: d|M| TJCSB LIBRARY DORA AND THE ANGEL. THE MAIfDEJIHOO SERIES. DAISY TRAVERS; OB, THE GIRLS OF HIYE HALL. BY ADELAIDE F. SAMUELS, AUTHOR OF "DICK AND DAISY STORIES," "DICK TRAVEBS ABROAD," ETC. BOSTON: LEE & SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK: CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM, 1876. COPYRIGHT BT LEE AND SHEPABD, 1876. Elcctrotyped by C. C. Morse & Son, Haverhill, Mass. TO LILIAN TRASK HARLOW, OF QTJIHCY, MASS., This (Book is Affectionately (Dedicated BY THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. HIVE HALL, AND How IT CAME TO EXIST, . 11 CHAPTER II. DORA'S CURIOSITY, ...... 24 CHAPTER III. WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH HER ? . .42 CHAPTER IV. CHEERY-STONES, AND MRS. HODGES METHOD, . 56 CHAPTER V. LUCY " ROOMS " WITH DORA, .... 79 CHAPTER VI. DORA " PAYS " DAISY, 100 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. A SURPRISE FOR "AuNT DAISY,", . . . 114 CHAPTER VIII. AWARDING THE PJRIZE, ..... 124 CHAPTER IX. PETS, 133 CHAPTER 5. A GIPSY FORTUNE-TELLER, . . . .152 CHAPTER XI. POOR DORA, 169 CHAPTER XII. CAUGHT IN A STORM, 181 CHAPTER XIII. UNDER ANNE'S WINDOW, , 197 * CHAPTER XIV. THE READING CLUB, 207 CHAPTER XV. BELLE CLEVERLY, ...... 221 CHAPTER XVI. AT MRS. JOHNSON'S, 240 CONTENTS. 9 CHAPTEK XVII. A LETTER FROM EDGAR, 251 CHAPTER XVIII. NEVER COMING BACK, . . . . . 269 CHAPTER XIX. CONCLUSION, . . . . . . .276 DAISY TRAYERS. CHAPTER I. HIVE HALL, AND HOW IT CAME TO EXIST. jHAT a bright, sunshiny morning it was ! and what a curious, prying thing the sun is, anyhow ! How it did try to squeeze the whole of itself into Hive Hall school-room on this particular morning. It could not, of course, but so much of it never succeeded in getting in before. It was all over the room, in squares, angles, and bars, and every shape you could think of. Doubtless it knew that this morning Daisy intended to make her first speech to the twenty-five children who were watching her so curiously, as she stood in a great patch of sunshine upon the platform. It was well for .her, that the sun did shine ; a cloudy morning 11 12 DAIST TR AVERS. would have lowered her spirits, and perhaps, deprived her of the courage to say what she wanted to. Daisy Travers was the adopted grand-daughter of a wealth} 7 " old man, named Milly, who looked upon her as perfection, and who would no more have thought of refusing to comply with any of her whims, than he would have forgiven any one for underrating her beauty or goodness. She was nearly sixteen ; small, but faultless in form ; with a sad, sweet face, deep blue eyes and hair well, it was light, long and naturally curly ; poor words to express all its beauty. Her short struggle with poverty had awakened in her a sympathy for the poor, that few girls of her age can understand. Her last charitable whim, the founding of Hive Hall, was one that would be likely to cause her much trouble, and anxiety, but if carried bravely through, her compensation would be evident. The twenty-five children before her had been taken from miser- ably-conducted country poor-houses, and bound to grandfather Milly : why they were there we will let Daisy tell. " You are all here, at last : " said she, flashing a glance over the faces before her : " and now I HIVE HALL. 13 am going to tell you why you are here ; but first I will tell you a true story that you will all be able to understand. Once upon a time there was a very little girl who lived with her father, and mother, and brother, in a country town, not a great many miles from here. She was a very happy little girl. All of you, I am sure, know what it is to be happy. Just think of some time when you were very happy, indeed, then believe that this little girl was just so happy all the time, until one day her father died ; very soon after that her mother died also, and she was told that her brother would have to leave her, and go out into the world to seek his fortune, while she, all alone, must go to the poor-house. Then was ever there such an unhappy little girl as she. She had heard such dreadful stories about that poor-house. She would never be able to sleep there, she knew, but would lie every night with her eyes wide open, waiting for something dreadful to happen. She was so frightened, and cried so at the thought of going there, that at last her brother resolved to take her with him, and they would seek their fortunes together. Then in her great joy, she thought of those less fortunate than 14 DAISY TR AVERS, she, and made a vow to herself that if it was ever in her power to make even a few of them happy, she would do it," here Daisy paused to take breath. Twenty-five pairs of eyes, were fixed earnestly upon her face, but she did not feel now as though they belonged to strangers ; no, they belonged to those whom she had thought of, and planned for, in her mind for months, and years. " They were very fortunate, this brother and sister," continued Daisy. " They were soon adopted by a good man, who proved to be very rich, and became so fond of his adopted grand- children that he would deny them nothing they might ask of him. So it was now in this girl's power to "perform what she had vowed to do. Her good fortune did not make her forget that vow, you will believe, when I tell you that I am that girl, and have gathered you here to befriend you. This, henceforth will be your home, and I will try to make it all that a home can be. You have all of you, I think, seen girls and boys whom you have envied ; they were well clad, while you were in rags ; they were well fed, while you were hungry ; they were petted, and rewarded, and Santa-Glaus never forgot them Christmas time. Henceforth you will be well HIVE HALL. 15 clad, well fed, petted, and rewarded, and Santa- Glaus will never forget to -visit Hive Hall." How the sun did rush into the room ! One would think all the children were sun-struck, they sat so still; and how it did make their eyes shine, as they listened to Daisy. " I will do everything that can be done for you," continued she, " and all I ask in return is, that you will love each other, and me, as I shall love you ; and that you will honestly try to do the best you can, always. If you will do that, I shall have cause to be proud of this school, and I want to be proud of it. I want to see you grow up into men and women that anyone would be proud to know. I want to be able to say one of these days, when some one is telling me about a great man, and his works, ' why, that's one of my boys ! ' and when I hear every one talking about some woman, who is making a glorious name, I want to be able to say, ' yes, she is one of my girls ! ' But more than all, I want to know that you are every one good, and true : I want to feel always that I can trust you; then I can pity the world if it should never know you. Now, boys and girls, if you feel like giving three cheers for Hive Hall, you 16 DAIST TR AVERS. need not be afraid of making a noise," and Daisy smilingly