d, and twisted herself free from Jill's grasp, and did not speak
again until she was gone.

The boys took no notice of her; they always left the Babe alone when
she was in one of her odd moods. But Jill, who had really meant to be
kind, went away feeling puzzled. She had got over her first shyness of
the boys in a very few minutes, for they were evidently trying to be
friendly in their blunt, boyish fashion; but Barbara baffled her. There
was something antagonistic in the child's manner; and Jill, who had always
been accustomed to meeting with affection wherever she went, did not
quite know what to make of her. Of course it was ridiculous to worry
herself about a tomboy of eleven who chose to be sulky; but it was the
first time any one had refused to make friends with her, and Jill was a
little hurt about it.

'You're spoiled, my dear,' remarked her mother, as they drove away from
the Berkeleys' house; 'and it is I who have spoiled you. I'm a silly old
woman, but I never could bear to deny you all the sympathy you asked. I
was afraid, you see, that you might think the world was not a nice place
to be in.'

'I'm glad you spoiled me, and I think the world _is_ a nice place to be
in,' answered Jill, laughing. 'But what has that to do with Barbara's not
liking me?'

'Well, you can't expect every one to like you,' said the old lady, in her
brusque way. 'Babs will like you well enough when she finds that she is
still the Babe of the family, in spite of your being there.'

'But--but I don't like to feel that there is anybody anywhere who doesn't
like me,' complained Jill, with a little pout.

'No more does the Babe, I expect,' said Mrs. Crofton, smiling. 'However,
do your best to understand the poor little soul; she has not had much
spoiling, and I should like you two to be friends.'

'Oh!' cried Jill, laughing again as she recalled the funny little figure
that had come bounding into the schoolroom with such a yell and a clatter.
'But she really is rather impossible, mother dear!'

'Quite,' responded the old lady, drily; 'but she has amazing
possibilities, and I thought you might perhaps like to find them.
Well, what about the others?'

'Oh, I like them,' said Jill; 'though I wish they would not all talk at
once; it's so confusing. And I'm a little afraid of them, too. You never
know why they are laughing at you; and if you take them seriously, they
laugh more than ever. Whatever you do, they laugh.'

'Large famili