"If I only knew you and you were nice like the boys in the books I read, how many things we could talk over! I could ask you about all the things that really matter--the things that grandmother won't even let me mention. Thomas, I'm really not too young to be told things. I'd grow up all in a minute if I could be with girls my own age. But I don't expect you'll understand, so I won't write any more. I've said some of the things I wanted to and that makes me feel a little tit better." She hesitated over the ending, and finally decided just to sign her name. Then without reading over what she had written, lest her resolve weaken, she folded up the paper and put it into its envelope. Boru's tail thumping on the floor made her conscious of steps outside her door, and she hastily finished writing the address and slipped the letter into her pocket just as Martha opened her door. "Now, Miss Janet, not dressed for your tea, and it almost six o'clock, and Mrs. Waters with your grandmother and wanting to see you! Tut, tut!" Martha shook her gray head in real despair. She was a kindly old woman, who had served faithfully all her life, but because it was so simple for her to do what was expected of her always she had never understood how hard it was sometimes for others; but she was never cross and usually contented herself with saying, "Tut, tut!" in her mild old voice at all Janet's failings. "What does Mrs. Waters want me for?" Janet asked. A vision of Harry's mother retailing the afternoon's adventure with the snake made her heart sink. "I couldn't say, my dear," Martha replied placidly. "Your grandmother sent me to get you. Here now, brush up your hair a bit. Are your hands clean?" Janet submitted to being tidied up, and then hurried downstairs to her grandmother's room. Mrs. Waters was seated in the visitor's chair, her back to the door, but she turned around as Janet entered and smiled a welcome. Mrs. Page spoke: "Janet, what is all this I hear about your knowing how to take care of sick dogs?" she inquired crossly. Janet hesitated. She did know a good deal about the care of all animals, but she was at a loss as to how to explain her knowledge to her grandmother. "Well, do you or don't you know anything about them?" Mrs. Page insisted impatiently. "Yes, I do know about them." Janet's reply came so quickly that it surprised herself. Her grandmother looked at her for a long minute and then nodded her head. "Very well; go with Mrs. Waters and do what you can for her dog," she said sharply, and then to indicate that the interview was at an end she turned her back on her visitors. Mrs. Waters took Janet's arm and hurried out of the room. She was a timid little woman, very easily silenced, and she still spoke in a half whisper when they were out of the house. "It's Roy, my dear, our English setter; he has hurt his paw, and the veterinary is away," she explained.