withdrew, just in time to escape the full sound of such a cheer ! The like was never uttered by twenty-five pauper children before. " She shall have cause to be proud of me ! " exclaimed one bright boy, looking with much satisfaction upon his neat clothes. " And me ! " " And me ! " " And me ! " sounded from every side of the room. " Don't make fools of yourselves ! " petulantly exclaimed the girl who had come the very first day. " Just keep still, and see what she wants of us. I've heard fine talk before. It's my opinion she's something like crazy Bet, where I came from. ' Dora,' she'd say to me, 'Dora, your dress is 'bout gin out, that's a fac,' Dora! " Then she'd go on to tell how I'd soon have a new one, and she'd get it for me, if I'd only get the key to the store-room, and go in, an' steal her some tea an' sugar. If I stole tea an' sugar for her once, I stole it a hundred times, but all the dress I ever got was made out of a meal-bag." " But you have one now ? " said the boy who spoke first. HIVE HALL. 17 " Yes, an' it's such a dreadful good one I can't get it through my head what she'll expect me to do for it. Shouldn't wonder if she wanted me to steal all-out-doors, for this dress." "I don't believe she'll want us to steal. She is good, I know, for she talks just the way my mother did, ever so long ago, before she died," spoke up a pale-faced girl, of seven years, or thereabouts. " Besides she is rich, and what should she want us to steal for. She isn't like your crazy Bet. She can buy any thing if she wants it! " argued the first speaker. " I've seen rich people before to-day, I guess. It was only last summer that a rich lady came to me, an' wanted me to pick her some barberries to preserve. I was two days pickin' urn, an' scratched the skin all off my hands. She said she'd give me a new dress for um, but she never did, an' she kept my box, too, that I picked um in. You can't tell me any thing about rich folks." "You came here first, didn't you? Well, has she ever treated you bad, or asked you to do any thing that was mean?" questioned the first speaker, while the other children, who were 2 18 DAIST TR AVERS. beginning to forget Daisy's speech, listened atten- tively. " No, she never did, as yet, that's what makes me think it'll be a regular 'stonisher when it does come. I'd do a good deal to keep these fine clothes, an' live as I have for the last two weeks, but I can tell you I'd feel safer with crazy Bet, any day." " Say, Dora, what do they want such a thick table for? " questioned an intelligent looking girl who stood near the one addressed, pointing at the piano. " It looks to me as though it was hollow. They'll lock some of us up in it, some day, I'll bet." " That ain't a table," replied Dora, " that's a hand-organ. I saw one at that rich lady's house, I was telling about. They can make music come out of it." One little fellow was about to inform them that it was a piano, when the door opened, and the teacher, followed by Daisy, entered the school-room. She, the teacher, was a pleasant- faced, middle-aged woman, to whom Daisy had become already very much attached. " This is Mrs. Burns, your teacher," said Daisy, addressing the scholars. " She is going HIVE HALL. 19 to tell you now how she intends to teach you." " Perhaps you had better tell them ; I am sure you can make them understand better than I can," said Mrs. Burns, to Daisy. "Very well, then ; sit down ; or first let me have a piece of chalk, if you have some handy, and I will try to illustrate my meaning on the black-board." The chalk was soon in Daisy's hand. " Now I will draw you a picture of one kind of a teacher, and the way she teaches," said she, turning to the board. " I will first draw a ladder, which we will call the ladder of learning. I will now draw a picture of a little child just ready to step upon the first round of the ladder ; and here's another child half through school, or half way up the ladder. Now I draw a picture of the teacher not your teacher, remember who comes up with spectacles on, and a stick in her hand, and falls to beating the two children as they go up the ladder. How she makes her stick fly. The children don't want to go up now, but she makes them ; she wont let them stop to take breath ; and if they manage wearily to climb a round or two faster than usual, that is an encouragement for her to 20 DAISY TR AVERS. beat the harder, until they reach "the top ; and then they are so tired, and glad to be through with it all, that, instead of striking out to the right, or the left, they tottle over on the other side of the ladder, fall down, and forget nearly all they have learned. Now I'll draw a picture of your ladder, and the way you are going up it. There it is, and you can just imagine that you are all of you here at the foot, ready to take your first step up. Here stands Mrs. Burns. She hasn't any stick in her hand, but her hands are ready to help you up ; and here is something hanging from this fir.t round that's worth climb- ing for. It will take just three months to climb the first round. At the end of that time we will have a holida}^ and the boy and girl who have had the most perfect lessons, in those three months, shall receive a prize ; but there are some of you who will deserve a prize, because you will work for it as hard as the one who' will get it, and will lose it only because you have not the power to remember your lessons as well as the lucky one ; and so, that you may all stand on equal ground, I have decided to give out two prizes, just alike, to the girls, and two to the boys : one for perfect lessons, and the HIVE HALL. 21 other for good conduct. Now, I will show you what the prizes will be, and you can decide for yourselves if they are worth striving for." So saying, Daisy left the school-room, but soon returned, holding in her hands a perfect little ship, two feet in length ; and, to judge from the exclamations of the boys, as she carried it among them, for their inspection, they thought it would be worth striving for. "These sails can be furled, and here is an anchor that will be strong enough to hold it in a gale. I have another ship, just like this one, for the other prize, and there is a beautiful pond, not far from here, where the two boys who get them, may sail them, without danger to them- selves. I am very curious to know which two of all these boys, will get them. Mrs. Burns, will you show the girls what their prize will be ? " continued Daisy, addressing the teacher. " Certainly," was the' reply, and Mrs. Burns left the room. Returning in a few minutes, she caused a great excitement among the girls, for in her arms was the most wonderful doll they had ever seen. It had real hair, and eyes that would open and shut ; and was dressed so hand- somely. But that was not all. The cunningest 22 DAISY TRA VBRS. little trunk, with a lock and key, and full of more clothes for dollie, made the prize complete. Mrs. Burns took out all the dresses, and exhib- ited them, then folded