To be sure Dan's best was over a year old, and the brown-striped
shirt-front was not what it seemed, but his skin was clean and clear, and
there was a look in his earnest eyes that bespoke an untroubled
conscience.
Mrs. Purdy received them in her cozy fire-lit sitting-room and made Nance
sit beside her on the sofa, while she held her hand and looked with mild
surprise at her flaring hat and cheap lace collar.
"Dan didn't tell me," she said, "how big you had grown or--or how
pretty."
Nance blushed and smiled and glanced consciously at Dan. She had felt
dubious about her costume, but now that she was reassured, she began to
imitate Birdie's tone and manner as she explained to Mrs. Purdy the
object of her visit.
"Deary me!" said Mrs. Purdy, "Dan's quite right. We can't allow a nice
little girl like you to work in a glass factory! We must find some nice
genteel place for you. Let me see."
In order to see Mrs. Purdy shut her eyes, and the next moment she opened
them and announced that she had the very thing.
"It's Cousin Lucretia Bobinet!" she beamed. "She is looking for a
companion."
"What's that?" asked Nance.
"Some one to wait on her and read to her and amuse her. She's quite
advanced in years and deaf and, I'm afraid, just a little peculiar."
"I'm awful good at taking care of sick people," said Nance complacently.
"Cousin Lucretia isn't ill. She's the most wonderfully preserved woman
for her years. But her maid, that she's had for so long, is getting old
too.
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