“They seem just a trifle large, maybe,” said Elnora dubiously, and Wesley knelt to feel.  He and Margaret thought them a fit, and then Elnora appealed to her mother.  Mrs. Comstock appeared wiping her hands on her apron.  She examined the shoes critically.

“They seem to fit,” she said, “but they are away too fine to walk country roads.”

“I think so, too,” said Elnora instantly.  “We had better take these back and get a cheaper pair.”

“Oh, let them go for this time,” said Mrs. Comstock.  “They are so pretty, I hate to part with them.  You can get cheaper ones after this.”

Wesley and Margaret scarcely breathed for a long time.

When Wesley went to do the feeding.  Elnora set the table.  When the water was hot, Margaret pinned a big towel around Elnora’s shoulders and washed and dried the lovely hair according to the instructions she had been given the previous night.  As the hair began to dry it billowed out in a sparkling sheen that caught the light and gleamed and flashed.

“Now, the idea is to let it stand naturally, just as the curl will make it.  Don’t you do any of that nasty, untidy snarling, Elnora,” cautioned Margaret.  “Wash it this way every two weeks while you are in school, shake it out, and dry it.  Then part it in the middle and turn a front quarter on each side from your face.  You tie the back at your neck with a string—­so, and the ribbon goes in a big, loose bow.  I’ll show you.”  One after another Margaret Sinton tied the ribbons, creasing each of them so they could not be returned, as she explained that she was trying to find the colour most becoming.  Then she produced the raincoat which carried Elnora into transports.

Mrs. Comstock objected.  “That won’t be warm enough for cold weather, and you can’t afford it and a coat, too.”

“I’ll tell you what I thought,” said Elnora.  “I was planning on the way home.  These coats are fine because they keep you dry.  I thought I would get one, and a warm sweater to wear under it cold days.  Then I always would be dry, and warm.  The sweater only costs three dollars, so I could get it and the raincoat both for half the price of a heavy cloth coat.”

“You are right about that,” said Mrs. Comstock.  “You can change more with the weather, too.  Keep the raincoat, Elnora.”

“Wear it until you try the hat,” said Margaret.  “It will have to do until the dress is finished.”

Elnora picked up the hat dubiously.  “Mother, may I wear my hair as it is now?” she asked.

“Let me take a good look,” said Katharine Comstock.

Heaven only knows what she saw.  To Wesley and to Margaret the bright young face of Elnora, with its pink tints, its heavy dark brows, its bright blue-gray eyes, and its frame of curling reddish-brown hair was the sweetest sight on earth, and at that instant Elnora was radiant.

“So long as it’s your own hair, and combed back as plain as it will go, I don’t suppose it cuts much ice whether it’s tied a little tighter or looser,” conceded Mrs. Comstock.  “If you stop right there, you may let it go at that.”