" they called, but Jack, in his eagerness to ask
questions, forgot to return their greeting.

"Say!" he cried, "do you know that Mrs. Paxton and Floretta left this
morning before breakfast?"

No, the little girls did not know that.

"Well, they have. I saw them go, and I'm glad. Floretta was fun to play
with, but she wasn't fair. She'd get me to do things, and then if we got
caught, she'd always say I planned it," said Jack.

Dorothy tried to think of something kind to say of Floretta, but she
knew that what Jack said was true. Floretta truly was not in the habit
of playing "fair."

"Her mamma said something queer just as she was going off. She was
talking to a lady, I don't know what her name is, and Mrs. Paxton said:

"'Well, Dorothy Dainty has always seemed to be fond of Nancy, but now
that Nancy is to have a _fortune_, shell love her a deal more than she
ever did before.'"

And now Dorothy spoke, her blue eyes flashing, and her cheeks flushed.

"That's not true!" she cried. "That's not true! I've always loved Nancy,
and always will. I'd love her if she had just nothing at all! Nothing
could make any difference. I love her all I can. Nancy knows that. Every
one knows that."

How keenly she felt Mrs. Paxton's silly speech!

She was indignant that any one should think her love for Nancy so little
worth while that fortune could make it stronger.

How could she love Nancy more than she had always loved her?

Nancy threw her arms about her, and drew her closer.

"Don't you mind, Dorothy," she said, "_I_ know how truly you love me.
Mrs. Paxton didn't know, because I guess she couldn't understand it.
_She_ couldn't love the way you do."

Dorothy smiled through the tears that had filled her eyes.

"There's no one dearer than you, Nancy," she said.

Jack swung his switch at a dragon-fly that flew past the doorway.

"Did you see that darning-needle?" he asked.

"Well," he continued, without waiting for an answer, "I was down the
road a few days ago, trying to catch some of those big steel-colored
ones in my fly-net. I hadn't seen any one after I left this piazza, but
just as I swung my net round to catch the dragon-fly, somebody said:
'Look out, or you'll get bitten!' and I turned round, but no one was in
sight. I was just going to swing my net again, when some one giggled,
and then I saw a little skinny girl looking at me from between some
bushes."

"What was she doing?" Dorothy asked.

"You couldn't