as greeting her with,

"Well, Miss Mousie! How about the tumble down now?"

But her eyes saw nothing excepting the mysterious, flat, round parcel in
his hand.

"Oh, Hollis, I'm so glad!" she exclaimed, raising herself upon one elbow.

The stiff blue muslin was rather crumpled by this time, and in place of
the linen collar and old-fashioned pin her mother had tied a narrow scarf
of white lace about her throat; her hair was brushed back and braided in
two heavy braids and her forehead was bandaged in white.

"Well, Marjorie, you _are_ a picture, I must say," he cried, bounding in.
"Why don't you jump up and take another climb?"

"I want to. I want to see the swallow's nest again; I meant to have fed
the swallows last night"

"Where are they?"

"Oh, up in the eaves. Linnet and I have climbed up and fed them."

As he dropped on his knees on the carpet beside the sofa she fell back on
her pillow.

"Father is waiting for me to go to town with him and I can't stay. You
will soon be climbing up to see the swallows again and hunting eggs and
everything as usual."

"Oh, yes, indeed," said Marjorie, hopefully.

Watching her face he laid the parcel in her hand. "Don't open it till I'm
gone. I had something of a time to get it. The old fellow was as
obstinate as a mule when he saw that my heart was set on it. Mother
hadn't a thing old enough--I ransacked everywhere--if I'd had time to go
to grandmother's I might have done better. She's ninety-three, you know,
and has some of her grandmother's things. This thing isn't a beauty to
look at, but it's old, and that's the chief consideration. Extreme old
age will compensate for its ugliness; which is an extenuation that I
haven't for mine. I'm going to-morrow."

"Oh, I want to see it," she exclaimed, not regarding his last remark.

"That's all you care," he said, disappointedly. "I thought you would be
sorry that I'm going."

"You know I am," she returned penitently, picking at the yellow cord.

"Perhaps when I am two hundred years old you'll be as anxious to look at
me as you are to look at that!"

"Oh, Hollis, I do thank you so."

"But you must promise me two things or you can't have it!"

"I'll promise twenty."

"Two will do until next time. First, will you go and see my mother as
soon as you get well, and go often?"

"That's too easy; I want to do something _hard_ for you," she answered
earnestly.

"Perhaps you will some day, who knows? There are hard enoug