e.

"Alene, I'm ashamed of you!" he cried in an angry tone. "Has the
breaking of this jar brought you to such a state as this? Why, anyone
would think--I'd swear it was the truth myself were anyone else in
question--yes, they would think me an ogre who ate little girls who
chanced to break something!" Turning away, he paced the floor with
rapid steps backward and forward. The longer he walked, the faster he
went, and higher the angry red glowed in his cheeks.

For a time Alene kept her unaccountable position. Presently her eyes
strayed sidewise toward her agitated companion, who, intent on his own
angry mutterings, was unaware of her inspection. The gleam of mirth
that overspread her countenance was quickly banished; she rose and
stood beside her chair and then crossed the floor to his side.

A little hand stole into his, a pair of blue eyes gazed contritely
upward.

"Oh, Uncle, you said it was a present and I felt so badly! You aren't
angry?"

"Ain't I? Do I look as if I'd beat a child?"

Suddenly his angry mood passed away, and he threw himself into a chair,
in a paroxysm of laughter.

"Oh, Polly-Wog, what shall I do to make you pay up for this?"

"The jar? Did it cost so awfully much?"

"The jar you gave me when I came in, I thought you were in a trance! I
had a wild notion to lose no time in bringing the doctor!"

She glanced ruefully at the broken vase.

"I was just wondering if it could be pieced together again--"

"Before the ogre got back?"

Alene perched herself on the arm of his chair with one arm around his
shoulders.

"You're more like a fairy godmother--father, I mean."

"How did the terrible accident occur?"

"I picked it up to admire it and my hand got sort o' dizzy and let it
fall."

"And you didn't think of running away and pretending you knew nothing
about it, or blaming it on the maid?"

"Now, Uncle Fred--as if I'd be so dishonorable!"

"Well, I might, if I had such an ogre for an uncle as yours appears to
be! I shouldn't fancy being ground to sausages!"

"Like Andy Daly's pig was, I guess! I must tell you about him, but
there's something else to ask you first--something very important!
Since you're the good fairy, you ought to grant me three wishes but
I'll let you off with one."

"I'll not insist on granting the three until I hear Number One--Here
goes! One, two, three--"

"Can I--may I--join the Happy-Go-Luckys?" implored Alene in an
impressive voice, with