ay home she stopped at The Beeches, and Mrs. Walton, who saw at a
glance that something was wrong, soon drew out the story of her
grievance.

"Don't pay any attention to that old creature," she said, laughing
heartily, "and forgive my laughing. Everybody in the Valley has had a
similar experience. The King's Daughters long ago gave her up in
disgust. She's one of those people who doesn't want to be reformed and
won't stay helped. Her house will be just as dirty next week as when
you first went there."

"I didn't suppose there were such people in the world," said Lloyd, in
disgust.

"You'll find out all sorts of disagreeable things as you get older,"
sighed Mrs. Walton. "It is one of the penalties of growing up. But still
it is good to have such experiences, for the wiser we grow the better we
know how to 'ease the burden of the world,' and that is what we are here
for."

Lloyd's eyes widened with surprise. Here was another person quoting from
the poem she had learned. She was glad now that she had committed it to
memory, since on three occasions it had made people's meaning clearer to
her.

"Yes," she answered, the dimples stealing into her smile. "But the next
time I'll find out first if they really want their burden eased, and if
that burden is dirt, like Mrs. Perkins's, I'll suahly let it alone."

CHAPTER XVI.

"SWEET SIXTEEN"

THE red coat Lloyd wore that winter was long remembered in the Valley,
for wherever it went it carried a bright face above it, a cheery
greeting, and some pleasant word that made the day seem better for its
passing.

Mrs. Bisbee and the little Crisps were not the only ones who learned to
watch for it. As all the lonely town of Hamelin must have felt toward
the one child left to it after the Pied Piper had passed through its
streets, so all the Valley turned with tender regard to the young girl
left in its midst. Mothers, whose daughters were away at school, stopped
to talk to her with affectionate interest. The old ladies whom she
regularly visited welcomed her as if she were a part of their vanished
youth. The young ladies took her under their wing, glad to have her in
the choir and the King's Daughters' Circle, for she was bubbling over
with girlish enthusiasm and a sincere desire to help.

So she found the cobwebs in the neighbourhood sky, and disagreeable
enough they were at times, even more disagreeable than her experience
with Mrs. Perkins. But she swept away with p