Free The Street of the City by Grace Livingston Hill Page B

walking up behind her. “Shall I just take it inside to the kitchen?”
    “Oh yes. Bonnie, you show him the way to the kitchen. And now I’ll sit down for a minute so I will feel I know you, and then I must go.” Lady Winthrop dropped into a big chair by the door and looked around her smiling, taking in every little detail without in the least seeming to do so.
    “This is a very attractive house,” she said. “I can’t see it well from my windows, but I think it might be very lovely in the summer. You’ll need some vines. I have plenty of ivy slips. If you want them in the spring I’ll send them over. I think a brick house always looks lovely with English ivy growing over it.”
    “Oh, we would love to have that,” said Frannie eagerly, “and I know Mother would be delighted. The only objection she made to the house was that it looked so bare and stark. Mother loves trees and vines and flowers.”
    “Well, that’s interesting. I’m sure she and I will have a lot in common. Only I’m not able to go out and work among my flowers anymore. I had a fall and it left some of my joints and muscles rather stiff and balky, though Joseph knows how I like the garden, and he fixes it the way I used to have it. But soon the spring will be coming again and you can see it for yourself. Do you like flowers?”
    “Oh, I love them,” said Frannie with eagerness in her eyes. “Mother used to have an old-fashioned garden up in the country where we’ve been since father died, and it was lovely. Mother seems to know just how to make flowers grow. She charms them into bloom.”
    “Well, I want to get acquainted with her just as soon as she is better. And now, my dear, I think I had better go, because I want you to eat that supper while it is nice. I want your mother to have that milk toast right away while it is still hot. It’s well covered in a hot dish, and the nurse will understand how to fix it. I put in a couple of little bags of tea in case you hadn’t had time to go to the store yet. Well, good-bye dear, and don’t you worry. You can’t afford to get sick, you know, not till your mother is well anyway. Now, Val, are you coming with me? I want to talk to you a few minutes. How would you like to eat dinner with me? It was all ready to put on the table when I came away, and I told the cook I might bring you back with me if you were here. It won’t take you any longer to eat with me than if you went home, and I won’t hinder you if you want to leave immediately after we finish.”
    “Why, delightful! Of course I’ll come,” said the young man.
    Then he cast a quick look and smile toward Frannie.
    “Are you sure you don’t need me for anything before I go?”
    “Oh no,” said Frannie shyly. “You’ve been wonderful. I couldn’t think of troubling you any longer. And really there’s nothing more to be done.”
    “All right, good night then, and I’ll be seeing you in the morning. You heard me promise the doctor. And besides, if you are planning to skate down we might as well keep each other company, if you don’t mind. It looks as if the weather was going to be all right for the ice at least for another day or two. Good night.”
    Frannie stood at the door a moment and watched the big car swing away up the road to the bridge. There was a warm feeling around her heart. How nice and pleasant they all were! How glad she was for their friendship. How nice it had been for the young man to protect her down at the plant and come home with her. And how he had helped the movers.
    She went into the house with a smile on her lips and hurried to the kitchen to investigate the big basket that had been left there. She found Bonnie and the nurse already there looking at it.
    What nice things they found in that basket! Milk toast made out of homemade bread, light as a feather, browned just right, and with that delicious cream dressing over it, piping hot.
    The nurse had the cup of tea already made, and they lost no time in