And even the females admitted that she was "kind of good-lookin'," although Hannah Parker's diagnosis that she was "declined to be consumptic" and Mrs.Larkin's that she was older than she "made out to be," had some adherents.

All agreed, however, that she knew how to run a boarding-house and that she was destined to be the "salvation" of Thankful Barnes' venture at the Cap'n Abner place.
Certainly she did prove herself to possess marked ability as a business manager.

Quietly, and without undue assertion, she reorganized the affairs of the High Cliff House.

No one detected any difference in the quality of the meals served there, in their variety or ample sufficiency.

But, little by little, she took upon herself the buying of supplies, the regulation of accounts, the prompt payment of bills and the equally prompt collection of board and room rent.