"Your bed's all made up with the same sheets for you, Susan," she said cordially, "and I ain't even swept so as to spoil the homelike look. You'll see your own last burnt matches and all, just as you left 'em." "I've bought a bolt for my door," said Susan, "and I'll beg to borrow a screwdriver and something sharp to put it on with." "I'll get 'em," agreed Gran'ma Mullins happily, "and I won't wake you no more nights, Susan. I suppose it's only natural that you, never having been married, can't possibly know the feelings of a mother. But I meant it kindly, Susan. When Lucy speaks of Hiram, she means it unkindly. But when I speak of Hiram, I always mean it kindly." "Yes, I know," said Susan, "and if I believed like Mrs. Allen does, I'd know I was meant to listen and wouldn't mind. But I don't take no stock in that religion of Mrs. Allen's, and I won't be woke up. And although I don't want to hurt your feelings, I do want that understood right from the beginning." "I'll remember," said Gran'ma Mullins submissively. "And now I'll fetch the screwdriver." That evening the four friends sat pleasantly once again on Mrs. Macy's piazza. "Mrs. Lathrop had a letter from Jathrop to-day. Did you know that, Susan?" asked Mrs. Macy. "No, I didn't," returned Susan Clegg. "What did he say?" "He's going sailing to the West Indies in his new boat," Mrs. Macy informed her. "He's going for his health, and he's going to take three other millionaires and their own doctor." Susan appeared unimpressed. "He sent his mother a book about the place where he's going," said Mrs. Macy. "Do you want to see it?" She went in and brought it out. Susan took the volume and viewed the title with an indifferent eye. "_Stark's Guide to the Bahamas_," she read aloud. "What are they--something to eat?" "You're thinking of bananas," suggested Mrs. Macy. "It's islands. It's where Columbus hit first. Nobody knows just where he hit, but he hit there; everybody knows that." Susan placed the book under her arm. "I'll read it," she said briefly. "But I must say as to my order of thinking Jathrop's setting off just now is very much like a hen getting up from her eggs. Here's you and me--" addressing Mrs. Lathrop directly--"with our houses done away with, and him as has engineered the wreck skipping away with a parcel of men." "He isn't skipping," interposed Mrs. Macy. "He's sailing--sailing in his own private boat, like the tea-man with the cup." "Oh, I don't care what he's doing," said Susan, rising. "I'm about beat out, and I'm going home and going to bed. Such a week! The Bible says 'Whom the Lord loveth He chaseth,' and heaven knows I've been chased this week till my legs is about wore off. Such a week! I've had all the chasing I want for one while. And I never was great on being loved, so I'm going home and going to bed." Whereupon, with the _Guide to the Bahamas_ under her arm and a heavy fold between her brows, Susan Clegg stalked over to her temporary domicile.