“No, but I could find out this afternoon. I’m going to Ladies’ Aid an’ Mrs. Powers is always there. Her husband’s on the Board of Trustees, and she mostly knows everything about education. I’ll ask her.” “Thank you,” said Joyce gladly, “I should be so glad if there was some chance for me to get my try-out before next year, for I really want to teach. I’m hoping for a position. I can get along with almost anything else in the way of a job until then. I’d like to take my examinations while everything is fresh in my mind. I’ve been studying hard all the spring for them.” “Well, I’ll see if that can’t be arranged somehow. There ought to be somebody round that has got some pull with the school board. Meantime, if you find a job and want references, just send ’em to me. I’ll be glad to tell anybody you’re all right.” “But you don’t know me, Mrs. Bryant. How could you give me a recommendation?” laughed Joyce in amazement. “I know you all I need to know,” said the good woman decidedly. “You’re a good girl and a capable girl. Nine out of every ten girls I know would have screamed and run for the fire company instead of stalking in here and doing something. And I can’t be sure of one that would have come in here and helped me the way you did with that dinner when I was hard put to it, not even for pay. They’d have had too much to do in their own affairs. And if they had come after urging they wouldn’t have known what to do without being told at every turn. You told me, and you made things go, and I say you’re a smart girl and a good girl.” Such praise from a stranger was sweet to Joyce’s lonely soul and she found the tears welling to her eyes, but she choked them back with a smile: “Thank you, Mrs. Bryant, I’ll try to live up to the recommendation you’re giving me. I only hope you won’t ever have reason to take it back.” “Well, I don’t believe I shall. Now don’t hesitate to ask for anything you want to borrow, and let me know if there’s anything I can do for you. By the way, if you want to clean any before you get a stove just come over and get hot water. I’m going out this afternoon, but I’ll leave the kitchen key under the door mat and if you want to, just come in and put on the teakettle and get all the hot water you need.” So Joyce went down the short path to her own door with gratitude in her heart and a ten dollar bill in her hand, saying over to herself the words that had leaped to her lips of a sudden out of the stores of the past when she and Aunt Mary learned whole chapters out of the Bible and repeated them to one another: “And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord.” “Isn’t it almost funny,” she said to herself thoughtfully, “The money comes back just as fast as I spend it for the things I need, faster in fact. It’s wonderful to be cared for this way!” CHAPTER XIV