love. And will you get a basin and sponge my hands?"

Roberta obeyed. When she had done everything she could to make
Mother less uncomfortable, she went down to the others. Her cheeks
were very red, her lips set tight, and her eyes almost as bright as
Mother's.

She told them what the Doctor had said, and what Mother had said.

"And now," said she, when she had told all, "there's no one but us
to do anything, and we've got to do it. I've got the shilling for
the mutton."

"We can do without the beastly mutton," said Peter; "bread and
butter will support life. People have lived on less on desert
islands many a time."

"Of course," said his sister. And Mrs. Viney was sent to the
village to get as much brandy and soda-water and beef tea as she
could buy for a shilling.

"But even if we never have anything to eat at all," said Phyllis,
"you can't get all those other things with our dinner money."

"No," said Bobbie, frowning, "we must find out some other way. Now
THINK, everybody, just as hard as ever you can."

They did think. And presently they talked. And later, when Bobbie
had gone up to sit with Mother in case she wanted anything, the
other two were very busy with scissors and a white sheet, and a