Trude's quiet words poured balm on Sidney's soul. At last--at _last_ these three sisters realized she was fifteen. It _hadn't_ been the Egg itself she had wanted--it had been to have them reckon her in on their absurd family cogitations. She drew the sleeve of her blouse across her eyes and faced them. "I want to go somewhere, to live somewhere where I won't be Joseph Romley's daughter! I want to wear clothes like the other girls and go to a boarding school and never set eyes on a book of poetry. I want adventure and to do exciting things. I want--" Isolde stemmed the outpour with a shocked rebuke. "Sid, I don't think you realize how disrespectful what you are saying is to our father's memory! He has left us something that is far greater than wealth. A great many girls would gladly change places with you and enjoy being the daughter of a poet--" "Oh, tush!" Quite unexpectedly Sidney found an ally in Vicky. "Issy, you've acted your part so often, poor dear, that you really think we _are_ blessed by the gods in having been born to a poet. And poor as church mice! I wish someone _would_ change places with me long enough for me to eat a few meals without hearing you and Trude talk about how much flour costs and how we're going to pay the milk bill. Yes, a _fine_ heritage! Poor Dad, he couldn't help being a poet, but I'll bet he wishes now he'd been a plasterer or something like that--for _our_ sakes, of course. I'm not kicking, I'm as game as you are, and I'm willing to carry on about Dad's memory and all that--it's the least _we_ can do in return for what the League's done for us, but just among ourselves we might enjoy the emotion of sighing for the things other girls do and have, mightn't we?" Sidney had certainly started something! The very atmosphere of the familiar room in which they were assembled seemed charged with strange currents. Never had any family council taken such a tone. Sidney thrilled to the knowledge that she was now a vital part of it. Her eyes, so recently wet, brightened and her cheeks flushed. So interested was she in what Issy would answer to Vick that she ignored the opening Vick had made for her. But it was Trude who answered Vicky--Trude, the peaceful.