"I hope you'll like to see the house," said Lydia, as if she had not
heard; "of course, being here every day I don't notice the changes as
you might."

"You aren't living here yet, are you?" asked Mrs. Dix. "I understood
Mrs. Solomon Black to say you weren't going to leave her for awhile
yet."

"No; I shall be there nights and Sundays till everything is finished
here," said Lydia. "Mrs. Black makes me very comfortable."

"Well, I think most of us ladies had ought to give you a vote of
thanks on account of feeding the men-folks, noons," put in Mrs.
Dodge. "It saves a lot of time not to have to look after a
dinner-pail."

"Mother," interrupted Fanny in a thin, sharp voice, quite unlike her
own, "you know Jim always comes home to his dinner."

"Well, what if he does; I was speaking for the rest of th' women,"
said Mrs. Dodge. "I'm sure it's very kind of Miss Orr to think of
such a thing as cooking a hot dinner for all those hungry men."

Mrs. Dodge had received a second check from the assignees that very
morning from the sale of the old bank building, and she was
proportionately cheerful and content.

"Well; if this isn't handsome!" cried Mrs. Dix, pausing in the hall
to look about her. "I declare I'd forgotten how it used to look. This
is certainly better than having an old ruin standing here. But, of