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You told her that it was what the doctor ordered and that it wasn’t likely you’d really do it because of leaving me and the children, and she answers by not only asking the whole lot of us but Peaseblossom as well. I call it marvelous of her.”
    John looked at the children. “How would you like to go to California for the winter?” The children looked startled. “All right, don’t worry, there isn’t a chance of it. The fares would cost about a thousand pounds, and your father would be hard put to it just now to find a thousand pence. As for a grand piano for Tim and-“
    Peaseblossom made a choking sound. They turned to look at her. Her face, which was always rather red, was the color of an overripe purple plum. She was holding out a crisp sheet of note paper as if, by looking at the back of the letter, they could read what it said. Bee ran to her.
    “What is it, dear? Bad news?”
    Peaseblossom struggled to get her breath, just as if she were getting it back after tea had gone down the wrong way. “We can go. All of us. An old aunt whom I never met has died and left me a thousand pounds.”

3
    Will You? Won’t You?

    Talk went on all the evening. First of all, there was a terrific argument with Peaseblossom about spending her legacy on the family’s fares to the United States. But it did not matter what John and Bee said; Peaseblossom had made up her mind. All her life she had wanted to travel. Up to that Wednesday in September it had been just dim wanting, but with the coming of the letter with the news of her legacy, she became like someone dying of thirst who sees water; nothing and nobody was going to stop her from having what she wanted. To every argument John and Bee put forward she had answers. Why should she save the money? What for? Why shouldn’t she spend it on the family? What fun would it be traveling alone? Besides, if she went anywhere alone, she would have to live in hotels, which would cost as much and more than all their fares put together, whereas staying with Aunt Cora, she would be living free. Yes, of course, she would be expected to work for her board and lodging, but who supposed she wanted to be idle a whole winter? Had anybody ever heard of her ever wanting to be idle? All right, if they must be so businesslike, the money spent on the family could be called a loan.
    Rachel sat on a stool, hugging her knees and trying to look cheerful. It seemed to her that nobody was aware her career was at stake. Here she was, one of six picked to dance in a big London theater, and her fairly bursting with pride, was discussing whisking her off to the other end of the world. The firmer Peaseblossom’s arguments grew, the more miserable Rachel became and the more difficult she found it to look cheerful. Her lips kept dropping at the corners and had to be forced upward again. Toward the end of the argument, when it was clear Peaseblossom was winning, an enormous lump kept coming into her throat.
    Just before suppertime Bee looked at John. She tried not to sound too pleased, eager and excited, but she did not succeed very well. She had not let John know how worried she had been since his accident, but she had been pretty desperate. Now it was as if a fairy had appeared and given her a wish and made it come true.
    “Well, John, we seem to have produced every argument we can. If Peaseblossom really wants to spend her money like that, I think we ought to let her.”
    John was beginning to get a little excited. Not gaily excited, as he used to be so easily before the accident, but more as if the fog of depression which covered him most days had been blown on by a wind and was less dense.
    “Let’s accept for the moment that we’re using Peaseblossom’s money. What are we going to do about the children? There’s this offer of Jeremy Caulder’s; ought we to let Tim miss this chance?”
    Rachel had to turn her head so that nobody should see her wipe her eyes. Tim indeed! The only thing that had