suffering and poverty.

The next week she was back again with some books. The soldiers were
still lined up for battle. They looked as if they had seen hard service,
but their commander eyed them with pride and pleasure.

"They been in battle more 'en fifty times since you was here," he
announced. "They've licked everything in sight--the American army has.
This is them on this side. I'd like some British fellers if you could
get 'em. Did you know we licked the British, sure 'nough?" he asked, as
if the war had just ended.

"We surely did," Blue Bonnet said, matching enthusiasm with his. It was
strange to see a little Jewish emigrant espousing the cause of freedom
so rapturously. "Showed them their proper place, didn't we?"

"Bet yer!" Gabriel said, doubling up his fist and aiming a blow at the
pillow behind the soldiers. "Bet yer!"

A vivid crimson spot glowed in each cheek.

"You must hurry and get well, and perhaps some day you can go and see
the soldiers. I have a friend who is going to be one. He'll be at West
Point next year."

Gabriel was very much interested, and Blue Bonnet soon found that she
was expected to give Alec's life history to the child.

And so this odd friendship between Blue Bonnet and an unfortunate little
waif grew, cementing with each visit, reaching out into a future that
meant much to the helpless lad; much to the young girl whose character
was strengthened and broadened by the contact.

* * * * *

The advantages for culture offered on all sides in Boston were also of
inestimable value to Blue Bonnet. The Symphony concerts were a delight,
and wonderful and original descriptions went back to Uncle Cliff,
Grandmother Clyde, and Aunt Lucinda of celebrities. Blue Bonnet was a
discriminating critic--- if one so young could be called a critic. She
had a gift for values. This instinct pleased her teachers immensely;
especially Mrs. White and Fraulein Schirmer.

Carita, too, was growing and expanding under the new and favorable
conditions, proving herself worthy in every particular of Blue Bonnet's
friendship and aid. She had a reverence for Blue Bonnet that was akin to
worship, and since she persisted in this attitude of affection, it was
well that Blue Bonnet's example usually proved worthy of emulation.

It was a fad in Miss North's school, as in most of its kind, for a
younger girl to attach herself to a Junior or a Senior; become her
satellite, her abje