oor Bunny sat
down on the edge of her crib, and in spite of all the efforts she
made to keep them back, the big tears rolled slowly down her
cheeks.

Suddenly the sound of wheels was heard upon the gravel below, and
brushing away her tears, the little girl started to her feet and ran
over to the window.

A cab covered with luggage was coming in at the big gate, and in a
minute she saw her papa nodding gaily up to his little Bunny, with a
bright well-pleased smile upon his dear face.

Without a moment's thought as to the state she was in, or of what
her papa or the little boy from India might think of her in such a
condition, Bunny dropped the blind, and with a joyful cry of "Papa,
papa, my own dear papa," she rushed out of the nursery and away down
the stairs.

"My little darling! My sweet little Bun," exclaimed Mr. Dashwood, as
the small wild-looking figure came running along the hall and jumped
into his arms. "Why, dear, why did you come out of the nursery
before you were dressed?" he said, as he smoothed back the ruffled
hair and kissed the hot cheeks of the excited child. "You are in a
strange state to receive visitors, Bunny dear, and I am afraid
cousin Mervyn will be shocked at my wild girl, for he is a very
tidy little man, I can tell you. Mervyn, this is your cousin Ethel,
commonly called Bunny, I hope you will be very good friends," and he
put out his hand to a pale gentle-looking boy of about seven years
old, who was clinging shyly to the skirts of an Indian Ayah, as
though afraid to let her go from beside him for an instant.

When Bunny raised her head from her papa's shoulder to look at her
new cousin, her eyes suddenly lighted upon the grinning black face
of the strange foreign-looking woman, and with one wild yell of
terror she turned away, and buried her little face in her father's
coat.

"Oh, send that dreadful thing away!" she cried, "I'm not half so
naughty as I used to be! And I have promised Miss Kerr to be so
good! Oh, papa, papa, don't give your little Bunny to that dreadful
black woman."

"My darling, that is Mervyn's nurse, and he loves her very dearly.
See how he clings to her and begs her to stay with him! Just look
how kind she is to him!"

"Oh, no, no, papa, she's a bogie, I am sure," cried the child,
clinging to him more nervously than ever. "Sophie always tells me a
bogie will come for me if I am naughty, and I was naughty just now
because Sophie pulled my hair, and I was cross