d of error."

"There are plenty worse," rejoined Eloise. She looked doubtfully at the
little girl. "Wouldn't you better tell me, dear? Is it right for you to
go?"

"Yes, it's right. His mother knows it, and she's so kind to me. What do
you think! At breakfast she asked me if I wouldn't like to bring Anna
Belle down. She says I can bring her to the table whenever I want to.
Isn't it nice? The dear little creature has been so patient, never
having a thing to eat!"

Eloise could not help laughing, the manner in which Jewel finished
was so suddenly quaint; but she shook her head in silent wonder as she
watched the short skirted figure setting forth for the barn.

"Oh cousin Eloise." Jewel turned around. "Will you come to the ravine
after lunch, and see what Anna Belle and I have done?"

"Yes."

Jewel walked on a little further and turned again. "You won't wear your
watch, will you?" she called.

"No, I'll surely forget it," returned the girl, smiling.

The small figure went on, well content.

"Oh, if I could only be invisible in that barn!" soliloquized Eloise.
"How I would like to hear what she will say. How wonderful it is that
that little child has more chance of success, whatever trouble Zeke has
been getting into, than any full-grown, experienced sage, philosopher,
or reformer, who is a worker in mortal mind."

Anna Belle came to luncheon that day. Mrs. Forbes actually put a cushion
in one of the chairs to lift the honored guest to such a height that
her rosy smile was visible above the tablecloth. Not content with this
hospitality, the housekeeper brought a bread-and-butter plate, upon
which she placed such small proportions of food as might be calculated
to tempt a dainty appetite. Jewel felt almost embarrassed by the
eminence to which her child was suddenly raised.

"Oh, thank you, Mrs. Forbes," she said; "you needn't take so much
trouble. Anna Belle's just used to having a part of mine."

But nothing now was too good for Anna Belle. "She shall have a
cup-custard to-morrow," returned the housekeeper.

Mrs. Evringham looked on with lack-lustre eyes. As well make much of
Anna Belle as any other idol. Everything was stuffed with sawdust!

How the sunbeams glanced in the woods that day as Jewel, one hand
clasping her doll and the other in Eloise's, skipped along the road to
the ravine!

When they had stooped under the wire and gone down the bank, how the
brook sang, and how the violets bloomed in Jewe