Page:Sheila and Others (1920).djvu/166

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154
SHEILA AND OTHERS

I did odds and ends until it was time for the War-work Committee in the afternoon, where there was such divergence of opinion about whether we needed the services of a professional cutter-out or not, and such a heated discussion over it that it quite "took my mind off." It was nearly six o'clock when I got home. I looked at the windows from the street corner, fully expecting to see the blinds drawn dismally down to hide their ugly bareness. But behold, they were smilingly, triumphantly up and snowy folds revealed within!

I hastened on. When I stepped into the cool, fresh parlor, and saw how renovated and sweet and inviting it was, I found my wrath giving place to astonishment. By what necromancy had Adelina achieved this? Closer scrutiny moreover revealed surprisingly few holes to be darned, considering.

I went upstairs in a perplexed frame of mind. Adelina had deliberately disobeyed me and with every appearance of carrying things to a successful conclusion. I wondered how I ought to meet such a situation. I hope, as I said in the beginning, that I am not so narrow-minded as to refuse to accept a better way than my own simply because it isn't my