h a curiously contrived chair on wheels.

"It's for you--Webb made it," declared Nancy. "And you're not to get
excited, because that might spoil everything. We're going to take you
to the orchard!"

"Oh, _Nancy_!" Something caught in poor Miss Milly's throat.

"You must do just what I tell you. Take this shawl, though it's warmer
out there than it is in here. I'm very strong and I shall carry you
right down in my arms, and you must cling tight to my neck."

Poor Miss Milly commenced to tremble violently. "Nancy--I'm afraid!
I--I--It's so long--maybe I'd better--maybe it isn't--_right_!"

"Oh, Aunt Milly, darling, how could it be wrong to be happy! Just
_try_ it! Think of the sunshine and the birds and the nice smells and
all Jonathan's growing things! And B'lindy is going along, too, to
help. _Try_ it, Aunt Milly!"

Aunt Milly's eyes filled with tears, then she commenced to laugh
softly. "Maybe it'll be the only time! I'd love--once more----" She
let Nancy lift her slowly. "I'm too heavy, dear," she protested.

"_Heavy_----" thought Nancy. The pitifully frail form was as nothing
in her clasp. "I haven't played forward on our basket-ball team for
four years for nothing, Aunt Milly! March on, B'lindy. Now--very
still."

It was a strange procession that moved off through the garden toward
the orchard. Jonathan led the way, B'lindy wheeled the chair and Nancy
frisked along, first one side, then the other, picking posies here and
there until Aunt Milly's lap was quite full. And Miss Milly sat very
still with her hands clasped tight together and a look of ecstasy in
her eyes, as though she was beholding a new and beautiful world! Every
step forward brought an added wonder. She had forgotten the world was
like this.

"_Oh-h!_" she whispered rapturously when a robin trilled from a nearby
tree. "_Oh-h!_" she cried again when she caught a glimpse of the lake.

But when they reached the cliff it was Nancy's turn to exclaim. For
there in her tree had been built the cosiest of rustic seats.

"_How lovely!_" she cried, springing into it. "It just fits." She
shook her finger at old Jonathan. "_You_ made this for me, you dear
old thing!"

But Jonathan, wishing mightily that he had, had to admit that he
"didn't know a blame thing 'bout it!"

"Then it was Webb. He wanted to surprise me, too, as well as Aunt
Milly. Only--how did he know about my tree? Isn't it _nice_? It's as
comfy as can be.