in it," answered Betty, "and he'll be mounted in
one scene. So we may need one of the ponies." Then she turned to her
godmother. "Do you suppose there is a spinning-wheel anywhere in the
neighbourhood that we could borrow?"

"Yes, I have one of my great-grandmother's stored away in the trunk-room.
You may have that."

The Little Colonel shrugged her shoulders impatiently. "Oh, I can't wait
to know what you're goin' to do with a spinnin'-wheel in the play. Tell me
now, Betty."

But the little playwright only shook her head "I'm not sure myself yet.
But I keep thinking of the humming of the wheel, and a sort of
spinning-song keeps running through my head. I thought, too, it would
help to make a pretty scene."

"You're goin' to put Hero in it, aren't you?" was the Little Colonel's
question.

"Oh, Lloyd! I can't," cried Betty, in dismay. "A dog couldn't have a part
with princes and witches and fairies."

"I don't see why not," persisted Lloyd. "I sha'n't take half the interest
if he isn't in it. I think you might put him in, Betty," she urged. "I'd
do as much for you, if it was something you had set your heart on.
_Please_, Betty!" she begged.

"But he won't fit anywhere!" said Betty, in a distressed tone. "I'd put
him in, gladly, if he'd only go, but, don't you see, Lloyd, he isn't
appropriate. It would spoil the whole thing to drag him in."

"I don't see why," said Lloyd, a trifle sharply. "Isn't it going to be a
Red Cross entahtainment, and isn't Hero a Red Cross dog? I think it's
_very_ appropriate for him to have a part, even one of the principal
ones."

"I can't think of a single thing for him to do--" began Betty.

"You can if you try hard enough," insisted Lloyd.

Betty sighed hopelessly, and turned to her lunch in silence. She wanted to
please the Little Colonel, but it seemed impossible to her to give Hero a
part without spoiling the entertainment.

"Maybe some of the books in the ship's library might help you," said Mr.
Sherman, who had been an amused listener. "I'll look over some of them for
you."

Later in the day he came up to Betty where she stood leaning against the
deck railing. He laid a book upon it, open at a picture of seven white
swans, "Do you remember this?" he asked. "The seven brothers who were
changed to swans, and the good sister who wove a coat for each one out of
flax she spun from the churchyard nettles? The magic coats gave them back
their human forms. Maybe you can use the