"'First William, the Norman, Then William, the son; Henry, Stephen and----'
I do hope," ruminated Tess, "that that poor Mrs. Eland won't be turned out of her place. Don't you hope so, Ruthie?"
"I am sure it would be a calamity if the hospital were closed," agreed the older sister. "And the matron must be a very lovely lady, as you say, Tess."
"She is awfully nice--isn't she, Dot?" pursued Tess, who usually expected the support of Dorothy.
"Just as nice as she can be," agreed the smallest Corner House girl. "Couldn't she come to live in our house if she can't stay in the horsepistol any longer?"
"At the _what_, child?" gasped Agnes. "What is it you said?"
"Well--where she lives now," Dot responded, dodging the doubtful word.
"Goodness, dear!" laughed Ruth, "we can't make the old Corner House a refuge for destitute females."
"I don't care!" spoke up Dot, quickly. "Didn't they make the Toomey-Smith house, on High Street into a home for indignant old maids?"
At that the older girls shouted with laughter. "'In-di-gent'--'in-di-gent'! child," corrected Agnes, at last. "That means without means--poor--unable to care for themselves. 'Indignant old maids,' indeed!"
"Maybe they _were_ indignant," suggested Tess, too tender hearted to see Dot's ignorance exposed in public, despite her own private criticism of the little one's misuse of the English language. "See how indignant Aunt Sarah is--and _she's_ an old maid."
This amused Ruth and Agnes even more than Dot's observation. It was true that Aunt Sarah Maltby was frequently "an indignant old maid."
But Tess endured the laughter calmly. She was deeply interested in the problem of Mrs. Eland's future, and she said:
"Maybe Uncle Peter ought to have left the hospital some of his money when he died, instead of leaving it all to us and to Aunt Sarah."
"Do you want to give up some of your monthly allowance to help support the hospital, Tess?" demanded Ruth, briskly.
"I--I---- Well, I couldn't give _much_," said the smaller girl, seriously, "for a part of it goes to missions and the Sunday School money box, and part to Sadie Goronofsky's cousin who has a nawful bad felon, and can't work on the paper flowers just now----"
"Why, child!" the oldest Kenway said, with a tender smile, and putting her hand lightly on Tess' head, "I didn't know about that. How much of your pin money goes each month to charity already? You only have a dollar and a half."