them away again in the trunk, and turned the key in the lock ; not omitting to say that there was another doll and trunk exactly like that she had in her hand; and at the end of three months, the girl who had learned her lessons the best would receive one, and the girl who had behaved the best would receive the other. Then Daisy and the teacher went out with the prizes, and left the scholars for a while, that they might have a talk about them. " Now, what do you think about it, Dora ? " questioned three or four girls, as soon as they had gone. " It's dreadful queer, any way." " Perhaps you think she'll want you to steal ' all-out-doors,' now ? " questioned the boy who had been the first to speak before, and whose name was Edgar Ford. " I will tell you what crazy Bet would say she will want me to do, if she was here." " What would she ? " " Why, she'd pull her white hair all down HIVE HALL. 23 over her face, then she'd say, * I tell you what, Dora, she'll want you to go up and bring down the moon, then she'll want you to drive the man out of it with a broom-stick. Then she'd, crazy Bet would, tell me not to do it, because she tried to do it once, herself, an' the moon rocked over on her. That's how she came to be moon- struck." " Are you going to try to get one of the dolls ? " interrogated a small girl who stood near her. u Land, no ! I couldn't get a lesson an' I couldn't behave. But I should like to get it, just to break its head open, to see what makes its eyes open an' shut. It's dreadful queer how it does that." " Oh-o-o ! " groaned all the girls. " Break that beautiful doll ! " " What's it good for, anyhow ! " " Don't tell her ! Don't have any thing to say to her!" exclaimed a quiet-appearing girl named Anne Porter, indignantly. CHAPTER II. DORA'S CURIOSITY. PRESENTLY the dinner bell sounded, and the children were not slow to accept the invitation to that meal. In a won- derfully short space of time, they were all in the dining-room, enjoying themselves as only those who know what it is to be hungry, .can enjoy themselves when a good meal is put before them. Grandfather Milly was there, trotting up and down between the long tables, " seeing," as he said, " if the children knew how to eat." He decided they did, and that was the only thing they did know. After dinner the children had permission to go out of doors, or amuse themselves in their own rooms or in the school-room, as it was Saturday, and work would not really begin till the next Monday morning. 24 DORA'S CURIOSITY. 25 It was such a pleasant day, nearly all pre- ferred to go out of doors. Dora was the only one who returned to the school-room. The sun had nearly gone. Two or three rays remained upon the front desks, as though to watch Dora. On entering, she closed the door after her, then seated herself on the step of the platform, and placing her chin in her hands, rested her elbows upon hep knees. For a long time she sat perfectly still, looking straight before her. Then she turned her head, and her gaze rested upon the piano. After looking at it for a few minutes, she arose and approached it. Then a careful survey of all its parts followed. Doubtless she was looking for the handle, to turn it, as she had seen organ-grinders turn the handle of an organ ; but of course her search was fruitless, and she soon turned from it in disgust, and approached the teacher's desk ; this she tried to open, but it proved to be locked. Stepping down from the platform she walked to a window, and looked down upon the children who appeared to be enjoying themselves in the yard below. For a while they claimed her attention, then she discovered that she was very near the door through which Daisy and the 26 DAIST TR AVERS. teacher had carried the prizes. Opening the door softly, she - looked into the next room ; no one was there. Entering, the first thing that caught - her eye was a long, green pasteboard box, on a chair ; this she opened immediately, and, behold ! there lay the beautiful wax doll ! " Crazy Bet always said I'd be lucky some day, an' now what am I, I'd like to know ? " said she aloud, taking out the doll by its pink silk sash. " Now we'll see what makes it wink. I wonder how she made it go ? Oh, I see ! Yes, I can do it. That's the queerest ! It must look funny inside, and I'd like to see it. Perhaps I can take the head off, an' stick it on again, some way. It would be fun to fix it so only one eye'll open. Can't get the head off without breaking it all to smash, that's a sure thing ; but if I had a knife or somethin', I could dig a piece out of the back, under the hair, an' it would never be noticed." With that Dora cast her eyes around the room, in search of a " knife or something," and, unfortunately, a pair of scissors were in plain sight upon the table. " Just the thing," continued she, as she took them up, and looked at them ; then, seating her- self in the chair, she placed the doll across her DORA'S CURIOSITT. 27 lap, face downwards, and began her operations. But she had not imagined it would be so tender, and the beautiful prize, in less than a minute, was without a head-; all that remained whole of the handsome face was two glass eyes. " January, February, March ! Won't the girls groan when they know it ? If I had a tater, or turnip, or somethin', I'd make a head an' put these eyes in." And there was something like consternation in Dora's face, as she looked at the little pile of rubbish in her lap, then held up the gaily dressed doll, which was all perfect but the head, making a happy caricature of some of our fashionable belles. A step sounded in the school-room. Some one was there, and would discover her, with the broken doll. Quickly and noiselessly she returned it to the box, and covered it up, then she glided into a closet, and closed the door after her, just as Daisy entered the room. " Guess they won't find out who did it just yet," said she to herself, nestling down in a dark corner. An' they can't say I did it, when they didn't see me. If they say I did, I'll say I didn't; then they'll have to lay it to the worms. Stands to reason, worms will eat a 28 DAIST TR AVERS. doll's head off if it's kep' in a box for three months ; they'd eat mine off in half that time." "Why," exclaimed Daisy, aloud, for it was she who entered the room, " I thought that doll had been put away. I'm glad the girls didn't come in here, for I don't want them to see it again till it's given as a prize. There's the key left in the closet door, too ! How careless ! "Oh, she's goin' to lock me in, is she ? Not if I know it," thought Dora, and stepping out 'of the closet, she astonished Daisy, by suddenly appearing at her side. " Why, how you startled me ! I did not hear you come in." "Can I do any thing for you?" questioned Dora, looking at the box. " Yes, if you want to," replied Daisy, sur- prised at the question, coming from one of her most doubtful pupils, and very glad to encourage the feeling that she thought had prompted it. " You can take that box and put it on a shelf in this closet. I'll open the door for you. Be very careful, because there is something in it that will break, if you let it fall." " Oh, I shan't let it fall," replied Dora, ready to laugh aloud at her own smartness, as she took DORA'S CURIOSITY. 