'That is just what I cannot find out,' said Hazel, jumping up
again and coming to stand at his side. 'I cannot read it a
bit.'

'You have not learned the characters in which it is written,
yet,' said Dr. Arthur, with a glance at her.

'She had not learned much,' said Primrose, smiling.

'Can _you_ read it?' said Hazel, facing round.

'Why yes, Hazel.'

'Well,' said the girl, half impatiently, 'then how come I to
be such an ignoramus?'

'There are some things,' said Dr. Arthur, with another swift
look at his companion, 'which everybody can learn at once. But
there are others, Miss Kennedy, which sometimes must wait
until the Lord himself sets the lesson. I think this is one of
those.'

'I shall ask your father,' said Hazel, decidedly. 'He always
thinks I ought to know _everything_ at once.'

'Oh, Hazel, my dear, how can you say so?' cried Prim. 'Indeed,
papa is never so unreasonable. And there he is this minute,
and you can ask him.'

The long windows of the room looked upon a stretch of
greensward spotted with trees. Coming across this bit of the
grounds, Dr. Maryland and Rollo saw one of the windows open,
and caught sight also of the party within. Even as Dr.
Maryland's daughter spoke, they stepped upon the piazza and
came into the room.

'That is a picture of the loss of all things,' Dr. Arthur was
saying. 'How would you be able to understand?' But then he
stepped back, and left the explanation in other hands.

' "The loss of all things!" ' Hazel repeated, bewildered. 'How
do you do, Mr. Rollo?--Dr. Maryland, there is always some
special reason why I am especially glad to see you!'

'What is the reason now, my dear?' said the doctor, with a
very benign look on his face.

'These two people,' said Wych Hazel, with an airy gesture of
her head towards her other guests, 'find me in a puzzle and
push me further in. And I want to be pulled out.'

'In what direction shall I pull?' asked the doctor.

'Well, sir,--O Mr. Rollo, don't you want the cat?--I know you
like cats,' said Hazel, 'and she is in my way.--It is only
about my old picture here, Dr. Maryland, which they pretend to
understand. Dr. Arthur says it means "the loss of all
things,"--and that does not clear up my ideas in the least. Why
must I "wait" to know what it means?' she added, linking her
hands on the Doctor's arm, and raising her eager, vivid face
to his. 'Prim says I "don't know much"--but I do not see why
that should hinder my lear