It is _so_ funny!"

Dotty was not at all amused herself; but after she was dressed in clean
clothes, she felt very happy, and enjoyed her supper remarkably well. The
thought that they "didn't know how to live without her" gave a relish to
every mouthful.

It was a delightful evening to the little wanderer. The parlor looked so
cheerful in the rosy firelight that Dotty thought she "would like to kiss
every single thing in the room." It was unpleasant out of doors, and the
wind blew as if all the people in the world were deaf, and must be made
to hear; but Dotty did not mind that. She looked out of the window, and
said to Prudy,--

"Seems as if the wind had blown out all the stars; but no matter--is it?
It is all nice in the house."

Then she dropped the curtain, and went to sit in her mother's lap. Not a
word of reproach had been uttered by any one yet; for it was thought the
child had suffered enough.

"Mamma," said Dotty, laying her tired head on her mother's bosom, "don't
you think I'm like the prodigal's--daughter? Yesterday I felt a whisper
'way down in my mind,--I didn't hear it, but I _felt_ it,--and it said,
'You mustn't disobey your mamma; you mustn't play with Lina Rosenberg!'"

"Only think, my child, if you had only paid attention to that whisper!"

"Yes, mamma, but I tried to forget it, and by and by I did forget
it--almost. There's one thing I know," added Dotty, clasping her hands
together; "I'll never run away again. If I'm going to, I'll catch myself
by the shoulder, and hold on just as hard!"

"My blessed child, I hope so," said Mrs. Parfin, with tears in her eyes
and a stronger faith in her heart than she had felt for many a day that
Dotty really meant to do better. "You don't know how it did distress your
papa and me to have you stay in that house a night and a day; but we
hoped it would prove a lesson to you; we meant it for your best good."

To make sure the lesson would not be forgotten, Prudy read her little
sister a private lecture. She had written it that afternoon with carmine
ink, on the nicest of tinted paper. Dotty received it very humbly, and
laid it away in the rosewood box with her precious things.

* * * * *

PRUDY'S LECTURE.

"We must keep good company, Dotty, or not any at all. This is a fact.

"Even an apple is known by the company it keeps. Grandpa Parlin says if
you put apples in a potato bin, they won't taste like apples--they'll
taste