29 up the box and carried it to the closet. But fortune was against her, that day. On lifting up the box, one end of it hit the shelf, and down it fell, but she managed to catch it before it touched the floor. "There!" exclaimed Daisy, in dismay, as she saw it falling. " Jt didn't hurt it any, I caught it," said Dora, hastily placing it upon the shelf. " No, it could not have got broken. The prize doll is in it. Perhaps I should have told you before, and you would have been more careful. I think I'll see if the dress got disarranged, because it will never do to give it all rumpled up to the little girl who will work hard to get it," " It didn't get rumpled, I know. It went straight down, an' didn't tip up a bit," said Dora, making an attempt to shut the door. " It's always best to be sure," replied Daisy, taking down the box, and opening it. " Why, it is broken ! " she exclaimed in aston- ishment, as her eyes fell upon the headless doll. " It did break after all; didn't it ? " said Dora, with a very emotionless face. " Yes, but that fall never broke it, and scat- 30 DAIS T TRA VERS. tered the ,pieces about, as they are scattered here, besides putting a pair of scissors on top. I want you to tell me the truth, now, Dora, without fear; have you had this doll before, to-day ? " " No mum," was .the dogged reply. " You are quite sure ? Look me in the face now. What ? You will not ? that looks bad. Where were you when I came into the room?" " Down stairs." " With the other children ? " " Yes mum." ' Halloo! what's all this about ? " interrogated grandfather Milly, putting his head in at the door. "What's the trouble?" " Come in, grandpa. Dora, you can go up to your room, now, and I want you to think of what you have been telling me. If you decide you haven't told me everything just as you should have done, and want to tell me, you'll find me here till supper time." " I didn't know but the worms might a' done it," said Dora, looking straight into Daisy's eyes. " What worms ? " " The worms as eats folks after they're dead. You see it was kinder as though it was dead an' buried, shut up in that box." DORA'S CURIOSITT. 31 " You can go ! " said Daisy, very decidedly, holding the door open for her to pass out. " Now what's it all about ? " questioned the old man, who knew by the expression on Daisy's face that something had gone wrong. For an answer Daisy showed him the headless doll, then repeated the conversation that had passed between herself and Dora, and told him her suspicions. Poor Daisy ! she had expected sympathy, and was not at all prepared for the burst of laughter that followed. " I did not think you could be so unkind as to laugh about any thing so serious," said she, reproachfully, and nearly ready to cry. " Can't help it, Daisy. It's laughable to see you ready to cry over the first fib, and you are not sure yet that it is a fib, either ; it might have been the worms: ha! ha! ha! " To this Daisy made, no reply, but walked to the window, and looked out. " Come, Daisy, I'll promise not to laugh any more. You haven't told me half yet. Are you quite sure she did it ? " said the old man, ready enough to stop, on seeing that Daisy was really very much distressed. " I am very sure she did. I think she must 32 DAIST TR AVERS. M* have been here before I "came in. I don't see how she could have come in at the door without my seeing her ; and she seemed so anxious, too, to put the box away, without having it opened." " Why not ask some of the children if she has been with them since dinner." "I will go and question some of them. Wait here till I come back," said Daisy, as she left the room ; returning again in less than ten minutes. " It's just as I supposed," said she, walking to the table, and looking seriously at the broken doll. She has not been down stairs since dinner, and I know she was not in her room, because I went through all the rooms just before I came in here, to see if they were in order, and she was not there, then." " Well, then, of course she did it, and was afraid to own to it, which is not at all surpris- ing, considering the way she has been brought up. I should have been very much surprised if she had told the truth about it. I hope you did not expect they would all prove to be ready- made angels." "Of course not, grandpa. I don't suppose I should have minded it so much, if it had not followed so soon after my speech. I thought DORA'S CURIOSITT. 33 that would prove forcible enough to keep them steady for the rest of the day, at least," replied Daisy, with an attempt to smile. " I don't believe the speech was ever yet made that influenced all its hearers for a day ; so don't get discouraged, so quick." " Discouraged ! Of course I am not that, only there is something about that girl that I cannot understand, and I want to understand her. I want to understand every one of them, so I shall know just how to manage them.". "You can't expect to understand them all in a day." " I know it ; but if I understand her as well as I do some of them, I should know what to do with her now, which I don't ; and it will not do to let this affair rest, will it?" " To tell the truth, Daisy, I don't know what will be the best thing to do," replied Mr. Milly, after a pause, in which, in his perplexity, he first wiped his face with his handkerchief, then rubbed it all over his head, as though his head was bald, which it was not, thereby causing it to appear as though a skein of white silk was tangled up all over it. " Grandpa, come here ! " suddenly exclaimed 3 34 DAISY TR AVERS. Daisy, who had gone to the window, and was looking out. "What is it?" interrogated the old man, trotting up, and looking out over her shoulder. " Don't you see ? There she is, now, racing' across the yard, and screaming louder than any of them." " Sure enough ! I thought I heard you telling her to go up to her room ? " Grandpa looked at Daisy, and Daisy looked at grandpa. The old man tried hard not to laugh, but he did not succeed. Indeed he looked so very comical try- ing not to look merry, that Daisy could not but laugh herself. " Doesn't that prove, now, just how much that girl cares for what I say," said she, at last, turning again to the window, and watching Dora, who was now running towards a small girl, who was seated upon the grass, watching a group of children, who were playing nearer the school- house. As Dora drew near the small girl, she Dora, suddenly sprang into the air, passed over her head without touching her, and came down before her, much to the small girl's astonishment, and her own evident amusement. "What shall I do with her, grandpa?" inter- DORA'S CURIOSITT. 