Then the women turned and kissed Lois, and raised a little clamor of delight over her.

She stood panting.

She did not ask them into the sitting-room.
Her head whirled.

It seemed to her that the end of everything had come.
But Mrs.Babcock turned toward the sitting-room door.

She had pulled off her bonnet, and was wiping it anxiously with her handkerchief.
"This is the way, ain't it ?" she said.
Lois followed them in helplessly.