the bench. 
 
 They reached the house, and the up-stairs room, without 
 meeting any one. A lamp was burning on the candlestand 
 and Muriel held out the letter, saying : 
 
 " Please read it, aunty ; please tell me what you think it 
 means," and Aunt Sally took it, and read : 
 
 " MY DEAR Miss DOUGLAS. 
 
 " When I saw you yesterday, I was under a delusion, 
 which I can not possibly explain, but the knowledge of which 
 makes me deeply thankful that you could not give me the 
 answer for which I then wished. I ask you now to forget 
 all that I said, and to be again the friend whom I value, 
 permitting me to be always your friend. 
 
 " NEIL DUNCAN. 
 
 " I sail for India on Saturday next, by request of the firm 
 in whose employ I am, and on their business. I cannot tell 
 when I shall return. 
 
 " God bless and keep you." 
 
 The last line was added in a hurried scrawl, different from 
 the neat writing of the rest of the note, and was blotted by 
 the envelope. 
 
 Aunt Sally dropped into the nearest chair, as soon as she 
 had finished reading this extraordinary document, and for 
 once could find no adequate words in which to clothe her 
 thoughts. But Muriel's beseeching, questioning look made 
 her feel that she must say something, so she gasped oat : 
 
 " Of course there is a mistake. Somebody has told him
 
 IV A YS AND JIEANS. 339 
 
 some extraordinary thing. It will all be set right before he 
 goes away, and then may be he will not go at all. You 
 hadn't written to him since you saw him, had you, dear?" 
 
 " No ; I was waiting till to-morrow," replied Muriel, with 
 whom utter perplexity seemed, as yet, to preclude any 
 deeper feeling. " I meant to write to-morrow, but I can 
 not now ; I must wait, now, until he tells me what he means. 
 I don't understand." 
 
 " Well, we will sleep on it, and see if we can think of a 
 way out in the morning things always seem clearer then," 
 said Aunt Sally, with assumed cheerfulness ; and she helped 
 Muriel, who did not seem to think of resisting, to undress, 
 and tucked her up in bed, without any more words. But 
 when she went to take away the lamp, Muriel said gently : 
 
 " Please leave me the light, aunty ; and please shut the 
 door between our rooms." 
 
 Aunt Sally complied with these requests, and then nerved 
 herself to go down to the parlor, intent on averting remark 
 or suspicion. 
 
 She was questioned at once, as she expected to be, as to 
 where Muriel was, and she replied promptly : 
 
 " The child didn't seem well. I'm afraid she has caught 
 cold, and I made her come up stairs and go to bed." 
 
 There was nothing out of the common in this, and while 
 they expressed regrets, they asked no more questions, and 
 Aunt Sally silently prayed to be forgiven for the untruth 
 which she felt that she had told, although all she said had 
 been strictly true. It was difficult for her to join in the 
 talk while she was racking her brain for a reason for Neil 
 Duncan's extraordinary conduct, and she was thankful when 
 the circle broke up for the night. But something Jack 
 Osborne was saying to Rose, as they stood at the window 
 looking out at the moonlight, arrested her attention, and 
 made her stop to question him.
 
 34 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 " It's the most astonishing thing, Rosamundi," he said, 
 " how people manage to get things twisted ! I met two or 
 three people in Boston to-day, who insisted that Miss Muriel 
 Douglas had lost every cent of her money through the ex- 
 plosion of that stock company which went up just about 
 when the bank did. And even when I mentioned, as a 
 suggestion that I might possibly know what I was talking 
 about, that both the Misses Douglas were visiting at my 
 summer residence I always call Dovedale that, it sounds 
 so well I don't think they quite believed me ! " 
 
 " Were any of them people I know ? " asked Aunt Sally, 
 with what struck Jack as singular interest in the matter. 
 
 " No, ma'am," he replied ; " but if there's any thing you'd 
 like me to do to them for you, I shall be most happy ! " 
 
 " I'll let you know if I think of any thing ! " she said. 
 " When does that train leave that you took this morning ? 
 At half-past eight ? " 
 
 " It leaves the Dovedale station at that time ; do be more 
 accurate, Aunt Sally ! " 
 
 " I'll be accurate enough in the morning, if you'll be ready 
 to drive me to that train ; I've got to go to Boston, to-mor- 
 row, on business." 
 
 " Oh, Aunty ! " said Rose, " isn't it any thing one of us 
 can attend to for you ; it's going to be so warm to-morrow." 
 
 " Thank you, my dear, but it's something that I must do 
 myself. Will you take me to the train, Jack ? " 
 
 " Certainly I will, if you must go, Aunt Sally; but I wish 
 your business would keep for cooler weather." 
 
 " So do I, but it won't. Good-night." 
 
