THE BLUE CHEST OF RACHEL WARD `` It 's utterly out of the question , '' said Aunt Janet seriously . When Aunt Janet said seriously that anything was out of the question it meant that she was thinking about it , and would probably end up by doing it . If a thing really was out of the question she merely laughed and refused to discuss it at all . The particular matter in or out of the question that opening day of August was a project which Uncle Edward had recently mooted . Uncle Edward 's youngest daughter was to be married ; and Uncle Edward had written over , urging Uncle Alec , Aunt Janet and Aunt Olivia to go down to Halifax for the wedding and spend a week there . Uncle Alec and Aunt Olivia were eager to go ; but Aunt Janet at first declared it was impossible . `` How could we go away and leave the place to the mercy of all those young ones ? '' she demanded . `` We 'd come home and find them all sick , and the house burned down . '' `` Not a bit of fear of it , '' scoffed Uncle Roger . `` Felicity is as good a housekeeper as you are ; and I shall be here to look after them all , and keep them from burning the house down . You 've been promising Edward for years to visit him , and you 'll never have a better chance . The haying is over and harvest is n't on , and Alec needs a change . He is n't looking well at all . '' I think it was Uncle Roger 's last argument which convinced Aunt Janet . In the end she decided to go . Uncle Roger 's house was to be closed , and he and Peter and the Story Girl were to take up their abode with us . We were all delighted . Felicity , in especial , seemed to be in seventh heaven . To be left in sole charge of a big house , with three meals a day to plan and prepare , with poultry and cows and dairy and garden to superintend , apparently furnished forth Felicity 's conception of Paradise .
Of course , we were all XXXXX help ; but Felicity was to `` run things , '' and she gloried in it .
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