here
was an enamel bow also to fasten it on to a dress, but Darsie fairly
quaked at the thought of the responsibility of wearing so gorgeous an
ornament.

"That will do for mother," she announced decidedly. "It wouldn't be
_decent_ for me to flaunt about in enamel and diamonds when she has an
old gold thing that is always slow. Besides, if she wears it I can
watch the diamonds flash, and that is the best part of the fun. Aunt
Maria, that's two! Do you suppose, should you imagine, that they'll
_all_--"

Lady Hayes looked shocked, as in duty bound.

"My dear, I don't suppose anything about it. That is not our affair.
It is sufficient that these two friends have been most kind and
generous, and that you ought to be a very grateful girl. Surmises as to
future gifts are in the worst possible taste."

Darsie wrinkled her nose and sat in silence for several moments, moving
the little watch to and fro to catch the play of light upon the stones.
Then suddenly she spoke again--

"Aunt Maria, what are your ideas with regard to _luck_?"

"I have none, my dear. I don't believe in its existence!"

"But you must, Aunt Maria. You must. It was the merest luck my seeing
that hole, and thinking of feeling inside, but it seems as if it were
going to have such big consequences. Just in a moment it has brought me
more influential friends than most girls meet with in the whole of their
lives. They are all grateful to me; they feel that I have helped them;
they want to help me in return; but after all there's no credit to me,
it was all done without one scrap of thought or trouble. It seems hard
to think that many people work and slave for years, and fail to gain a
quarter as much as I have done by just pure luck!"

"Don't be so sweeping in your assertions, child. These are early days
yet to talk about results. When you come to my age, my dear, you will
look back and realise that those who go through life in the right spirit
are never left to the mercy of what you call `luck.' `Submit thy way
unto the Lord, and _He_ will direct thy path.' I am an old woman,
Darsie, but I can say from my heart that goodness and mercy have
followed me all the days of my life."

Darsie sat gazing thoughtfully into her aunt's face. Within the last
weeks a degree of intimacy had developed between the old woman and the
girl, which made it possible for the latter to speak out more openly
than she would have believed possible a short month