ve she'll be nicer after this."

"Do you live near here?" asked Tony, thinking it was their turn to ask
questions of this debonair little stranger, who evidently belonged to
rich people, because her brown curls were tied back with a huge pink
ribbon, a dainty white pinafore covered her pretty gingham dress, and
her feet were shod in patent leather slippers.

"No, grandpa's house is three miles away, but I am staying at the Hill
Street parsonage." Briefly she explained how it had all come about, and
the story seemed like a fairy tale to the four eager listeners.

"Then you are an orphan, too," cried Tony triumphantly, when she had
finished. "How do you know Lottie ain't your twin sister?"

"'Cause there never were any twins in our family, and if there had been,
do you s'pose mother'd have let one loose like that, to get put in a
Children's Home? I guess not!"

"Maybe she's a cousin, then."

"We haven't got any. Papa was the only child Grandpa Greenfield had, and
mother's only brother died when he was little."

"But Lottie's just the _yimage_ of you," insisted Tony, bent on
discovering some tie of relationship between the two.

"I can't help that. I guess it's just a queerity, though I'd like to
find out I had some sure-enough cousins which I didn't know anything
about. Besides, Lottie is lots darker than me. Her hair is black and so
are her eyes. Least I guess they are what you'd call black. Mine are
only brown."

"You're the same size. Ain't they, Ethel?" asked the older lad.

"Yes, that was what I was thinking. I don't believe many folks would
know them apart if they changed clothes."

"Oh, let's do it!" cried Peace, charmed with the suggestion. "We've got
a book at home that tells how a little beggar boy changed places with a
prince, and they had the strangest 'xperiences! It'll be lots of fun to
fool the others. They haven't been paying any 'tention to our talking
here. Where's the gate?"

"At the other side of the yard. There's only one--"

"But visitors aren't allowed to come and play with us without a permit
from the matron," began the larger boy, cautiously.

"Oh, bother, George," Tony cried impatiently. "We can't get a permit now
with all the Lady Boards here, and you know it."

"Why not?" asked Peace.

"'Cause Miss Chase is busy with them in the parlors and we can't see her
till they are gone."

"How long will that be?"

"Oh, hours, maybe."

"Then I'll come in now and get my permit later