Aunt Charlotte looked down at it. One tremulous finger traced the pattern of wheels and circles and blocks. "I always thought I'd give it to the first one of the family that married. But Belle--of course not, in that grand apartment. For awhile I thought Charley and that young lad--I'd have liked to tell them how I came to make it. The boy would have liked to hear it. Jesse Dick. He'd have understood. But he's gone to war again. Jesse Dick has gone to war again. Oh, dear! Why didn't Charlotte marry him before he went?" "She's wandering a little," Lottie thought, with a pang. "After all, she's very old. We haven't realised." Aloud she said, smiling, "And how about me, Charlotte Thrift? You're forgetting your old niece entirely." "No, I haven't forgotten you, Lottie. I think I got it out because of you to-day. A curious feeling. Something's going to happen. I've lived a long time, Lottie. Nearly seventy-six years. Old maids usually don't live that long. Did you know that? Short-lived, they are--unmarried women. Here I am, nearing seventy-six. And every now and then I get the feeling--that unsettled feeling as if something might still happen in my life. I don't know. It's like listening for a bell to ring. Something's going to happen." Lottie looked at her strangely, almost fearfully. She stooped, suddenly, and gathered Aunt Charlotte and the silk quilt into her arms. "Oh, Aunt Charlotte! Aunt Charlotte! I've done something terrible. I'm scared, I'm----" "Lot-tie!" from the foot of the stairs. "Lottie! What's the matter with you and Aunt Charlotte! Dinner's waiting." "You don't say!" Aunt Charlotte stood up facing Lottie, suddenly alert, vitalised. "You don't say!" Something about the commonplaceness of her expression of approval seemed to restore Lottie's balance. "Don't let her scare you. They always try and if you're weak you give in. But don't you. Don't you!" A sudden suspicion--"It isn't that pink fat man!" "Ben? No. It's something I never thought I'd----" "What's it matter? Only don't give in." She propelled her almost fiercely ahead of her to the stairway and down to the dining room. It was as though she feared Lottie would change her mind if they paused on the way. All through dinner Aunt Charlotte glowed and beamed upon her. Occasionally she shook her head vehemently to convey encouragement to the silent Lottie. Jeannette was full of plans for the evening. "If we don't start early we won't get there in time for the first show and then we'll have to stand and wait. They say it's a wonderful picture. The man who takes the part of the Kaiser looks exactly like him." Evidently she and Mrs. Payson were going Hunning among the films. Aunt Charlotte looked up from her dessert. "I thought you wanted me to show you that new block stitch this evening." Jeannette's knitting was more ambitious than expert.