"My dear Jane, I am sorry, but I shall have to ask you to be as satisfied as you can be with the arrangements I am able to make for you. You see, even though this house is large, I am, in a way, cramped for room. I always have to keep three guest-rooms ready for immediate occupancy. I am a member of four clubs and six charitable and religious organizations, besides the church, and there are always ministers and delegates whom I feel it my duty to entertain." "But that is all the more reason why I should go upstairs, and not put all those children out of their rooms," begged Jane. Mrs. Pendergast shook her head. "It does them good," she said decidedly, "to learn to be self-sacrificing. That is a virtue we all must learn to practice." Jane flushed again; then she turned abruptly. "Julia, did you want me to--to come to see you?" she asked. "Why, certainly; what a question!" returned Mrs. Pendergast, in a properly shocked tone of voice. "As if I could do otherwise than to want my husband's sister to come to us." Jane smiled faintly, but her eyes were troubled. "Thank you; I'm glad you feel--that way. You see, at Fred's--I wouldn't have them know it for the world, they were _so_ good to me--but I thought, lately, that maybe they didn't want--But it wasn't so, of course. It couldn't have been. I--I ought not even to think it." "Hm-m; no," returned Mrs. Pendergast, with noncommittal briefness. Not six weeks later Mary, in her beautiful Commonwealth Avenue home, received a call from a little, thin-faced woman, who curtsied to the butler and asked him to please tell her sister that she wished to speak to her. Mary looked worried and not over-cordial when she rustled into the room. "Why, Jane, did you find your way here all alone?" she cried. "Yes--no--well, I asked a man at the last; but, you know, I've been here twice before with the others." "Yes, I know," said Mary. There was a pause; then Jane cleared her throat timidly. "Mary, I--I've been thinking. You see, just as soon as I'm strong enough, I--I'm going to take care of myself, and then I won't be a burden to--to anybody." Jane was talking very fast now. Her words came tremulously between short, broken breaths. "But until I get well enough to earn money, I can't, you see. And I've been thinking;--would you be willing to take me until--until I can? I'm lots better, already, and getting stronger every day. It wouldn't be for--long." "Why, of course, Jane!" Mary spoke cheerfully, and in a tone a little higher than her ordinary voice. "I should have asked you to come here before, only I feared you wouldn't be happy here--such a different life for you, and so much noise and confusion with Belle's wedding coming on, and all!" Jane gave her a grateful glance.