ld out with such winning
tenderness. The beautiful face of Zaidee instead of adding a radiance
seemed to shadow the path. She could not explain it to herself; she
would not think her sister would grudge her anything, but she felt in
her inmost heart it would not be given generously. She must win it by
large patience.

Sunday was a perfect winter day with a gorgeous sunshine and a crisp air
that seemed to bring refreshment in every waft. The leafless trees were
penciled against the blue sky like the lines of a fine engraving. The
church bells rang out their reverent inspiration, they were harmoniously
toned and there was no jangling. Lilian wondered a little--were her
parents and the two children at home kneeling in the old church where
the Crawfords had worshiped for a hundred years or more? Did they offer
a little prayer for her?

The father and mother said it at home. He was all impatience for the day
to pass.

Oh, how delightful Mrs. Trenham's warm welcome was, and little Claire
clasped both slim arms about Lilian's neck and kissed the cool rosy
cheek over and over again. If her sister was little and fond like that!

"It's been such a long, long while since you were here. Of course you
couldn't come while we were away. It was very nice at Mrs. Lane's; there
were so many people to make merry. You can't be truly merry alone by
yourself, can you? It's like bells ringing. You can be happy thinking of
many things, but not merry."

Lilian smiled. Yes, the conceit was true.

Then she must inspect Claire's Christmas gifts. Her own had been a
pretty booklet that one of the girls had given her in a perfunctory
fashion that carried no real regard with it. She had been too full of
anxiety to look up anything.

"And that lady that came here once who wasn't your real mother went
away, didn't she? And Edith said you had a real mother now and you were
going to live with her and not stay at school all the time. I wish I
could go to school. Edith said sometime she might have a school in our
own house, and I might come and say lessons with other little girls.
That will be so nice. I think that will be merry."

Then they were summoned to dinner, and the elders took the lead in the
conversation, expressing their surprise at the strange event they had
seen in the paper, and as they lingered over the dessert Lilian told her
own story that she had believed in devoutly until Mrs. Boyd had
explained her adoption, hoping thereby Lili