35 rogated Daisy, after she had breathlessly watched that performance. " I should say a little oil of birch wouldn't hurt her much, but I believe you are resolved not to use that kind of medicine. So suppose you pretend not to see her, and to-night we'll talk it over." Daisy was in the dining-room at Hive Hall, the next Monday morning, arranging some plants in the bay-window. She had brought several pots of fuchias and geraniums, from her collection at home, for the window, and she was planting some seeds in a green box, when Dora opened the door, and Daisy called her to her. " Now it's coming ! " thought Dora to herself. " I don't care what it is, I'll steal it if I can, but I rather 'spect it'll be too much for me." " How do the flowers look ? " said Daisy, noticing her eyes rested upon them with evident " Ilan'some. I never saw any like um before." " Do you like flowers ? " " Yes. There used to be lots in the woods back of the poor-house." " Do you know, Dora, I have been thinking this seed is very much like you, in some respects," 36 DAISY TR AVERS. continued Daisy, holding up a little brown seed for Dora to see. " Like me ? " repeated Dora, looking Daisy in the face for the first time since she entered the room. " Yes ; and I will tell you why. My brother sent me this seed from Africa, a great country, hundreds of miles from here. He wrote to me that the plant he took it from he found growing in the midst of a dense forest, where it was so crowded and overpowered by stronger, and larger plants, that it could scarcely find room enough to grow at all. It should have been a handsome bush, with many flowers all over it, whereas only two or three little branches could struggle up to the light, and on one of them was a flower, on another this little seed, which if it had been allowed to fall there, would have made even a worse bush than the other. But it was taken off and sent here, to me ; and here it will have all the room it wants to grow in, all the sunshine it wants, and all the nourish- ment it wants. Now don't you think it will be a very queer, ungrateful seed, if it doesn't do the very best it can, to grow up into a strong, handsome bush that will bear many flowers. It DORA'S CURIOSITT. 37 would be unnatural to suppose that it won't do so well here, as it would have done there, wouldn't it?" "Yes; but why is it like me?" " Don't you see ? Don't you think your case is very much the same? Think of that little plant, then think of yourself at the poor-house, where you were overpowered by coarse, perhaps wicked, men and women, who would have crowded you down so you would have grown up very bad indeed. But now you are here, where very much more will be done for you than will be done for that seed. Won't it be strange if you do not do as well as the seed does? Won't it be strange if you do not grow up into a good woman ? " "The seed may never come up, anyhow," said Dora, who had never heard such talk before, and did not look as if she liked it very well. " Very true ; and so may you never grow up. You may die, you know, as well as the seed ; and you wouldn't want to die without ever having tried to be good, would you ? " " I'm not going to die right off." "How do you know that? You may die within a month. You may die to-day." 38 DAISY TR AVERS. "I don't want to talk any longer. I guess I'll go out." " You may go out, but first I want to tell you one thing: If I see this seed coming up a homely, scraggy, ill-shaped plant, I shall not take much pleasure in caring for it. But if I see it come up graceful, and handsome, I shall be glad to tend it every day. So it is with you, Dora. I want to see you begin handsomely, and you can, by confessing that you broke that doll, Saturday. Don't be afraid of being punished for doing it, for you will not be. Now I will leave you ; and remember, as soon as you decide that you will begin handsomely, come to me, and see if I am not very glad to know it," then without another word, Daisy planted the seed, and left the room. " Gorry, how she did run on ! " exclaimed Dora, drawing a long breath of relief, as soon as the door had closed after her. " She can put it stronger than crazy Bet, any day. An' she never said a word about my stealin' for her. I wonder if all she wants of me is to be good ? That would be harder'n stealin' ! Couldn't do it anyhow. I'm a born nuisance, everybody always said so, an' I can't help it. Crazy Bet said some folks were born poets, an' some born DORA'S CURIOSITY. 39 painters, an' I can't think of all the ways she said people were born, but I can remember that I was a born nuisance, an' she said I'd ought to be thankful for it ; anyway, I can't help it. I wonder why they don't call her Crazy Daisy here. I'm sure she's as crazy as Bet, only I hain't seen her tear round yet ; but I guess her turns don't come so often as Bet's did. She looked all down to the heel, just the way crazy Bet used to when she asked me to steal some tea for her. I wonder, if I should tell her I broke the doll, it would brighten her up like the tea used to brighten up Bet. I've a good mind to try. But I guess I'd better see how the seed comes up first, or else she'd get mad. If the seed comes up han'some, then I must come up han'some ; that means I must tell her I broke the doll. Dear ! dear ! it's dreadful hard work getting along with crazy folks, anyhow. But it is ever so much better here, than it was there, because., in the first place, if she gets tearing, I shan't be afraid of her, 'cause she ain't big enough to hurt anybody ; then there's such a lot to eat, an' such spankin' clothes ! The only way I could get along with crazy Bet was to agree to everything she said. That's the way I'll have 40 DAIST TR AVERS. to do with crazy Daisy, or whatever her name is. If she's very crazy, an' I think she is, now, she'll watch that seed like a cat watching a mouse, an' I'll have to watch it, too, so if it comes up han'som, I c%n get on her good side, by sayin' I broke the doll. But s'pose it don't come up ? Then she'll say it died, an' she might try to kill me, too, 'cause she thinks I'm just like it ; crazy Bet would. Guess I'll go out an' see 'f I can't hunt- up some kind of seeds to stick in with that one, so something '11 come up, she'll never know the difference." But Dora did not find any. As the days past by, she began to show considerable anxiety in regard to the seed Daisy had planted. Instead of leaving the dining-room immediately after every meal, as the other children did, she would walk up to the bay-window, to see if it had yet started from the ground. Her evident anxiety did not pass unnoticed by Daisy, who began to think her " lecture " might have done some good after all ; and she was quite sure of it, when two little green leaves made their appear- ance in the box in the bay window, Dora came to her and said, without any prevarication, and suddenly enough to astonish Daisy : "I did break that doll." DORA'S CURIOSITY. 