Likewise the whole place. The room had been cleared of rubbish and transformed by the magic of strong, eager hands and soap and water to a quaintly attractive sitting-room. The bareness added to its apparent size. Odd bits of hand-made furniture were disposed gracefully about and every natural comeliness made the most of. Even the stairway added something to the general attractiveness. A bit of old rug lay before it and another at the door. The windows had a strip of dark cloth above for a blind and a white curtain over the lower sash. A small sheet-iron stove, still rusty, but clean, warmed the place and held a tiny kettle in which the water was boiling. A stand in the corner was covered by a white tea cloth, apparently just out of the shop, and held a tea pot and two cups, which were also new and gaudily pretty, and a plate of sweet biscuit. “O Mr. Converse, you are a wizard surely!” cried the girl. “I really believe that you could turn yourself into whatever you wished. You could be an old gypsy woman or a fat man with bright-red hair and could walk the streets of Farleigh by day.” He laughed. “It was soap and water and elbow grease that did this. I am afraid they wouldn’t presto-change me so easily.” Then suddenly he paled. “Nevertheless, I have seen the time when soap and water might have worked wonders with me,” he declared bitterly. Alice looked at him in consternation. “Pardon me. It was awfully good of you to come,” he said in another tone. “I hoped you would, and I believed you would unless you were prevented. And really----” “You will stay right here now that you have made it so comfortable, won’t you?” Alice asked eagerly. “O, I didn’t do it for that. I wanted to have a decent place for you to come to,” he said, boyishly ingenuous. Despite his gaunt face, which was also lined, and his grey hair, he was really youthful as he spoke. “What a lot of work for a person you never saw but once,” she said. “I felt last night--when we saw Mr. Langley, you know--that we hadn’t settled anything--I mean, I thought I might help you--tell you about people or find out about those I don’t know--but----” She paused. “I’m talking for all the world like Miss Penny,” she owned. “What I mean to say is that I am glad I did manage to arrange to see you to-day and that I was able to get away. And I am glad you have done this because it will make it comfortable for you. You can stay here as long as you choose--make it your headquarters.” And she went on to say that she and her mother were to remain at the Hollow for some time. “You will stay, won’t you?” she begged. “It would be perfectly bully if I could,” he cried eagerly. “I could--well, reconnoiter from here in grand style.” But as he referred to his purpose in this region, the boyish look fled and he looked sad and perhaps old. And Alice remembered Enoch Arden and her heart ached for him.