ust it out of my hands again."

She pointed out several other miniatures in which she thought Frances
would be interested, all the while keeping the child's hand clasped in
her own. Miss Sherwin, seeing her charge had found an acquaintance,
moved on down the aisle.

"Your friend seems to be interested in the manuscripts; suppose we rest
a few minutes," and Mrs. Marvin drew Frances down beside her on a settee
that stood near a tall case of lace and embroidery.

"Who is the young lady with you?" she asked.

Frances' explained, and Mrs. Marvin remarked that she was a handsome
girl.

"And she is clever, too, for she writes lovely stories and illustrates
them," said Frances, impressively.

"Does she, indeed?"

"Yes, she wrote one for us about a song the Spectacle Man--I mean Mr.
Clark--sings. It is a fairy tale, and _The Young People's Journal_ took
it and are going to publish it next month. It has a beautiful moral to
it."

"What do you know about morals?" laughed Mrs. Marvin.

"I found this one out when I had a quarrel with Gladys. Mr. Clark helped
me to see it," was the reply; and then, as her companion looked
interested, Frances continued:

"It is hard to explain it because you haven't read the story. It is
called 'The Missing Bridge,' and is about a young man who couldn't get
across the river that was between him and the girl he was going to
marry, because there wasn't any bridge. That is he _thought_ there
wasn't, though it really was there all the time, and had just been made
invisible by a magician.

"Well, you know Gladys said she never would speak to me again, and that
was like having the bridge broken between us; don't you think so? But
Mr. Clark said he thought it was only hidden by the clouds of anger and
unkindness. I think it is very uncomfortable to quarrel, don't you?"
then, seeing an odd expression in her companion's face, Frances hastened
to add: "Of course I know you wouldn't quarrel with any one _now_, but I
thought maybe you had when you were a little girl. But don't you think
it is a nice moral? and--oh, yes--the last of it is that love and
courage can always find a way."

"And how about you and Gladys?"

"We made up. If you would like to read the story, Mrs. Marvin, it will
be out next week. The March number of _The Young People's Journal_, and
it's only twenty-five cents."

Mrs. Marvin smiled. "I shall certainly get a copy," she said, adding, "I
see your friend looking this way. Su