s Holbrook's face
changed color.

"But I do object," she cried sharply, "to their crossing it when they
DON'T want to! Don't forget that, please."

"But Jill did want to."

"How about her brother--did he want her to?"

"N--no."

"Very well, then. I didn't, either."

David frowned. Never had he seen his beloved Lady of the Roses look
like this before. He was reminded of what Jill had said about Jack:
"His face was all stern and white, and his lips snapped tight shut
after every word." So, too, looked Miss Holbrook's face; so, too, had
her lips snapped tight shut after her last words. David could not
understand it. He said nothing more, however; but, as was usually the
case when he was perplexed, he picked up his violin and began to play.
And as he played, there gradually came to Miss Holbrook's eyes a softer
light, and to her lips lines less tightly drawn. Neither the footbridge
nor Mr. Jack, however, was mentioned again that afternoon.

CHAPTER XVII

"THE PRINCESS AND THE PAUPER"

It was in the early twilight that Mr. Jack told the story. He, Jill,
and David were on the veranda, as usual watching the towers of
Sunnycrest turn from gold to silver as the sun dropped behind the
hills. It was Jill who had asked for the story.

"About fairies and princesses, you know," she had ordered.

"But how will David like that?" Mr. Jack had demurred. "Maybe he
doesn't care for fairies and princesses."

"I read one once about a prince--'t was 'The Prince and the Pauper,'
and I liked that," averred David stoutly.

Mr. Jack smiled; then his brows drew together in a frown. His eyes were
moodily fixed on the towers.

"Hm-m; well," he said, "I might, I suppose, tell you a story about a
PRINCESS and--a Pauper. I--know one well enough."

"Good!--then tell it," cried both Jill and David. And Mr. Jack began
his story.

"She was not always a Princess, and he was not always a Pauper,--and
that's where the story came in, I suppose," sighed the man. "She was
just a girl, once, and he was a boy; and they played together
and--liked each other. He lived in a little house on a hill."

"Like this?" demanded Jill.

"Eh? Oh--er--yes, SOMETHING like this," returned Mr. Jack, with an odd
half-smile. "And she lived in another bit of a house in a town far away
from the boy."

"Then how could they play together?" questioned David.

"They couldn't, ALWAYS. It was only summers when she came to visit in
the boy's town. She was very