nd the rest of
the girls, that it wouldn't be convenient to have you come, as you
have done; you are not stylish enough for Miss Hattie Randolph to
associate with, I suppose."

The girls looked really disappointed. Lucindy was a great favorite,
and a leader, fearless and successful in all escapades that required
originality and coolness, and her company would be sorely missed. Her
aunt had indulged her in all the dress and amusement she could afford,
and her companions had always been welcome to visit at the house, but
now there was a necessity for her services, and play could not be
indulged in so often for the rest of the summer, as the household
needed the avails, if not the presence of summer boarders.

"Is she older than we?" asked Carrie.

"No, but she's lived all her life in the city, and feels above
everybody. She and her brother and her mother will just take
possession of our piazza and door-yard, and our swing; and I can wash
dishes, and sit on the back door-step, and never see a girl from one
month's end to another." Here Lucindy burst out crying.

"It's too bad," said Carrie.

The little Lena, ever fertile in invention, crept near, and putting
her arms around Lucindy's neck, whispered:

"We'll come to see you on the sly, and we can go down in the fields
and have fun, when your Auntie goes out for an afternoon."

"I wish you would," said Lucindy. "And I'll bring down some cake and
pickles, and some honey, and we'll have a pic-nic in spite of Mrs.
Randolph!"

This was a solution of the unhappy problem, and it seemed to throw a
ray of sunlight slantwise into the gloomy picture of the coming
summer.

The progress of the afternoon at the school-house was not marked by
any unusual occurrence, and at the close, the little company of
schoolmates proceeded together, until they came to the road leading to
Lucindy's home. Here they parted, with many professions of everlasting
friendship; Lucindy, walking backwards, watched her companions until
the turn in the road hid them from view.

Then she sat down upon a bank by the roadside under an old tree.
Throwing her slate and books down on the grass, she snatched a few
daisies that grew near, and thought of many things of a disquieting
nature, pulling the flowers to pieces.

"I feel mad enough to run away!" she thought. "I could earn my living
easy enough in the city, and not have to work so hard either. Miss
Hunter can't teach me any thing more. I've learned