“You see,” continued Mrs. Hamilton, “I am going to borrow a daughter for a whole year, and I thought you three would be the very ones to help me make her happy.”

“We will.  We’d like to,” answered the girls.  “How old is she?” asked Charlotte.  “And what’s her name?” put in Dorothy.  “I always like to know the name before I begin to think very much about a person.”

“Her name is Ruth Shirley, and she’s just fourteen, I believe.  She lost a very lovely mother about a year ago, and now her father is obliged to go abroad on business, so I suspect the poor child will feel lonely and homesick for a while.”

“We’ll give her all the good times we can,” said Betty warmly.  “When do you expect her, Mrs. Hamilton?”

“In less than three weeks, I think, and that reminds me that I want you all to advise me about making her room pretty.  Let’s go and look at it now and discuss ways and means.”

“Oh, you are going to give her the pink room,” cried Dorothy as they entered it.  “I think this is the loveliest room in the house.”  It was a pretty room, with its delicate pink and white paper, its dainty draperies and white furniture, and the girls wondered what more it could need in the way of preparation.

“It seems to me this is fine enough for any one,” said Charlotte, who usually thought aloud quite frankly.  “I don’t see what you can do to make it prettier.”

“Perhaps not so much prettier as a little more homelike, Charlotte.  For one thing I mean to have some andirons so that there can be a fire made here when necessary, for this is likely to be a cold room in winter.”

“That will be jolly,” murmured Charlotte.  “If there’s anything I adore it’s an open fire with a rug before it.  I hope she’s a nice, quiet girl and likes to read,” she added with pretended anxiety, “for in that case I shouldn’t mind having her in the room with me when I am enjoying her fire.”

They all laughed and Dorothy said, “Charlotte is such an old bookworm that she won’t know how to get on with any one who doesn’t like to read.  For my part I hope she will be full of fun and like having a good time better than poking in books all the time.”

“Well,” said Betty pensively, “I hope she likes cats.”

“Well, girls, I hope Ruth will satisfy your expectations,” said Mrs. Hamilton.  “And now I want you to do something for me.  I want each of you to think of something that will make the room look more homelike and more like a girl’s room.  You may select anything you like and if I can get it I shall, for I want you all to feel that you have had a share in making the room pretty.”

“I know something,” began Dorothy.

“Don’t tell, don’t tell,” interrupted Charlotte.  “Let’s tell Mrs. Hamilton secretly, and after the room is finished we’ll see if we can guess what each one suggested.”

“That’s a clever idea, Lottchen,” said Betty, who admired all that Charlotte said or did.