"She knocked out partitions, took down fire-boards, threw out a good parlor set and lugged in tables and chairs from all over, put big panes of glass where there was little ones--in some places, she did, and only the good angels and Susan Winchester knows why she didn't change 'em all, they're terrible mean to wash--made the front hall into a setting room and the parlor into a bedroom, got two bathrooms and no dining room--well, to make a long story short, this house is now Susan Winchester. Anybody that knows Susan would know it was her house if they see it in China. "Did you learn to keep house with your mother?" The transition was so abrupt that Anne started. "I--my aunt brought me up--and nine cousins," she answered. "My aunt is as unlike Burt's as you can imagine, but just as dear and good. She had a big family, and there was never time enough to have her home as she wanted it--so she thought--and I thought so, too--but yet--Aunt Milly's home was always full of happy children, and, perhaps, that's what she really wanted, more than dainty furnishings or a spotless kitchen." "Folks, mostly, get what they want, even if they don't know it," confirmed Mrs. Brown. "Look at the Admiral, here. He don't want to come over and live with me, same as Susan meant he should. He wants to stay right in his own home, and have his meals and petting same as usual, and here you come along today and give them to him. Trouble is, folks don't always know what it is they want." When Mrs. Brown went back to her own dinner, she left Anne with something to think about. Washing the dishes in Aunt Susan's white sink, which was fitted to that very purpose, drying them upon a rack which held every dish apart from its neighbors, and, finally, polishing the quaintly shaped pieces upon Aunt Susan's checked towel, which remained dry and spotless; opening every drawer and cupboard to see that all was left in the dainty order she had found there, Anne had a clear vision of the blue and silver furnishings at the Kensington. What had she told Burt: "It doesn't look like either of us"?--while Aunt Susan's home-- "Burt," she called, "come and answer this question. Did you come to Byrnton instead of Branton on purpose?" "What's this?" said Burt. "Cross-examination?" "It's an examination, surely, but I won't be cross," replied Anne, with a rare dimple. "You must answer my question truly." "Yes, Your Honor," said Burt. "I did, Your Honor." "Did you know your Aunt Susan wouldn't be home?" "Our Aunt Susan," corrected Burt.--"No, Your Honor--that is, I thought--" "You knew she was going to California?" "Yes, Your Honor." "This summer?" "I didn't know exactly when--honestly, Nan, I did want you to meet her." "Why?"' "I knew you'd like the way she keeps house. I didn't realize that the house could speak for itself, without her.--You do like it, Nan?"