"Yes, Mamsey, just for that. Wasn’t I a silly?" And then Donelle would look into Jo’s deep, strange eyes and say: "You never run and hide any more, Mamsey. I see how glad you are; how you love me! Kiss me, Mamsey. Isn’t it strange that I had to teach you to kiss me? Now don’t keep thinking you mustn’t be happy, it’s our duty to be happy." Donelle gloried in her triumph. Jo dropped a good many years in that winter and Nick inherited his second puppyhood. He no longer doubted, he no longer had a struggle of choice, for Mam’selle and Donelle kept close. They read and worked together, and sometimes while Jo worked Donelle played those tunes that made Nick yearn to howl. But he saw they did not understand his feelings so he controlled himself. "And when spring comes, child, you will go to Mrs. Lindsay, won’t you?" Jo played her last card. "You see, it has all been going out and nothing coming in for years. You cost a pretty figure, Donelle, though I never grudged a cent, God knows! But you must help now, I’m seeing old age in the distance." "Come spring," whispered Donelle, and she struck into the Spring Song, "we’ll see, we’ll see! But, Mamsey, we can always keep boarders. I should love that and you have always dreamed of it. That room upstairs," the lovely tones rose and fell, "I can just see how some tired soul would look into that room and find peace. We’d make good things for him to eat, we’d play the fiddle for him, and——" "A man’s so messy," Jo put in, "I’d hate to have the room messed after all these years." "Well, there are women boarders," Donelle was adaptable to possibilities. "We’d be firm about messiness; man or woman. How much are you going to charge, Mamsey?" This was a joke between them. Longville’s rapacity disgusted Jo. On the other hand, she felt that what one got for nothing he never valued. It was a nice question. "I’m figuring about the price, child. The Longvilles never count what the boarders give them besides money." "What do they give, Mamsey?" "Rightly handled, they give much. Think, Donelle," Jo’s eyes lighted, "they come from here, there, and everywhere! If they are treated right, they can let you share what they know. Why once, when I was waiting on table at the Longvilles’, there was a man who had been around the world! Around the world, child, all around it. One day he got talking, real quiet, to the man next to him and I’ll never forget some things he said. I got so interested I stood stock still with a dish in my hands. I stood until——" "Until what, Mamsey?" "Until the Captain called from the kitchen." "Oh! my poor, Mamsey. Well, dear, our boarder shall talk and we’ll not stop him and you shall not be called from the kitchen." "You are laughing, Donelle." "No, Mamsey, just planning."