Charlotte looked at her pleadingly.  Then she remembered how Ruth had won her over.  “But, Melina, it’s a favor to me.  You’ve always been doing me favors, I know, but you might do just this one more.”

Melina shook her head.  “It’s no use,” she began, and then stopped aghast, for Charlotte, the self-controlled, the hater of tears, startled Melina and fell forever in her own estimation by bursting into sobs.  “For the land’s sake, child, don’t do that,” ejaculated Melina, almost whirling herself off her feet in her frantic efforts to decide whether to throw water on her or burn feathers under her nose.

Those who rarely cry are likely to do so with great violence when they once give themselves up to it, and Charlotte’s rending sobs drove poor Melina to the verge of distraction.  At last she gathered the girl’s slender figure into her arms and sat down in the big rocker.

“There, there, lamb,” she said, “put your head on Melina’s shoulder and cry all you want to,” and she held her tenderly until the gasping sobs grew less frequent.

“Oh, Melina, if you could only make up your mind to take that money,” said Charlotte at last, getting up and trying hard to keep back the persistent tears.  “I do want that poor boy to have his bed right away.  I think I could stop crying if you only would.”

Melina’s thin lips tightened.

“Well,” she said at last, grudgingly, “I’ll take it and call it a loan.  I must say, though, that I think you took an unfair advantage of me.  I ain’t seen you cry since you was little more than a baby.”

“I didn’t do it to get my own way.  I’ve been holding on to myself all day, and that was just the last straw that made me let go.  Don’t call it a loan, for I never want to see it again.  Keep it till you find some one who needs it as much as you do just now, and then pass it along.  Wouldn’t it be interesting to see how far five dollars could travel if it was passed from one to another that way?”

“Talk about goodness,” muttered Melina as Charlotte disappeared, “that child’s a wonder,—­sometimes.”

CHAPTER IX

OUT OF THE SNOW

Charlotte woke the next morning feeling vaguely uncomfortable and wondering what was the reason for it.  Suddenly it occurred to her that to-day she must see Ruth and must give a reason for not going to Boston with her.  To explain what she had done with the money was out of the question, for Charlotte would have been more unwilling to tell of the performance of a good deed than to confess that she had done something wrong.  If she gave no reason and simply said she couldn’t go Ruth might think she was going to use the money for herself, and that would be unbearable.  But, of course, it would be enough to say that it was Melina’s only chance to go in town, and she couldn’t disappoint her.  The fact that her mother was still sick in bed would be sufficient reason why Charlotte couldn’t leave on the same day.