“We said we'd come over right off--and tried to bring him--but he said he'd got to go back to the store,” Coraline explained. “He was mad though!” said Dora--“_I_ know.” Diantha looked from one to the other helplessly. “Come in! Come in!” said Mrs. Bell hospitably. “Have this rocker, Mrs. Warden--wouldn't you like some cool drink? Diantha?” “No indeed!” Mrs. Warden protested. “Don't get a thing. We're going right back, it's near supper time. No, we can't think of staying, of course not, no indeed!--But we had to come over and hear about this dear child's idea!--Now tell us all about it, Diantha!” There they sat--five pairs of curious eyes--and her mother's sad ones--all kind--all utterly incapable of understanding. She moistened her lips and plunged desperately. “It is nothing dreadful, Mrs. Warden. Plenty of girls go away to earn their livings nowadays. That is all I'm doing.” “But why go away?” “I thought you were earning your living before!” “Isn't teaching earning your living?” “What _are_ you going to do?” the girls protested variously, and Mrs. Warden, with a motherly smile, suggested!!!!! “That doesn't explain your wanting to leave Ross, my dear--and your mother!” “I don't want to leave them,” protested Diantha, trying to keep her voice steady. “It is simply that I have made up my mind I can do better elsewhere.” “Do what better?” asked Mrs. Warden with sweet patience, which reduced Diantha to the bald statement, “Earn more money in less time.” “And is that better than staying with your mother and your lover?” pursued the gentle inquisitor; while the girls tried, “What do you want to earn more money for?” and “I thought you earned a lot before.” Now Diantha did not wish to state in so many words that she wanted more money in order to marry sooner--she had hardly put it to herself that way. She could not make them see in a few moments that her plan was to do far more for her mother than she would otherwise ever be able to. And as to making them understand the larger principles at stake--the range and depth of her full purpose--that would be physically impossible. “I am sorry!” she said with trembling lips. “I am extremely sorry. But--I cannot explain!” Mrs. Warden drew herself up a little. “Cannot explain to me?--Your mother, of course, knows?” “Diantha is naturally more frank with me than with--anyone,” said Mrs. Bell proudly, “But she does not wish her--business--plans--made public at present!” Her daughter looked at her with vivid gratitude, but the words “made public” were a little unfortunate perhaps. “Of course,” Mrs. Warden agreed, with her charming smile, “that we can quite understand. I'm sure I should always wish my girls to feel so. Madeline--just show Mrs. Bell that necktie you're making--she was asking about the stitch, you remember.”