Ned Yost was sweeping the steps in front of the mercantile when he saw her coming. She was making her way down the oposite side of the street.

"Miss Thatcher!" the shopkeeper called out. "Oh…Elizabeth!" Elizabeth Thatcher stopped midstride, winced slightly in anticipation of his next words and then turned to him with a big smile on her face.

"There's been another delivery!" he said as he gestured her toward the steps of his store.

"No, please no," she sighed in a whisper as her shoulders sagged and she made her way across the street. She dragged her feet up the steps of the mercantile. She opened the door and Ned nodded toward a stack of crates next to the door. There were only three of them this time. Three more to add to the stacks lined against the wall in the spare room of her house. Ned watched her with a slight grin as she perused the shipping labels.

"Your Aunt Agatha again?" he asked. Elizabeth nodded.

"It's sweet of her ladies group to send them to us," she said as he came around the bench with a claw hammer and worked the wooden top free from the top crate. He lifted the lid and set it aside so she could see the contents.

Books.

And more books.

"That aunt of yours is really something," Ned chuckled. Elizabeth sighed heavily as she traced a finger over the beautiful leather bindings and read the titles. She pulled out a volume and flipped through the pages. Her frowned deepened as she studied another title and then another.

"Not exactly appropriate for my students however," she sighed. She slipped the book in her hands back into the crate.

"I can have one of the boys deliver it for you," Ned said as he circled the counter again. "Where would you like them to come? To your house or the school?" Elizabeth thought about the crates already stacked against the wall in her spare room.

"My house," she sighed a bit reluctantly. "And I need to send a wire to my aunt thanking her." Ned grinned and reached for the pad where she could write her message. Neither of them paid much attention to the older woman who meandered over to the stack of crates. She examined the titles and muttered under her breath. Ned eyed her impatiently as he waited for Elizabeth to complete the telegram.

One by one Mrs. McCormick pulled a book out, read the title again, muttered some numbers and shoved the book back into its spot. Elizabeth finished writing and looked up as she handed the pencil back to Ned. She followed his gaze to the woman at the box of books and watched her for a moment.

"Mrs. McCormick," Elizabeth approached her incredulously. "Do you know the Dewey Decimal System?" The older woman straightened and adjusted the worn leather hat that sat on her short graying curls. She glared at Elizabeth. She pulled a book from the box, read the title and shoved it back.

"Engineering…..600" she said sharply. She pulled a smaller volume out and waved it toward Elizabeth. "Merek Manual….Medical…600." Into the box it went. Then another came out.

"The Great Boer War by Doyle…900…," she growled. Elizabeth reached out to stop her from taking another book.

"Did you work in a library?" she asked. Mrs. McCormick's face fell. She straightened defensively.

"No," she said. "Just spent my days dusting shelves and shelves of books. Won't go back to that again." Without another word she pushed past Elizabeth and opened the door to leave the store.

"But…." Elizabeth stopped as the older woman scowled and left without another word.

"Crotchety….every time, every day that one," Ned shook his head. "Just can't figure her out." Elizabeth watched her thoughtfully through the glass in the door. The older woman crossed the street and made her way up the staircase to the rooms above Lee's town offices. Jack and the men had renovated the store rooms into a small living space for her just before Christmas.

"Maybe she just needs something to do," she mused. Ned laughed sardonically.

"It would keep her out of my shop," he sighed. "Comes in every day and complains, puts a few things on her account and goes back across the street. Abigail told me to let her know when she has a bill but so far people have been taking care of it. Dr. Carson pays it now and then. Jack has done it a couple of times. Very nice of people but it can't be easy for her." Elizabeth smiled at him and then put the lid back on the crate. She stared at it for a moment and then lifted it to look at the books again. She glanced back at the rooms over the mill offices again. Her smile widened as an idea formed in her head.

"Thank you for sending the wire," she said absently as she opened the door. "I'll come back and pay for it after I see Abigail about something."

"And I'll have the boxes delivered to…your house," he said, his voice trailing as the door closed after her. Ned shook his head with a smile and counted the words she had written on the notepad.

By the time she reached the mayor's office the idea she was mulling had formed fully in Elizabeth's head and it burst forth as enthusiastically as she did through the office door.

"Abigail," she said abruptly as she interrupted her friend at her desk. "We need a library in town. A lending library." Abigail looked up from the papers she had been reading and sat back in her chair.

"Well, hello to you too," she chuckled. Elizabeth checked herself and then sat down in the chair in front of Abigail.

"I'm sorry," she laughed. "I've just been thinking about this and it would be the best thing to happen. My Aunt Abigail has been sending me all of these books and I can't use them for school and it's silly to have them packed away when others could be reading them and well, Mrs. McCormick knows the Dewey Decimal System and it would be…."

"Mrs. McCormick?" Abigail interrupted with a sharp laugh. "The 'I am not moving in face of the flood in the settlement' Mrs. McCormick'?" Elizabeth's eyes widened in surprise.

"I know!" she exclaimed. "I'm just as surprised as you are. But she knows it. And that will help her organize all of the books that Aunt Agatha's ladies society is sending me."

"Elizabeth," Abigail interrupted again. "There is no room in our town budget to pay someone to run a library right now. And there certainly not enough to build an actual library either."

"We don't need a whole building just yet," Elizabeth replied with undimmed enthusiasm. "Just a room somewhere. I'm sure Jack, Lee and some of the other men can build shelves for us. And maybe Mrs. McCormick can be a volunteer until its up and running and we find a way to fund it." Abigail laughed again.

"Mrs. McCormick…volunteer?" she shook her head in dismay. Then she studied the younger woman thoughtfully.

"This town is bursting at the seams right now," she said. "I'm not sure where we can find extra room….anywhere. Even just one room." Elizabeth frowned thoughtfully.

"It's a great idea though," Abigail offered. "Definitely something we should to be thinking about. And it's wonderful that you'd be willing to lend your books to the cause." Elizabeth rolled her eyes and cast a begrudging look at Abigail.

"I want my spare room back," she said darkly. Abigail chuckled again.

"A library…." she mused with a smile as she sat back in her chair again. "What a thought for Hope Valley."