“As she stood up and made ready to go, she caught sight of me, and ejaculated, with the most astonished face, ’Why, it is my lady in black!’ Then, with a blush, she added, ’Excuse me!  I spoke without thinking—­I always do.  I have thought of you very often since I gave you the flowers; and as I did n’t know your name, I have always called you my lady in black.’

“‘I should be very glad to be your “lady” in any color,’ I answered, ‘and my other name is Mrs. Bird.’  Then I asked her if she would not come and see me.  She said, ‘Yes, with pleasure,’ and told me also that her mother was ill, and that she left her as little as possible; whereupon I offered to go and see her instead.

“Now, here endeth the first lesson, and here beginneth the second, namely, my new plan, on which I wish to ask your advice.  You know that all the money Donald and I used to spend on Carol’s nurses, physicians, and what not, we give away each Christmas Day in memory of her.  It may be that we give it in monthly installments, but we try to plan it and let people know about it on that day.  I propose to create a new profession for talented young women who like to be helpful to others as well as to themselves.  I propose to offer this little Miss Oliver, say twenty-five dollars a month, if she will go regularly to the Children’s Hospital and to the various orphan asylums just before supper and just before bedtime, and sing and tell stories to the children for an hour.  I want to ask her to give two hours a day only, going to each place once or twice a week; but of course she will need a good deal of time for preparation.  If she accepts, I will see the managers of the various institutions, offer her services, and arrange for the hours.  I am confident that they will receive my protegee with delight, and I am sure that I shall bring the good old art of story-telling into fashion again, through this gifted girl.  Now, John, what do you think?”

“I heartily approve, as usual.  It is a novelty, but I cannot see why it ’s not perfectly expedient, and I certainly can think of no other way in which a monthly expenditure of twenty-five dollars will carry so much genuine delight and comfort to so many different children.  Carol would sing for joy if she could know of your plan.”

“Perhaps she does know it,” said Mrs. Bird softly.

And so it was settled.

Polly’s joy and gratitude at Mrs. Bird’s proposal baffles the powers of the narrator.  It was one of those things pleasant to behold, charming to imagine, but impossible to describe.  After Mrs. Bird’s carriage had been whirled away, she watched at the window for Edgar, and, when she saw him nearing the steps, did not wait for him to unlock the door, but opened it from the top of the stairs, and flew down them to the landing as lightly as a feather.

As for Edgar himself, he was coming up with unprecedented speed, and they nearly fell into each other’s arms as they both exclaimed, in one breath, “Hurrah!” and then, in another, “Who told you?”