l. I shall ask a good deal of her time and attention; but I shall
not live forever, and when I am gone, she will be independent, and
able to make her own life."

The three girls were breathless with attention, and Aunt Betty went
on.

"I want the one I shall choose to ponder these conditions well; there
will be a few years--probably--of partial seclusion from society, and
of devotion to her old auntie, and then freedom, with the
consciousness of having made happy the declining years of one who
buried the last of her own children many years ago."

She paused--but not a word was spoken--and in a moment she went on.

"I did not know how to choose between you, for you are all so sweet to
me, so I made a plan to find out--with Sam's help--a little about your
characteristics. The virtue I prize almost above all others,
is--truthfulness, honest, outspoken truth. The bad fish, the salted
cream, and the odious spread were tests, and only one of you stood the
test and spoke the honest truth. I am glad that _one_ did, for
otherwise I should not have found, in my own family, one I could adopt
and depend upon."

She paused; not a word was said.

"Ruth," she began again, turning to that confused, and blushing, and
utterly amazed girl, "Ruth, will you come to live with me, take the
place of a daughter, and occupy that room?"

"You ask _me_?" cried Ruth, "clumsy and awkward as I am! I never
dreamed you could want me!"

"I know you did not," said Aunt Betty; "but your habit of truthfulness
is far more valuable to me than the deftest fingers or the most
finished manners. Will you come?"

"Oh, yes, indeed!" cried Ruth, falling on her knees and burying her
face in Aunt Betty's lap, while happy tears fell from her eyes, and
Aunt Betty gently stroked her hair.

"Well, well," said Jenny, with a sigh, as the two girls walked slowly
home, "I always knew Aunt Betty was the crankiest woman in the world,
and if Ruth wasn't so perfectly sincere I should almost think that
she"--

She paused, and Grace broke in.

"Yes; I'm perfectly sure Ruth is not capable of putting on; besides,
we always knew she couldn't deceive to save her life."

* * * * *

"Hush," said mamma, as Kristy was about to speak. "Here comes Mrs.
Wilson."

Mrs. Wilson, the next door neighbor, walked in, explaining that she
had come in the rain because she was all alone in her house and was
lonely, and seeing Mrs. Crawford sewing by t