Helen loved to hear her talk. And soon she and Mary Boyle were very well acquainted. One thing about the old nurse Helen liked immensely. She asked no questions. She accepted Helen's visit as a matter of course; yet she showed very plainly that she was glad to have a young face before her. But the girl from Sunset Ranch did not know how Mrs. Olstrom might view her making friends with the old lady; so she made her visit brief. But she promised to come again and bring a book to read to Mary Boyle. "Radin' is a great accomplishment, deary," declared the old woman. "I niver seemed able to masther it--although me mistress oft tried to tache me. But, sure, there was so much to l'arn about babies, that ain't printed in no book, that I was always radin' them an' niver missed the book eddication till I come to be old. But th' foine poethry me mistress useter be radin' me! Sure, 'twould almost put a body to slape, so swate and grand it was." So, Helen searched out a book of poems downstairs, and the next forenoon she ventured into the front suite again, and read ta Mary Boyle for an hour. The storm lasted several days, and each day the girl from the West spent more and more time with the little old woman. But this was all unsuspected by Uncle Starkweather and the three girls. If Mrs. Olstrom knew she said nothing. At least, she timed her own daily visits to the little old woman so that she would not meet Helen in the rooms devoted to old Mary's comfort. Nor were Helen's visits continued solely because she pitied Mary Boyle. How could she continue to pity one who did not pity herself? No. Helen received more than she gave in this strange friendship. Seeking to amuse the old nurse, she herself gained such an uplift of heart and mind that it began to counteract that spirit of sullenness that had entered into the Western girl when she had first come to this house and had been received so unkindly by her relatives. Instead of hating them, she began to pity them. How much Uncle Starkweather was missing by being so utterly selfish! How much the girls were missing by being self-centred! Why, see it right here in Mary Boyle's case! Nobody could associate with the delightful little old woman without gaining good from the association. Instead of being friends with the old nurse, and loving her and being loved by her, the Starkweather girls tucked her away in the attic and tried to ignore her existence. "They don't know what they're missing--poor things!" murmured Helen, thinking the situation over. And from that time her own attitude changed toward her cousins. She began to look out for chances to help them, instead of making herself more and more objectionable to Belle, Hortense, and Flossie. CHAPTER XXI BREAKING THE ICE As for Floss, Helen had already got a hold upon that young lady. "Come on, Helen!" the younger cousin would whisper after dinner. "Come up to my room and give me a start on these lessons; will you? That's a good chap."