her account. It will do her so much good. Now sit down and
eat your soup, and I'll stay here a while and tell you all about her.
I gave her the pansies you bought her,--it was so sweet of you, too,
Larkie. It must have taken every cent of your money, didn't it? I
suppose you ordered them over the telephone, since you wouldn't leave
the house. When I told Carol you got them for her, she took them in
her hand and held them under the covers. Of course, they wilted right
away, but I knew you would like Carrie to have them close to her.'--Oh,
you must eat it all, Lark. It looks very good. I must take a little
of it up to Carol,--maybe she can eat some.--And you will do your very
best to be strong and bright and rosy--for Carol--won't you?"

"Yes, I will,--I'll go and run across the field a few times before I go
to bed. Yes, I'll try my very best." Then she looked up at the
doctor, and added: "But I wouldn't do it for you, or anybody else,
either."

But the doctor only smiled oddly, and went away up-stairs again,
wondering at the wisdom that God has placed in the hearts of women!

Dreary miserable days and nights followed after that. And Prudence, to
whom Carol, even in delirium, clung with such wildness that they dare
not deny her, grew weary-eyed and wan. But when the doctor, putting
his hand on her shoulder, said, "It's all right now, my dear. She'll
soon be as well as ever,"--then Prudence dropped limply to the floor,
trembling weakly with the great happiness.

Good Methodist friends from all over Mount Mark came to the assistance
of the parsonage family, and many gifts and delicacies and knick-knacks
were sent in to tempt the appetite of the invalid, and the others as
well.

"You all need toning up," said Mrs. Adams crossly, "you've all gone
clear under. A body would think the whole family had been down with
something!"

Carol's friends at the high school, and the members of the faculty
also, took advantage of this opportunity to show their love for her.
And Professor Duke sent clear to Burlington for a great basket of
violets and lilies-of-the-valley, "For our little high-school
song-bird," as he wrote on the card. And Carol dimpled with delight as
she read it.

"Now you see for yourself, Prudence," she declared. "Isn't he a duck?"

When the little parsonage group, entire, gathered once more around the
table in the "real dining-room," they were joyful indeed. It was a
gala occasion! The very