ve gone about with me, Molly,' said Betty, with a
decisive shake of her head, as she stooped to caress Prince at her
feet, 'because you would have been one too many. We are two and two
without you. I don't want any one with me but Prince. You would have
to be the odd one if Douglas died--like I used to be.'

'Prince is only a dog,' said Molly, with a little curl of her lip. 'I
wouldn't make two with a dog!'

Betty's eyes sparkled dangerously.

'Prince is ever so much nicer than you are--much nicer, and you're
jealous because he likes me and not you. He's my very own, and I love
him, and he loves me; and I love him better than all the people in the
world put together, so there!'

'You needn't get in a temper. He's a silly, stupid kind of a dog, and
Mr. Giles said yesterday if he caught him chasing his sheep round the
field, he would give him a good beating; and I hope he will, for he
nearly chased the sheep yesterday.'

'When you two have done fighting I should like to speak. My head
aches. I think I should like some of the jelly nurse made for me. It
will make it better.'

The little girls' rising wrath subsided. Both rushed to fulfil
Douglas's desire,--for had not nurse left them in charge, and had she
not also warned them against exciting him by loud talking and noise?

'I'm glad you will get better,' said Betty presently. 'I saw Miss
Fairfax in church yesterday, and she asked me how you were.'

'What were you doing in church?' demanded Douglas. 'It wasn't Sunday.'

'Prince and I go to church very often,' said Betty, putting on a prim
little air. 'We have several businesses there; but we don't tell every
one what we do.'

'Do you play the organ?' asked Douglas, a little eagerly.

'No, but we hear it played, and we sing, and we--well, we do lots of
other things.'

'I shall come with you next time you go,' and Douglas's tone was firm.

'No,' said Betty; 'you'll be one too many. I don't want Molly, and I
don't want you. I've got Prince, and I don't want no one else.'

It was thus she aired her triumphs daily; and it was by such speeches
that she revealed how much she had felt and suffered in times past by
being so constantly left out in the cold. And Prince was daily
becoming more and more companionable. Not one doubt did Betty ever
entertain as to his not understanding or caring for her long
confidences. He slept in a little basket at the foot of her bed. She
was wakened by his wet ki