Jane looked so be-powdered and forlorn. But Mary
Jane didn't mind the laughing because at the same time, Miss Treavor
lifted her out from behind the boards and set her down in the cheerful
sunlight.

"That _was_ a good place to hide," the teacher admitted, "and you were a
clever little girl to think of it. But I believe, dear," she added kindly,
"that next time you'd better hide some place where you can hear the bell,
even though you _are_ more likely to get caught."

And Mary Jane promised that she would never, never hide in such a very
good place again.

Mary Jane hated to go back into the school room all mussed and tumbled as
she was, so Miss Treavor sent for Alice and the two little girls skipped
home for a fresh dress and clean ribbons so Mary Jane could enjoy the
classes.

When, a half an hour later, she came back, with the dark blue dress
changed to a plaid gingham and the red bow changed to green, the children
wanted to know where she had been and what had happened. But Miss Treavor
wouldn't tell. And she had made Mary Jane promise not to tell, because
that place was _such_ a good hiding place that the teachers didn't want
other folks finding it and hiding there to make trouble too.

But all of Mary Jane's school fun wasn't from trouble. That was just one
day. Most of the time, she played without anything happening just as the
other folks did. And all the time she made more friends and had a better
time, till, when Betty came back from the country, she knew most everybody
in her room.

She liked school so very much that the days slipped by one after another
so fast a person could hardly count them--one day and another day and
another day--just that way. Till one Monday morning when they went to
school, Miss Treavor announced, "Do you boys and girls know what we are
going to do to-day? We're going to start making Christmas presents.
Because Christmas is only _three weeks away_!"

"Christmas!" thought Mary Jane, with a thrill of joy, "Christmas! Why,
they _do_ have Christmas in Chicago! I wonder what I'll get and what I'll
do!"

CHRISTMAS IN CHICAGO

Christmas in Chicago! When Mary Jane heard those words she had her first
real pang of homesickness for the home she had left when they moved to
Chicago. Would any Christmas anywhere ever be so beautiful as the
Christmas in that dear home? She remembered the pine trees in the yard,
loaded down with their wealth of snow: the glowing fire on the heart