said Toinette, shortly after she
became a pupil in the school. "Her eyes are just as soft as the little
Alderney bossie's, and her lips look sort of grieved if the girls look
cross."

And so the whispers grew louder and louder till just after the Easter
holidays were over, and then all who loved her best learned that early in
June wedding bells would ring and a very bonny bride would step forth from
Sunny Bank, with several bonny bridesmaids leading the way, and one maid
of honor to scatter the posies which were to be symbolical, as all hoped,
of her future pathway through life.

And then arose the all-important question as to whom Miss Howard would
choose for that great honor, and excitement ran high.

All the girls had a strong suspicion that it would be Toinette, although,
to do her justice, Toinette herself did not suspect it. Still, Miss Howard
had taken a keen interest in the girl ever since she entered the school,
and felt strongly drawn toward her, being quick to see her good qualities,
and to understand that the undesirable ones were very largely the result
of unfortunate circumstances. So she had striven in her sweet and gracious
way to help Toinette without words, and had been a strong support to Miss
Preston.

As the warm spring days made wood and field to blossom, the girls spent a
great deal of their time out of doors. Sunny Bank's grounds were very
beautiful, and the adjacent field and woodland very enticing at that
season. Basket-ball was a favorite source of amusement, and the lawn
devoted to it as soft and smooth as velvet. So nearly every afternoon the
team could be seen bounding about like so many marionettes, and if
touseled hair and demoralized attire resulted, what did it matter? Rosy
cheeks and ravenous appetites were excellent compensations.

It was the fifteenth of April, and Toinette's birthday. Many a climb had
the expressman's horse taken up the long hill leading to Sunny Bank that
morning, for, if Toinette had but few friends, she certainly had a very
generous father, who meant that she should have her full share of birthday
remembrances, and they kept coming thick and fast all day. With each came
a funny note to say that he was sending still another package because he
did not want her to have all her surprises in a lump; they would seem so
much more if coming in installments. So they kept coming all day long, and
by four o'clock her room looked like a fancy bazaar. Last of all to arriv