“There—that’s just what I won’t have, Miss Charity,” Dr. Spencer said, quickly and decidedly, leaning forward to force her gently back on the pillows. “You’re to keep still, and _not worry_. There’ll be somebody in the village we can get to come and stay here while Ricky’s at school. Just wait a bit till I mull over the list of lone females of my acquaintance.” He grinned cheerfully, but both ladies were too troubled to meet his humor, and made no reply. Silence descended on the room for a moment, and then Mrs. Folger leaned toward her sister-in-law, her face full of a half-pleading, half-eager triumph. “I’ve got it, sister,” she declared. “You must rent this house to Sally Gardiner’s daughter. You know she’s been hunting high and low for something here on Orange Street near her mother. And she’s well fixed, since her marriage, to pay a good price for it, too. Then you and Erica can come to me.” “Hooray!” burst out Lis, irrepressibly, flashing his mother an approving glance. “That’s the best notion I ever heard! Now, then, Doctor, tell Aunt Charity that’s your prescription, and that she’s to take it quietly, like a sensible woman.” “It’s exactly what I will do, Lis,” Dr. Spencer concurred, in high delight. “Never heard of a better-worked-out plan, myself. And Sara’ll be as pleased as all the rest of us. I’ve heard her say, many’s the time, this was the homeiest, most comfortable house in the whole of town. So _that’s_ settled, and I’ll—with your permission, Miss Charity—just drop in at old Mrs. Gardiner’s on my way home, and tell them both the house’s in the market. Sara’ll jump at it like a hungry trout at a fly.” He got to his feet, and stood rocking back and forth on his flat-toed shoes, ponderously, surveying the little group before him with a beaming smile. Miss Charity returned the smile doubtfully, her eyes going to Mrs. Folger questioningly. “Do you really think it wise, Callie?” she asked. “It will make so much extra work for you—and you not any too strong, either. But I’ll own I’d be easier in my mind.” She turned a little, and Mrs. Folger bent over, with rare demonstration, and laid her hand on the thin, bony one resting on the coverlet. “Of course you would, and so would I—a hundred times easier,” she said. “Besides, with two strong girls like Milly Thorne and Erica in the house to help me, and Lis here for the heavy chores, there won’t be a mite of difference in the work, so far as I’m concerned. That’s a right clever idea of yours, Doctor, to stop in and tell Sara and her mother tonight, before they have a chance to decide on anything else. Sister and I’ll be much obliged to you. The quicker I get her over in the big four-poster in my front room, the happier I’ll be. I’ll have another bed moved into the east room, where Milly sleeps, for Erica. It’s plenty big enough for two girls, though I always hold with folk each having a bed to themselves, if it’s anyway possible.”