Maria knew well enough that these savings were going into the improvements, the precious dollars which her poor mother had enabled her father to save by her own deprivations and toil.

Maria heard her father and Miss Slome talk about the maid they were to have; Miss Slome would never dream of doing her own work, as her predecessor had done.

All these things the child dwelt upon in a morbid, aged fashion, and, consequently, while her evenings with Mrs.Addix were not enjoyable, they were not exactly dull.

Nearly every room in the house was being newly papered and painted.

Maria and Mrs.Addix sat first in one room, then in another, as one after another was torn up in the process of improvement.