ls set off at once. Molly was not yet sixteen, Hester was past
seventeen, nevertheless they had been intimate friends for a long time.

"Why have you got that little frown between your brows, Molly?" asked
Hester.

It smoothed out the moment Hester spoke.

"I surely ought not to have a frown to-day," retorted Molly. "The
weather is glorious, we are all in perfect health, we are out for a
picnic, you are here, you have brought your friend, Annie, about whom we
have always heard so much, and Nan is home from school. Yes, I certainly
ought not to frown; but let me retort on you, Hester. Why have you those
grave lines round your lips?"

"Because I'm a goose," answered Hester. "Sit down here, Molly. You have
not got me up to the top of this knoll just to make me recount my
grievances. Out with yours; you know you have one at least."

"Well, yes, I have one," said Molly. "A horrid little cankering jade--a
sort of black imp. I thought I had tucked him up snug in bed until the
evening, and there, you have loosened the sheets, and he has sprung up
again to confront me."

Molly's honest face was undoubtedly troubled now, and there was a
suspicion of tears in the blue eyes, which were nearly as frank and
round as Boris's.

"I suppose I must confess," she said: "it's only that the colts, Joe and
Robin, have been sold."

"I don't think I know them," said Hester.

"Well, you must imagine them. They are not broken-in yet. They were born
at the Towers, and we used to feed them when they were foals. Then one
day Robin got rather wild, and kicked Boris severely, and father said
we were to leave them alone; but Nell somehow managed to evade the
order; she never could be got to fear any four-footed creature. She
spent almost all her leisure time with the colts, and I believe she used
to ride them bare-backed. Well, they were sold this morning, and Nell
will fret awfully. Fretting is very bad for her, for she is not at all
strong, you know. That is one thing that troubles me," continued Molly,
after a brief pause. "I am sorry the colts are sold, on account of Nell,
for I know, although she won't pretend to fret a bit, how she will
secretly grieve and grieve; and the other reason is, that I know father
would not have sold them if he had not been hard up for money again. Oh,
I wish, I wish," continued Molly, her face turning crimson, "that there
was no such thing as money in the world."

Hester looked at her with a mingling of sym