for the sake of being with her. All at once a
thought came into her head which made going away seem less hard. I am
sure you will laugh when I tell you what it was that could console her
in some part for the thought of leaving her father and mother. She
remembered that once when she was upstairs in Mrs. Peterson's house,
she saw a little trunk standing at the end of the wide hall, studded
with brass-headed nails, and upon one end were the letters "M. D. K."
She had asked Maude to whom the trunk belonged, and Maude had looked
very important when she answered that it was her own trunk, and that
the letters upon the end stood for Maude Delevan Birkenbaum. Ruby was
wondering whether she should have a trunk like Maude's if she should go
to boarding-school. It had seemed just the very nicest thing in the
world to have a trunk of one's own with one's initials upon it in
brass-headed nails, and she thought she could go, without being quite
heart-broken, if only she had a trunk to take with her. Finally she
said,--

"Papa, if I go to boarding-school, I shall have to have a trunk, won't
I? And may it be a black trunk with my name on it in brass nails?"

Papa smiled, though Ruby did not see him.

"Yes, dear," he answered. "If you are a good little girl, and try not
to worry your mother by fretting about going, and don't get into any
more mischief before you go, I will certainly give you just such a
trunk to take with you, if that will be any comfort to you."

"It certainly would be a comfort," Ruby answered, cuddling up closer to
her papa. "And may I take some butternuts in it?"

"You will have to consult your Aunt Emma about what you shall put in
it," her father answered, "but I will get you the trunk."

"And it will have a key?" asked Ruby.

"Yes, it will have a key," said her father. "Now, Ruby, mamma wants to
see you a little while. Can I trust you to be a good little girl, and
not disturb her when you go into her room? Her head aches very badly,
and I only want you to stay in there long enough to kiss her and tell
her how sorry you are for disturbing her so last night, and then you
must go downstairs quietly. Will you remember?"

[Illustration: RUBY AND HER MOTHER (missing from book)]

"Yes, papa," Ruby answered in subdued tones, and then she slipped down
from his knee, and walked along the hall on tiptoe, and stole into her
mother's room. When she saw her mother's pale face, and traces of
tears on her