“_That?_” stammered Julie. “That--that lady that just went down the steps--Miss Fogg’s niece?” Mrs. Watkins nodded. “M--h’m, that’s the wonderful niece. She asked me did Miss Fogg live here, and when she went away she told me she was her niece. She’s been upstairs with the old soul a right smart spell, an’ I heard her tell her when she left she’d be back to see her again in a couple of days. She said she was going to Camp Lee for a day or so. When she left I seen she’d been cryin’.” “Yes,” Julie said, “I saw that, too.” “I reckon it must of upset her to find the old lady so bad off. Soon as she’d gone I flew upstairs to see how the old soul was takin’ it. But she’s got her door locked, an’ wouldn’t answer or let on she was there when I called her name. Oh, I reckon I’m too common to hear about the grand niece! But you go up, dearie, an’ hear the news. She’s your baby--she’ll talk for you.” “I--I _can’t_!” Julie gasped and put her hand to her head. “I feel so--Oh, I feel so bad,” she faltered. “Why, you do look real white!” Mrs. Watkins exclaimed with concern. “What’s the matter? How do you feel bad?” Julie sat weakly down in a chair. “I--feel--shaky,” she got out slowly, speaking with difficulty. “You lie right down, an’ don’t do a thing for a spell. I’ll bet it’s the heat--you ain’t used to this city heat--an’ you seem to have a kind of a nervous chill, too.” “I’m--I’m all right,” Julie got out, struggling to keep her teeth from chattering. “I reckon it is the heat. I--Oh don’t--don’t bother. I’ll just lie--down a little bit.” She went unsteadily over, Mrs. Watkins piloting her, and lay down upon the sagging plush sofa, a sofa that had adjusted its spring to accommodate the weight, and probably the sorrows also, of many human beings before her. “Yes--now, that’s right,” Mrs. Watkins said, giving her a pat as she settled a cushion for her. “What you want is to keep right still. Don’t stir now. Just lay still an’ think about nice things. Think about Miss Fogg’s niece bein’ here at last. Ain’t that a wonder? It ought to please you, after you worked so hard to get her here.” Looking up at her from the sofa, Julie suddenly brought her hands tight together, and burst into a high startling scream of laughter. “Why, so it was! It _was_ all my doing!” she gasped, shaken by one shuddering gust of laughter after another. “What on earth ails you? That ain’t as funny as all that,” Mrs. Watkins cried. “Hush, hush now! Hold on to yourself, Mis’ Freeman. Quit that! You’ll be in hysterics d’rectly.” “No, no! It isn’t funny. I won’t laugh. I promise not to laugh,” Julie gasped, biting her lips hard together between sentences, and fighting to choke back the wild paroxysms. “I won’t laugh. And _she_ was crying! I saw her crying! Oh--” The tension broke and she collapsed into a flood of tears. “There now, that’s better.” Mrs. Watkins patted her shoulder. “Now you’ll be all right in a little bit.”