've stayed so long that mothah
will wondah what has become of me."

"Don't go!" begged Mrs. Bisbee, as Lloyd began drawing on her coat. "I
don't know when I've enjoyed a morning so much. Since daughter's married
and gone I miss her young friends so much. She used to have the house
full of them from morning till night. Now I fairly pine for the sight of
a fresh young face sometimes. You've livened me up more than you can
know. _Do_ come again!"

Lloyd went away highly pleased by her cordial reception. She had enjoyed
being talked to as if she were grown, and these glimpses into the lives
of her neighbours were more interesting than any her books could give
her. When she passed the lane leading up to the house where the three
sisters lived, she wished that she could turn over a leaf and read more
about them. She wondered if Miss Marietta ever took out the beautiful
wedding-dress that was to be her shroud. She mused over the newly
discovered romance all the way home.

If it had not been for that morning's call, and the interest it aroused
in her neighbours, several things might not have happened, which
afterward followed each other like links in a chain. Probably Miss Sarah
would have walked up to Locust just the same, to take home a wrapper she
had finished, and not finding Mrs. Sherman at home would have stepped
inside the door a moment to warm by the dining-room fire; and Lloyd,
with the courtesy that never failed her, would have been as graciously
polite as her mother could have been. But if it had not been for the
interest in her that Mrs. Bisbee's story gave, several other happenings
might not have followed.

As Lloyd looked at the gray-haired woman on whom toil and poverty and
care had left their marks, and remembered there had been a time when
Miss Sarah had been as tenderly cared for as herself, a sudden pity
surged up into her heart. She longed to lighten her load in some way,
and to give back to her for a moment at least the comforts she had lost.
With a quick gesture she motioned her away from the dining-room door.
"No, come in heah!" she exclaimed, leading the way into the
drawing-room, and pushing a big armchair toward the fire.

Blue and cold from her long walk against the wind, Miss Sarah sank down
among the soft cushions and leaned back luxuriously.

"It's so ti'ahsome walking against the wind," exclaimed the Little
Colonel. "When I came in awhile ago, I was puffing and blowing. I'm
going to make yo