elf, and never thinking about other people at all.
But Mrs. Chester talked to me."

"I'll bet she never had a chance to scold you."

"I'm afraid she did, Zara; but she didn't want to. That's not her way.
She never scolds people. She just talks to them in that wonderful, quiet
way of hers, and makes them see that they haven't been doing right."

"But I don't believe you ever did anything that wasn't right."

"Maybe I didn't mean to, and maybe it wasn't what I did that was wrong.
It was more what I didn't do."

"I don't see what you mean."

"Well, I was careless and thoughtless, just as I said. I used to dance,
and play games, and go to parties all the time."

"I think that must be fine! Didn't you have to work at home, though?"

"No; and that was just the trouble, you see. My people had plenty of
money, and they just wanted me to have a good time. And I did--but I've
had a better one since I started doing things for other people."

"I bet you always did, really--"

"I'm not an angel now, Zara, and I certainly never used to be, nor a bit
like one. Just because I've happened to be able to help you two a
little, you think altogether too much of me."

"Oh, no; we couldn't--"

"Well, as I was saying, Mrs. Chester saw how things were going, and she
started to talk to me. I was horrid to her at first, and wouldn't pay
any attention to her at all."

"I'm going to ask her about that. I don't believe you ever were horrid
to anyone."

"Probably Mrs. Chester won't admit it, but it's true, just the same,
Bessie. But she talked to me, and kept on talking, and she made me think
about all the poorer girls who had to work so hard and couldn't go to
parties. And I began to feel sorry, and wonder what I could do to make
them happier."

"You see, that's just what we said! You weren't selfish at all!"

"I tried to stop as soon as I found out that I had been, Zara; that's
all. And I think anyone would do that. It's because people don't think
of the unhappiness and misery of others that there's so much suffering,
not because they really want other people to be unhappy."

"I guess that's so. I suppose even Farmer Weeks wouldn't be mean if he
really thought about it."

"I'm sure he wouldn't--and we'll have to try to reform him, too, before
we're done with him. You see, if there were more people like Mrs.
Chester, things would be ever so much nicer. She heard about the Camp
Fire Girls, and she saw right away that it meant a