THE HOME-MAKER _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ THE SQUIRREL-CAGE A MONTESSORI MOTHER MOTHERS AND CHILDREN THE BENT TWIG THE REAL MOTIVE FELLOW CAPTAINS (With SARAH N. CLEGHORN) UNDERSTOOD BETSY HOME FIRES IN FRANCE THE DAY OF GLORY THE BRIMMING CUP ROUGH-HEWN RAW MATERIAL THE HOME-MAKER BY DOROTHY CANFIELD [Illustration] NEW YORK HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC. COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY THE CROWELL PUBLISHING COMPANY, IN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY RAHWAY, N. J. THE HOME-MAKER PART ONE Chapter 1 I She was scrubbing furiously at a line of grease spots which led from the stove towards the door to the dining-room. That was where Henry had held the platter tilted as he carried the steak in yesterday. And yet if she had warned him once about that, she had a thousand times! Warned him, and begged of him, and implored him to be careful. The children simply paid no attention to what she said. None. She might as well talk to the wind. _Hot_ grease too! That soaked into the wood so. She would never get it clean. She shook the surplus of water from her scrubbing-brush, sat back on her heels, sprinkled cleaning-powder on the bristles--the second can of cleaning-powder this month, and the price gone up so!--and setting her strong teeth hard, flew at the spots again, her whole body tense with determination. A sober-faced little boy in clean gingham rompers, with a dingy Teddy-bear in his arms, appeared at the door of the dining-room behind her, looked in cautiously, surveyed his mother’s quivering, energetic back for an instant, and retreated silently without being seen. She stopped, breathless, dipped her hand into the pail of hot soapy water, and brought out a hemmed, substantial floor-cloth, clean and whole. When, with a quick twist, she had wrung this out, she wiped the suds from the floor and looked sharply at the place she had been scrubbing. The grease spots still showed, implacably dark against the white wood about them. Her face clouded, she gave a smothered exclamation and seized the scrubbing-brush again. In the next room a bell tinkled. The telephone! It always rang when it would bother her most. She dropped her brush, stood up with one powerful thrust of her body, and went to wipe her hands on the roller-towel which hung, smooth and well-ironed, by the sink. The bell rang again. Exasperated by its unreasonableness, she darted across the dining-room and snatched the receiver from the hook. “Yes, this is Mrs. Knapp.” ....... “Oh, it’s you, Mattie.” ....... “Oh, all about as usual here, thank you. Helen has one of her awful colds, but not so I have to keep her at home. And Henry’s upset again, that chronic trouble with his digestion. The doctor doesn’t seem to do him any good.” ....... “No, my eczema is no worse. On my arm now.” .......