 " I wouldn't say any thing more to her about it, if I were 
 you, Jack," said Rose. " I thought she seemed afraid we 
 would question her." 
 
 " I will talk about the weather all the way to the station. 
 But I wish she'd tell, and let us help her."
 
 ir.i YS AND MEANS. 34 1 
 
 When Miss Bowne reached Boston, she went straight to 
 the house where Neil Duncan was employed and asked to 
 see him. She happened to speak to a civil clerk, and so 
 was told that he was about to go to India for the firm, that 
 he was busy with his preparations, and would not be at the 
 office any more. She thanked her informant, and turned 
 away ; muttering to herself, 
 
 " There's one chance in ten, and I'll take it ! " 
 
 She went next to his lodgings, congratulating herself that 
 she knew the street and number. Yes, he was in, the ser- 
 vant said, but very busy packing, and she didn't think 
 
 " You go tell him that a lady an old lady is waiting to 
 see him, and will wait till he has time to see her ! " 
 
 And Aunt Sally entered the stuffy little parlor and sat 
 down on the hard-hearted hair-cloth sofa. She had not long 
 to wait. He came down at once, with a face so pale and 
 desperate that her wrath entirely subsided. 
 
 " Miss Bowne ! " he exclaimed : " What has any thing 
 happened ? Is any thing the matter ? " 
 
 " Yes, a good deal is the matter ! " she replied, sternly. 
 " You go to a girl who is worth a dozen of you, and tell her 
 you love her, as you'd have told her weeks ago? if you could 
 have forgotten about yourself, and your pride, and your 
 poverty, and you only condescend to do it now, because 
 you think she's lost all her money and you needn't step on 
 your precious pride to come to her. And then, when you 
 find you've been mistaken, and she hasn't lost her money, 
 you write a cowardly note, that leaves her no choice in the 
 matter, and pack your trunk and go to India ! " 
 
 " She had not accepted me," he said, confusedly. " She 
 asked me to wait for her answer." 
 
 " And do you suppose she'd have asked you to wait if 
 she'd meant to refuse you ? That's a poor come-off ! And 
 now do you look at yourself as if you were somebody else,
 
 342 WA YS AND MEANS. 
 
 and see if the whole sum and substance of the matter isn't 
 that you're afraid of what people will say about you. She 
 didn't know I was coming to you ; she'll not die of it, if you 
 go off and leave her this way ; she has too much sense for 
 that ! But if you really cared for her as you professed to 
 care, you wouldn't give her a five minutes' heart-ache. You 
 musn't think you'll get away from yourself by going to 
 India." 
 
 " It is true ! " he said, despairingly. " It was for myself 
 that I was afraid ! And if she cares for me, what does all 
 the rest of the world matter ? But I am pledged to go. I 
 can not draw back now. Oh, what shall I do ?" 
 
 " Come back with me, and beg her pardon, and make 
 her understand why you wrote that note, and see if she'll 
 give you a chance to prove whether you love her or not. And 
 it will not matter if you go to India for a year, or two, or 
 three years. You're both of you young enough, dear 
 knows ! " 
 
 He went. Aunt' Sally's attack had swept away all his 
 defenses, and made him see the coward's part he had been 
 playing. And as they were on their way to the station that 
 afternoon a brilliant piece of strategy occurred to the suc- 
 cessful general. She had slipped a note under Muriel's 
 door that morning in which she had said : 
 
 " You come to meet the afternoon train by yourself, my 
 dear, in the phaeton, but be sure you take the old horse ! " 
 
 And now she exclaimed : 
 
 " See here. Muriel was to meet me this afternoon with 
 the phaeton, but you can just tell her that I made up my 
 mind to go and spend the night with Miss Post, and she 
 can come to the same train, to-morrow." 
 
 So when Neil Duncan sailed for India, the next Saturday, 
 to be gone a year, it was with hopes which would make 
 all labor seem light to him.
 
 IV A YS AND MEANS. 343 
 
 And while Muriel waited for the year to go by, she made 
 each day of waiting a day of blessing, and her life grew 
 daily fuller of activities for neglected and down-trodden 
 bodies and souls. Pleasant things came to cheer her on 
 her way ; Miss Post's restored sight, the warm affection of 
 Lizzie Boyce, which would always act as a restraining 
 power, over that volatile young person ; the steady growth 
 in usefulness and power for good of her " station" in the 
 warehouse, where, month by month, additions were made to 
 the attractions of the place, and almost as frequently, to its 
 capacity for holding those who were attracted. 
 
 And while she prayed that her earthly hopes might be 
 fulfilled, it was no importunate prayer. She began to see 
 how often the crushed hopes of one heart yield the wine of 
 life for many others, and she stood humbly ready to serve, 
 in sorrow or in joy, the Master in whose footsteps she was 
 trying to walk. 
 
 THE END
 
 1 j