e added,
persuasively:

"It wont hurt a bit, now, and the longer you leave it the worse it will
be. Dr. Mann is ready at any time, and once over you will be at peace
for months. Come, my hero, give your orders, and take one of the girls
to support you in the trying hour. Have Bab, she will enjoy it and
amuse you with her chatter."

"As if I needed girls around for such a trifle as that!" returned
Thorny, with a shrug, though he groaned inwardly at the prospect before
him, as most of us do on such occasions. "I wouldn't take Bab at any
price; she'd only get into some scrape and upset the whole plan. Betty
is the chicken for me,--a real little lady, and as nice and purry as a
kitten."

"Very well; ask her mother, and take good care of her. Let her tuck her
dolly in, and she will be contented anywhere. There's a fine air, and
the awning is on the phaeton, so you wont feel the sun. Start about
three, and drive carefully."

Betty was charmed to go, for Thorny was a sort of prince in her eyes,
and to be invited to such a grand expedition was an overwhelming honor.
Bab was not surprised, for, since Sancho's loss, she had felt herself
in disgrace and been unusually meek; Ben let her "severely alone,"
which much afflicted her, for he was her great admiration, and had been
pleased to express his approbation of her agility and courage so often
that she was ready to attempt any fool-hardy feat to recover his
regard. But vainly did she risk her neck jumping off the highest beams
in the barn, trying to keep her balance standing on the donkey's back,
and leaping the lodge gate at a bound; Ben vouchsafed no reward by a
look, a smile, a word of commendation, and Bab felt that nothing but
Sancho's return would ever restore the broken friendship.

Into faithful Betty's bosom did she pour forth her remorseful
lamentations, often bursting out with the passionate exclamation, "If I
could only find Sanch and give him back to Ben, I wouldn't care if I
tumbled down and broke all my legs right away!" Such abandonment of woe
made a deep impression on Betty, and she fell into the way of consoling
her sister by cheerful prophecies and a firm belief that the organ-man
would yet appear with the lost darling.

"I've got five cents of my berry money, and I'll buy you a orange if I
see any," promised Betty, stopping to kiss Bab, as the phaeton came to
the door, and Thorny handed in a young lady whose white frock was so
stiff with starch that it