Tabitha smiled with pleasure at this rare caress, and preened her head and thin shoulders with a bird-like motion. But then the serious side of her experience loomed once more before her, and the smile vanished as swiftly as it had come. “She’s not living with her father, you know. She and one of her half-sisters have had the back rooms rigged up to live in, and there they are by themselves. I guess she saw by my face that I didn’t think much of _that_ part of the business. Still, thank goodness, it’s only till the first of May!” “Shall you turn them out then, Tabitha?” Kate spoke seriously now. “The place has always been respectable, Kate, even if it is tumble-down. To be sure, I did hear certain stories about the family of the man who sold non-explosive oil there two years ago, and his wife frizzed her hair in a way that went against my grain, I must admit; but it would never do to have a scandal about one of my houses, not even _that_ one!” “I know nothing about these people, of course,” said Kate, slowly and thoughtfully; “but it seems to me, to speak candidly, Tabitha, that you are the only one who is making what you call a scandal. No--wait; let me finish. In some curious way the thought of this girl has kept itself in my head--perhaps it was because she came back here on the same train with me, or something else equally trivial. Perhaps she is as bad a character as you seem to think, but it may also be that she only wants a little help to be a good girl and to make an honest living for herself. To me, her starting a shop like that here in her native village seems to show that she wants to work.” “Why, Kate, everybody knows her character. There’s no secret in the world about _that_.” “But suppose I am right about her present wish. Suppose that she does truly want to rehabilitate herself. Would you like to have it on your conscience that you put so much as a straw in her way, let alone turned her out of the little home she has made for herself? I know you better than that, Tabitha: you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. But there is this other thing. You may do her a great deal of injury by talking about her, as, for example, you have been talking to me here to-day. I am going to ask you a favor, a real personal favor. I want you to promise me not to mention that girl’s name again to a living soul until--when shall I say?--until the first of May; and if anybody else mentions it, to say nothing at all. Now, will you promise that?” “Of course, if you wish it, but I assure you there wasn’t the slightest doubt in the world.”