turned, gravely. "Of course, I could not buy a car when Lottie needs
some of my money so much. She shall start for Boston just as soon as
she is well enough to go--and of course Miss 'Rill will go with her.
Hopewell cannot leave the store. Lottie shall go to the specialist,
Nelson."

For a minute the school-teacher was silent. He looked at the girl's
shining, earnest face in a way she had never noticed before. But at
last he only smiled a little queerly, and said:

"Why-- Well, Janice Day, there's no odor of gasoline about _that_!"

CHAPTER XXIX

JANICE DAY'S FIRST LOVE LETTER

In a week, although little Lottie's head was still bandaged, she was
driven over to Middletown with Miss 'Rill, Walky Dexter being the
driver, of course, and took a train for Boston.

Before the day of departure Janice Day had a good deal to contend with.
It _did_ seem too bad that one could not spend one's own money without
everybody trying to talk one out of it!

Not every one, however! Nelson Haley never said a word to discourage
the girl's generosity. But, beginning with Hopewell Drugg himself,
almost everybody else had something to say against it.

"I can never in this world pay you back, Miss Janice," said the
storekeeper, faintly, after the girl had told him her plans fully.

"Who wants you to? I am giving it to Lottie," Janice declared. "Would
you refuse to let her take it from me, when it means a new life to
Lottie? You can't be so cruel!"

"Had you _ought_ to do it, dear Janice?" asked Miss 'Rill, herself.
"It seems too much for one person to do----"

"You're going to pay your own expenses, aren't you?" demanded Janice.
"Why should you do _that_? Just because you love Lottie, isn't it?"

"Ye-es," admitted the other, but with a little blush.

"Well, let _me_ show some love for her, too."

"Good Land o' Goshen!" cried old Mrs. Scattergood. "Somebody ought to
take and shake you, Janice Day! I don't see what your folks can be
thinking of. All that money just thrown away--for like enough the man
can't help the poor little thing at all. It is wicked!"

"We sha'n't pay for the operation if it is not successful. That is the
agreement Dr. Sharpless always makes," said Janice, firmly. "But, oh!
I hope he _is_ successful, and that the money will do him a lot of
good."

"I declare for't! you are the strangest child!" muttered Mrs.
Scattergood. "I thought you was one o' these new-fashioned gals when I
fir