sand ponies and parties and pink
dresses and everything!" She slid from her uncle's arm, and ran over
to the Doctor, where she hid her face on his shoulder, breaking into
soft sobs.

Mrs. Dudley drew her gently away and upstairs. She ended her cry on
her mother's breast.

When she was called down to bid her uncle good-bye, no mention was
made of the subject which had brought the tears, and she thanked him
very sweetly for his invitation to visit them sometime in the near
future. Yet she watched him drive away in his handsome motor-car with
a feeling of relief, and her wave of farewell was accompanied by a
radiant smile.

CHAPTER XII

LITTLE CHRIS

Polly dreaded the next meeting with her Cousin Floyd, for she
anticipated his disappointment at her decision. But he took the news
cheerfully.

"Just wait till we get you down to our house!" he laughed. "We'll give
you so good a time you'll forget there ever was a Fair Harbor."

Polly smiled contentedly. This was so much pleasanter than her uncle's
insistence.

Yet when his eyes were free to look upon her, his gayety vanished.

"So like my mother!" he murmured. "Not the eyes,--hers were blue,--but
the mouth and the expression of the face--yes, and the forehead!--they
are mother's right over again!" His lips drooped sorrowfully. "You
bring her back to me better than a picture. It is a shame," he
regretted, "when you belong to us, that we can't have you under our
roof!"

"I'm sorry," Polly sighed. "I wish I could be in two places."

"One would be quite enough," laughed Floyd, "if only that were New
York. Oh, come on, Polly! We'll have no end of a good time."

She shook her head slowly, the red fluttering on her cheeks. "I
can't," she told him; "truly I can't!"

"All right," he responded, and touched the subject no more; yet Polly
was troubled at the seriousness of his face. Finding relatives was not
complete joy after all.

The good-byes, which came soon, brought no further word from him in
regard to her decision; but he urged an early visit, to which Polly
and her parents agreed.

The taxicab that carried Floyd and his luggage to the station was
barely out of sight when Polly spied a familiar little figure on the
hospital walk.

"There's Moses Cohn!" she cried. "I wonder what he is coming for."

"Hullo, Polly!" was the friendly call, the freckled face under the
shabby hat shining with delight.

She waved him a welcome, dancing about in the cold