rence in Rosanna
since Helen had come, and her fears for the child if Mrs. Horton should
come back and forbid their friendship.

"I shall just leave!" concluded Minnie.

"Don't be an idiot!" said Mrs. Hargrave, frowning. "That would be a nice
thing to do with Rosanna heartbroken. Now, Minnie, all there is to this
is that Mrs. Horton years and years ago had a younger sister who eloped
with a no-account man whom she met when she visited his sister. They
were really very common people, and Mrs. Horton's little sister died of
a broken heart.

"When Mrs. Horton married, her children were boys, as you know, and she
carried her bitterness in her heart until her son's little orphan girl
came to live with her. She is making a great mistake with Rosanna and
she must somehow be made to see it before it is too late. But that is
the reason for her foolishness.

"She adored her little sister, and she adores Rosanna. I am sorry the
affair is so mixed up, but you just leave it to me. In the meantime do
just as you are doing and give the girls all the chance you can to have
a good time. I will stand back of little Helen if I have to adopt her. I
suppose her parents are healthy?"

Minnie giggled. "Yes, ma'am; healthy and real young."

"Well, well, there must be some other way then," said Mrs. Hargrave,
smiling. "To start, I will write Mrs. Horton a letter just before she
returns, and I think a heart-to-heart talk will arrange things nicely."

In the meantime, Mrs. Culver had helped the girls cut out two sets of
dark, comfortable rompers, and Rosanna had sewed them up on her little
machine.

Mrs. Culver was also making a romper for Baby Christopher. Hers was a
cunning one for Sunday, a little pink check with bands of plain pink,
and buttons nearly as big as tea saucers sewed on wherever a button
would go.

Mrs. Culver was a wise woman, and she knew that Baby Christopher, small
as he was, would have a good effect on his many brothers and sisters if
he could be made beautiful and dressy on the one day in the week when
the busy family had time to enjoy his cunning ways. So Christopher was
to have three rompers--good, new, beautiful rompers of his own.

While Mrs. Culver sat thinking the two girls talked about the opening
of the Girl Scout troop in the school Helen was to enter in the fall.

CHAPTER XIII

One morning Mrs. Hargrave was called to the telephone to speak with Mrs.
Culver. Mrs. Culver wanted to know if Mrs.