41 " I knew you did, at first, Dora, but I am very glad you have at last found courage enough to tell me so," replied Daisy; and Dora, watching her face, thought it did light up even more than crazy Bet's used to when she received the much-prized tea. For some time Daisy talked to her very earn- estly and kindly, to encourage her in well- doing, then hurried home to tell Grandfather Milly, of her " great success." If she could have known what Dora's thoughts were after she had left her. "I knew it!" said that individual to herself, as soon as she was alone. " She's worse'n crazy Bet; but land! I know how to manage her!" CHAPTER III WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH HEE ? jORA?" " Yes, mum." "Mrs. Burns has given me a very bad report of you." " That's good of her. I thought she was too stingy to give anybody any thing." " Mrs. Burns is an excellent woman, and does her duty wonderfully well. I expected better of you, after what you told me in the dining-room. It seems the seed has the most gratitude, after all. It has come up, and is growing nicely, to pay me for all the care I've taken of it ; but everything I do for you seems to "make you worse. Why did you pound poor Kate Wrenton, who is so much smaller than you are, so unmer- cifully?" " I pounded her 'cause I couldn't help it, any more'n the seed could help coming up ; but I'd 42 WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH HER ? 43 just as live ask her pardon as not, now ; bring her here an' see if I wouldn't." " What good would that do, now ? She will be sore and lame for a week at least." " It's her own fault, anyway ; she wouldn't stop foolin' when I told her to, an' she got me mad." " I'm afraid you have a very bad temper Dora." " 'Spect I've got a pretty bad one ; but then crazy Bet used to say that a knife or any thing else wasn't any good 'less' it had a temper." " I don't want you to mention crazy ' Bet's name again while you are at Hive Hall ! Do you understand that?" " Come, now, you needn't be so hard on crazy Bet, 'cause you're crazy yourself, you know." " I think I must have been very crazy, indeed, when I took such an ungrateful girl as you are to bring up, hoping to make a good woman out of her," and Daisy, who could hold back her tears no longer, sat down and began to cry. "Oh, come, I wouldn't do that," said Dora "Went worth, in dismay, going up to her. " I'll 44 DAIS T TR AVERS. call you Aunt Daisy, if you want me to, an' not the other name ; an' I won't tell anybody I found it out. Nobody knows it here but me, I'm sure." "Found what out? Knows what?" questioned Daisy, looking at the girl before her in bewil- derment. " Oh, never mind, if you don't remember. Isn't there something you want me to do, now ? " " You know very well," replied Daisy, " that all I want you to do, is to try to be a good girl ; and you will not do that. For a punish- ment you must remain here in my study till bed-time. You cannot go down to supper with the other children, but will have bread and water here," and Daisy arose to leave the room, thoroughly out of -patience with this girl who was sure to disturb the whole school, some way, every day. After Daisy left the study, Dora stood listening, till she could no longer hear her receding footsteps, then she approached the door with the intention of going out, also ; but she very soon discovered that she was securely locked in. " She did that well I " said she, at last, after WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH HER ? 45 satisfying herself that the door could not be opened. " Crazy Bet would have left the door open, after that speech. She looked almost, when she went out, as if she -wasn't crazy after all; but then Bet used to look so, too, at times. Any way, she won't catch me again, in a hurry, as slick as she did this time. Wonder if I couldn't get out the window. Guess not it's a leetle too high. Never mind, I haven't seen all there is to be seen here yet," so saying, Dora walked up to Daisy's writing desk, opened it, and became very much interested in its con- tents. After satisfying her curiosity there, she curled herself up in the easy chair for a nap, where we will leave her for a while, and follow Daisy, who, as soon as she reached home, sought her grandfather, to inform him of what had hap- pened at the school, and ask his advice. " What ? Dora gave a little girl a dreadful pounding ? Why, I thought you said only the other day that you had talked her into trying to be good ? " " It was only so many words wasted. I wish you would come up to the Hall and talk to her. Perhaps she would pay more attention to you than she does to me." - Not likely." 46 DAISY T RAVERS. " But you will try, won't you ? She's the strangest girl I ever saw. She seems to want to do all she can to please me while I am with her, but just as soon as she's out of my sight she forgets all her promises, and it seems as though she couldn't act bad enough." " She isn't trying for one of the prizes, then?" " No, indeed. I don't believe a doll could be bought that would be handsome enough to induce her to try to win it." " If she doesn't like dolls, why not ask her what she would like, then, tell her she can have whatever she wants if she'll work for it." " I might try that, and if it doesn't succeed in making a change in her, I'm sure I don't know what I shall do with her." " Then keep her a close prisoner." " I thought of that. She is locked up now, in rny study." " I'd keep her there, till she promises to do better. She mustn't be allowed to influence the other children." " Until she promises to do better ! Oh, grandpa, you do not know her yet. If I should ask her to promise to do better, she would, without any WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH HER ? 47 hesitation, whatever ; and in less than half an hour I would hear that she had done some- thing dreadful, again. She is a thoroughly bad girl. Lying seems to come natural to her, and I'm sure if she liked the looks of any thing, she would not hesitate to steal it. Making allow- ance for the way she was brought up, it seems as though she might show a little gratitude, when she is treated well." " Well, well, Daisy, don't get discouraged because you've got one exceedingly black sheep in your flock. She may come out all right in the end, if we can find out how to manage her." " Are you coming up to the Hall this after- noon, grandpa? " " Yes, I think I'll step in and take a look at your prisoner." " I wish you would, and talk to her, too. I've used all my eloquence on her to no purpose." " I'll go up with you, and hear what she says about something else for a prize." " "Why not come now, and stop in the school- room a while to see how the other scholars pros- per?" This Mr. Milly agreed to do, and they were 48 DAISY TR AVERS. soon iii the school-room at Hive Hall, where Daisy's charity scholars were all assembled but one. Daisy could not help thinking that her school, so far, was a success, notwithstanding Dora, as she looked upon the children who had improved wonderfully in one short month. Grandfather Milly thought