anything from me. He won't buy clothes, but I guess he'd
wear 'em if he had 'em. I've never had any clothes to give
him, having so many to make over for."

"I'll have Larry bring the coat around to-night. You
aren't cross with me, Thea?" taking her hand.

Thea grinned warmly. "Not if you give Professor
Wunsch a coat--and things," she tapped the grapes sig-
nificantly. The doctor bent over and kissed her.



III


Being sick was all very well, but Thea knew from
experience that starting back to school again was
attended by depressing difficulties. One Monday morning
she got up early with Axel and Gunner, who shared her
wing room, and hurried into the back living-room, between
the dining-room and the kitchen. There, beside a soft-coal
stove, the younger children of the family undressed at night
and dressed in the morning. The older daughter, Anna,
and the two big boys slept upstairs, where the rooms were
theoretically warmed by stovepipes from below. The first
(and the worst!) thing that confronted Thea was a suit of
clean, prickly red flannel, fresh from the wash. Usually
the torment of breaking in a clean suit of flannel came on
Sunday, but yesterday, as she was staying in the house,