tell father, but he is likely to go on a long time when he is once
started," said Nan.

"If I don't go to sleep, I'll be sure to wiggle," said Beth.

But they all went to sleep.

Ethelwyn sat in the choir seats close to her mother; while Elizabeth
sat below with Aunty Stevens. Nan sat quite near them and sweetly smiled
at Elizabeth.

"How do you feel?" she asked in a shrill whisper. "Wiggly? I told father
not to preach very long, but there is no telling. Mother has some gum
drops for me if I wiggle."

"Don't you think you will then?" asked Beth.

But Nan's mother stopped further disclosures by turning her daughter
around, and setting her down with emphasis on the other side of her.

Fortunately they all three fell asleep in the early part of the sermon
and did not wake up until Mrs. Rayburn began to sing. At the first note
Ethelwyn slipped down, and stood with her hand in her mother's. Then
Elizabeth eluded Aunty Stevens's vigilant eye, slipped out of the seat
and walked up and stood on the other side, her head raised looking into
her mother's face, and to their great delight the three verses were
sung.

_CHAPTER IX_
_Once a Year_

Birth days,
Earth days,
Seem very few;
Year days,
Dear days,
When life is new.

By constant and hard work, the house was ready for occupancy on
Ethelwyn's birthday.

Two or three days before it was finished, Nan's mother came over, the
melancholy look on her face somewhat lifted. She brought with her the
deed of the land adjoining the cottage and sloping down to the sea. This
land she at once undertook to have equipped for a playground with
swings, tennis courts, a ball ground and all the things that delight
young hearts.

"It is for Philip," she said simply. "I have put his money into it, and
perhaps, by looking a little after homeless, suffering children, I can
forget my own heartache."

"You have chosen the very best way to do so," said Mrs. Rayburn.

Nan's "feeble" chair came the night before the opening, and all three of
the children christened it, by getting in, and wheeling it over the
shining floors at a high rate of speed, thereby proving it to be
anything but feeble.

The morning train brought a bevy of pale-faced, joyless-looking waifs.

At first they were stiff and shy, but under the vigorous leadership of
Nan, Ethelwyn, and Beth, they were soon organized into a Rough Riders
Company, and slid down the banisters, and