“Oh, I haven’t paid for them yet,” rejoined Katherine, easily. “They asked me if I would have them charged, and I said yes. I really thought it would be better to have a bill for them, and there may be more ready money when it comes in, and besides, I needed that money for something else—something that is to be a grand surprise for you all and is to help us make our fortunes. It is coming out by express this afternoon.” “Katherine, what have you been getting?” exclaimed Honor and Victoria together. “Oh, just wait!” cried Katherine, gaily, as she left them and went to her room to take off her hat and coat. “I tell you, it is to be a grand surprise. It is coming with the desks and chairs.” “What do you suppose it is?” asked Honor. “I am afraid to think,” returned Victoria, “and I think it was a great pity she had those things charged. Perhaps we shan’t have any money at all when the bill comes in.” “Oh, don’t be afraid, child! Katherine is extravagant, I must confess, but we have six pupils promised, you know, for the school, and she has eight music scholars. We shall be all right, I hope.” But in spite of these reassuring words Honor felt as uneasy as did Victoria about Katherine’s “surprise.” “What do you think of the new maid?” asked Victoria, presently. The sisters were in Honor’s room, darning the family stockings by the waning light of the short November day. “I don’t know what to think,” replied Honor, running her long needle in and out as she crossed and re-crossed a large hole. “I suppose Peter wears out his stockings so quickly because he is such a tramper, but this one is discouraging. Do you think it is worth while to spend our precious time over such a hole as this, Vic?” “I think the stocking would stand a little more wear,” said Vic, laying down her own work and examining critically that of her sister. “I like a good big hole if I am going to darn at all. Running over thin places bores me to death. It is just like life. A big hole is like a big calamity; you can rise above it. But the little botherations are like the thin places. You have got to go over them and patch them up, or else they will go altogether, and yet there is really nothing to show for it in the end, and the doing it tires you out. With a big hole or a big trouble you know just where you are and how you stand. But tell me what you think of the new maid.” “I am afraid she is like the thin places in the stockings,” said Honor, laughing as she made the comparison. “She requires a great deal of attention, and I don’t know where she is going to burst out next.” “What is her name?” “That is the queerest part of her. She told me it was ‘B.’ Lafferty.” “Bee?” repeated Victoria. “What a curious name! Do you suppose it is short for Beatrice?”