so, too, and had a smile for every child that looked up at him, as he sat in the chair on the platform, listening to a class of small scholars, who were making a dreadful piece of work of their spelling lesson. " I will take the boy and girl, who have had the best lessons to-day, to ride in the pony-phaeton, and the boy shall drive the ponies," said Daisy, just before leaving the school-room. This she always tried to do pleasant days, and found it worked wonderfully well ; for very proud, indeed, were the boy and girl who had earned the right to step into the stylish little phseton, when it stopped at Hive Hall purposely for them ; and didn't they know just how the other children envied them, as they watched them ride away. Grandpa Milly, and Daisy, after leaving the school-room, entered the study, and saw Dora, curled up in an easy chair, apparently sound asleep. WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH HER f 49 " She is asleep," said Daisy, bending over her. " She isn't a bad-looking girl, is she ; what a pity she will not behave as well as she looks. Would you wake her up?" But Mr. Milly's opinion about it was not necessary, for, at that moment Dora became wide awake so suddenly, that Daisy could not help wondering if she had been asleep, or had only been feigning sleep. There was something in her eyes, as they searched Daisy's that the latter could not under- stand ; a puzzled, questioning look, that must have been returned by one equally puzzled and question- ing, but no chance for an explanation followed, as at that moment a knock was heard at the door, and opening it a very small boy wanted to know if Daisy would return to the school-room, as Mrs. Burns wanted to ask her advice about something she had forgotten to mention when she was there. "I'll be back in a minute," said she to grand- father Milly, as she turned to go, leaving the old man alone with Dora. For some minutes they sat looking into each other's faces, without speaking a word. Grandfather, Milly was the first to break the silence, by saying, sarcastically : " You're a pretty girl, now don't you think you are? " 4 50 DAISY TRAVERS. " She just said so, didn't she ? an' I guess she'd ought to know. Who are you, any way ? One of the overseers of the poor, I reckon." " I don't know but I might call myself that," replied Mr. Milly, with a laugh. " Thought so. She calls you gran' father ; you are not her gran'father, are you ? " ' Not her own grandfather, but " " She thinks you are, eh ? " "She thinks I make her a very good one." "Does she ever git into a tantrum?" "A what?" " Does she ever have a turn, or tantrum, or whatever you call it." " Never, if by that you mean to ask if she has a temper. She is always just as good and amiable as you h-ive always seen her. Is it pos- sible you do not understand her? " "I'jjguess, Mr. Overseer, I understand her just a IceUe fo'. better' n you do, if it conies to that," replied Dora, sitting back in her chair, with a satisfied air, as though she had at last settled some question to her satisfaction. " Come now, tell me what you think of her ? " questioned the old man, both amused and curious. " Wouldn't you like to have me, now ? " " Yes, very much." WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH HER ? 51 " Well, I won't, then. I've seen overseers before. If she never has tantrums, it's 'cause you don't know what I do. Soou's you find that out, she'll have um fast enough, I bet. Guess I won't give you a chance to spit your spite on her, every time you get mad. While Dora was delivering this speech, grandfather Milly sat looking at her in open-mouthed aston- ishment ; then, with an exclamation he could not suppress, he arose to his feet, just as Daisy entered the room. " What's the matter, grandfather ? " said she. '"I want to speak to you a minute," he replied, as he led her across the room, so that Dora might not hear what he had to say. " What is it ? " said Daisy, looking question- ingly into his face. " I've found out what's the trouble with that girl." " What is ? " " She's crazy ! Mad as a March hare ! " " Nonsense! " " I believe it. If you could have heard her talk just now, you'd have said so yourself." "As though I haven't talked to her every day, since she's been here, and I never sa.w any 52 DAIST TRA VERS. signs of craziness, unless a disposition to be bad may be called that. I'm going to ask her, now, if she wouldn't rather have something else for a prize." " Let me ask her." " Very well, you can if you want to." " I've been thinking," continued Mr. Milly, turning to Dora, " that perhaps the reason why you are not trying for a prize, with the other children, may be because you don't care for dolls, even if they are handsome. What would you like better ! " " Why, I should rather have a hand-organ, if I was to have any thing." " A what ? " " A hand-organ. A real one, with a handle, such as I seen a man turning once." Grandfather Milly looked at Daisy, whose eyes told him to say she might have one, if she could earn it. " Very well, then, you shall have one if you will be a reasonably good girl for two months. On the very day the other girls receive their dolls, you shall have a hand-organ if you deserve it." "Could I get one as easy as that?" 'Yes." WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH HER > 53 " Land ! Then I don't want one. Like as not I'd get tired of turning the old thing the first day." " Then you won't try for any prize ? " " What do I want to try for any prize for ? I'm all right. Never was so comf table in my life," and Dora, unconscious of grandfather's suspicions, looked first at her clean hands, then at her neat, well-fitting dress, which she smoothed out with evident satisfaction. " No, you're not right. You are all wrong, Dora," said Daisy, speaking for the first time. "I was in hopes you would try for something. I am very, sorry to see you so blind to what is for your own good." " Did you want me to try for a hand- organ ? " " Of course I did." " Then I'll try, for you, truly, 'cause I like you, better'n ever I liked Crazy Bet." " Do you really like me ? " " Yes, I do," and there was no mistaking the truth of what she said then. " I am very glad of thf^j, because if you do really like me you will surely try to please me, and earn a prize, won't you ? " " Jus' see 'f I don't." 4 DAIS T TR AVERS. " I cannot put much faith in your promises. You said you would try to be good before." " An' I did try." "But if you do not try harder, you cannot have the hand-organ, and will have to be a prisoner in this room every day, until you do try ; how would you like that ?" " Why, that would be fun, if you'd just let me keep the key. Let's take it won't you ? " " Certainly not. But I hope I shall not have to use it long against you." " You might lock me in some day, an' forget all about me, 'n I'd starve to death, like 's not." " I shall not forget you, but it will be better for you if you decide not to be locked in." At those words Dora arose and crossed the room, then beckoned to Mr. Milly to come to her. " 'Tisn't going to do." said she to him in a low tone, that Daisy might not hear. " Tisn't going to do to let her lock me up in here. I could get the key away from her, easy enpugh, but I might hurt her, an' I don't want to do that. Couldn't you^nanage to get it away from her, somehow, an' let me out ? " "I should be very glad to let you out, but it WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH HER ? 