will come back with us, and let us both try again. We meant to be good
to you, dear; but we did not think enough that you had been unused to a
big family,--that you were a little ewe lamb that had been transplanted
into a great crowded fold, and left to find your place with the crowd;
and you misunderstood this, and took us too hardly; but we're going to
do better. We're going to be more thoughtful of one another, and you'll
come home with us now, and we'll have our Thanksgiving dinner together,
won't we?"

Childish and ignorant of the world's ways, as her wild idea in regard to
her right to a place in an orphans' home proved her, Ally had a great
deal of sense in other directions, and she began to perceive that she
had not been the wilfully neglected and abused person she had thought
herself, and to think, too, that perhaps Aunt Kate _might_ have had
something to bear from _her_. At any rate, her good sense made her see
that her aunt had come to her with kind and generous intentions, and
that the least she could do was to respond with what grace was in her
power; and so with a little smile that had something pathetic in it to
those who saw it, it was so tremulous with that pitiful doubt that had
been born of the last three unhappy years, she put her hand into Mrs.
Fleming's, and signified her readiness to go with her. And then and
there, as she met that smile, Kate Fleming vowed to herself that never
again through fault of hers should this child suffer for lack of loving
care; and with this resolve warm in her heart, she clasped the little
hand in hers more closely, and said brightly,--

"You'll see how glad the girls will be to see you, Ally, when we get
home."

But Ally had no response to make to this. A great dread had seized her
as she felt herself going to meet them. Uncle John's and Aunt Kate's
assurance of regard was one thing, but Uncle John and Aunt Kate were
not the girls, and poor Ally was quite sure that no one of them had ever
cared very much for her, though Mary had alternately petted and laughed
at her, and now--why, now, they might dislike her for making such a
fuss, for Laura had often said she did dislike people so who made a
fuss, and Maud would agree with Laura, and Mary would laugh at her more
than ever. Oh, dear! oh, dear! if she could only go back! if she could
only get that dear good Doctor to find her a place in--But, "Here we
are, Ally!" said Uncle John; and "Here she is!" exclaimed three gi