the kitchen and the front room from me. She sews on carpets and the
place she works at is right far from here. She warn't well last
winter--some kind of misery is always on her--and she asked me to
board her so she wouldn't have to do no cooking before she goes away
in the morning and when she comes back at night."

"With a swift movement of her hand Mrs. Gibbons caught the little
girl, who, behind her back, was making ready to slip off the bed and
on the floor, but as she swung her again in place she kept up her
talking, and by neither rise nor fall was the monotone of her voice
broken.

"I had to get up at five so as to have breakfast in time, for I can't
get the room warm and the things cooked in less'n an hour, and she
has to leave here a little after six so as to take her little girl to
the nursery before she goes to her place, and they ain't noways close
together. The stars are shining when she goes out and they're
shining when she comes in; that is, if the weather's good. She's
been so wore out lately she's been taking her meals again with me,
but I don't see much of her. She goes to bed the minute she's
through supper."

Bettina twisted in her chair. "Do you eat and sleep in here, too?"
she asked. Her eyes were on Mrs. Gibbons. Carefully she kept them
from mine. "Do you always eat in here?"

"We eat in here all the time and sleep in here in winter, because
there ain't but one fire. That goes out early, which is why the
water freezes. Jimmy has to bring it up from the yard in buckets,
and as the nurse-lady who comes down here says we must have fresh air