now, I'll tell you," he went on confidentially, "if
anybody ever lays a finger on you, just you come to my house, and
I'll see that you are treated all right. Remember that now!"

Polly chuckled a "thank you," and Colonel Gresham began talking
about the park, the entrance of which they were nearing.

Polly tried to put Aunt Jane from her mind; but the threatened
possibilities kept thrusting themselves into the Colonel's merry
speeches, until she scarcely comprehended what he was saying.
Little by little, however, the beauties of her surroundings
overpowered all else, and Aunt Jane was for the time almost
forgotten.

The wise men who had planned Forest Park had known better than to
try to improve on nature's handiwork, and rocks and ravines,
brooks and pools, wooded slopes and ferny tangles, were left
practically unchanged. Polly loved birds and flowers and all the
scents and sounds of summer fields and woods, and now, as the air
came laden with faint perfume, and a carol burst into the
stillness, she clasped her little hands together with a soft
breath of delight.

Colonel Gresham watcher her in furtive silence. Finally she
turned towards him.

"I should think it would make sick people well to come out, here
should n't you?"

"Some of them," he nodded.

"I'm going to tell Mrs. Jocelyn all about it. Perhaps it would
make her happier if she's come."

"What Mrs. Jocelyn is that?" asked the Colonel.

"I don't know her other name. The one that's at the hospital--
she's small, and has white hair. Her husband and little boy
died."

"Oh, yes! Juliet Jocelyn, probably; but I did n't know that she
was sick."

"She's had an operation, I think; but she's getting well now.
I've been to see her twice. Yesterday I read her a story."

"I hope she appreciated it," observed the Colonel dryly.

"I'm not sure," Polly replied; "she did n't say. Do you know
Mrs. Jocelyn?"

"I knew her a long time ago," was the grave answer, as he turned
his horse into the road that wound up the eastern side of the
mountain.

"Oh, you're going to take the Cliff Drive!" cried Polly
delightedly. "Dr. Dudley could n't go, because they won't let
autos up there."

"No, for one might meet a skittish horse. I like to come up here
once in a while for the view."

"I'm not going to look till we get clear up," Polly declared.
And resolutely she kept her eyes the other way.

"Now!" announced Colonel Gresham.

Polly turned her head