55 must be as she says ; when you decide to behave yourself, you are free." " How 'm I going to try for the hand-organ, unless I'm out? " " You can begin to try for that to-morrow, but the first time you break any of the rules, you will be locked in here again, to stay for a long time." With that Mr. Milly joined Daisy, and they left the room together, locking the door after them. " What did she say ? " questioned Daisy, while descending the stairs. " She wanted me to get the key away from you, and let her out. She also said she could get it away from you herself, but was afraid of hurting you. She's a queer girl, any way. One minute I think she's crazy, and the next I think she's altogether too smart for us. One thing is certain, it will never do to let her be with the other children unless she improves." CHAPTER IV. CHERRY-STONES, AND MRS. HODGE'S METHOD. AKE up. Anne Porter ! wake up ! What a sleepy-head you are, any way ! " "Who is it? What's the matter ?" *' Get up an' dress yourself, an' I'll tell you while you're dressing." " Who says I'm to get up ? " " I do." " Guess I won't get up for you, Dora Went- worth, an' I'll tell Mrs. Burns in the morning how you come into my room nights and wake me "up." " Stupid ! I suppose I must tell you first, an' waste time, an' I thought you the smartest girl in the school, too, that's why I came to you. I found out something this morning that's worth knowing. In that big orchard that's next to our yard, there's the biggest cherry-tree I ever saw, 56 CHERR r-S TONES. 57 an' it's just loaded down with great white-heart cherries. I couldn't get at one, 'cause there was a man watching me, as though he couldn't think what I was there for, any how. That's the beauty of being a girl ! If I'd been a boy he'd have known what I was there for, fast enough, and set the dog on me. As it was, he only looked. So I thought I'd go back an' wait till night, an' get all I wanted. I'm goin' now, an' you can go with me, if you want to." " I don't want to," was Anne's decided reply, as she nestled back under the bed-clothes. "Why not?" " Because, it would not be right." " Perhaps you think if you got found out you'd lose the prize," sarcastically. " Of course I should." " Well, you'll lose it, any way, I can tell you that ; an' you'd ought to lose it if you think an old doll is better'n one's fill of white-heart cherries. But you won't get found out. I know how to open the front door without makin' a bit of noise. Come, hurry up, an' dress, can't you ? " and Dora took hold of Anne's shoulder with the intention of helping her out of bed. " If you don't go out of my room, Dora, I'll 58 DAISY TR AVERS. scream, and wake up everybody in the house ; and you must promise you'll not go out to-night too, or I'll tell, as it is ! " " I always thought you was a mean old pig now I'm sure of it. Of course I can't go unless you go, too. You see I was kinder 'fraid to go alone, on account of ghosts and goblins ; but I knew if I took such a homely piece as you are, along, they'd be glad enough to keep out of our way. " You are the very worst girl at Hive Hall ! Everybody knows that." " An' you're the worst lookiii' one. I can be as good as you any day I want to ; but I'd like to see you make yourself good-lookin'. You can go to sleep now, and dream of your prize ; I won't trouble you again." With that Dora returned to her own room, where she seated herself at the window, and looked out into the bright moonlight, towards the orchard in which were the coveted -cherries. Once she glanced upwards into the starry sky, and wondered if what she had heard so many times lately about God, was true. If he really did make her, and make all things, or was it all talk. Wouldn't this beautiful night be just the same without CHERRT-STONES. 59 Him ? Who is He ? What is she herself ? were some of the questions she would have liked to have had answered to her satisfaction, just then, while looking up into the starry sky; but the next moment all such thoughts vanished as her gaze returned to the orchard. " Just wait till she goes to sleep, an' see 'f I don't have some ! " said she to herself. " I won't be piggish, neither, see 'f I am. I'll give her a part of* all I get ; yes, she shall have all the stones," and Dora could be seen smiling to her- self in the moonlight. She's gone to sleep, again, by this time," continued she, after a pause. " Guess I'll try now, an' see 'f I can't get out without waking up the whole house, an' every- body in it," so saying she stole softly out into the long passage, then down the stairs, and noiselessly slid back the bolt that fastened the front door. She had no sooner closed the door softly behind her, when a white-robed figure descended the stairs, after her, and going to the door, shot the bolt in its place securely locking her out. "There!" said Anne to herself for it was she as she returned to her room. "She'll have all night to eat cherries in now, an' I 60 DAISY TR AVERS. hope she'll get enough of them. The hateful thing to call me homely ! I wonder if she calls herself handsome, with those old goggle eyes of hers. Won't she be mad when she finds she's locked out ! Now I can go to sleep with some comfort," and Anne returned to her bed in a much better frame of mind than she had been in when she left it. In the meantime Dora had secured a seat in the cherry tree, where all the fruit she could wish for was within her reach ; and after eating all she wanted, she filled her hat full to take home to enjoy in her own room. She had been a little frightened at first, as it was the first time she had ever undertaken such an enterprise in the night ; but now, as she returned, all fear had left her, and she walked along leisurely, holding her hat full of cherries before her. Climbing the high wall, and saving her cher- ries, was a difficult matter, but she accomplished the feat at last, and soon after was softly lifting the latch to the front door of Hive Hall. " How the door sticks ! " said she to herself, after spending some strength upon it, to no purpose. " I bet it'll make a noise when I open it. Here goes, anyhow," and Dora, after placing CHERRT-STONES. 61 her hat full of cherries upon the stone step, endeavored, with all her strength, to force open the door. " It's locked, as true as the world ! was her next low exclamation, when her effort proved unsuccessful. " Anne Porter did that, fast enough," continued she, seating herself upon the step, and commencing to eat cherries, after a careful glance around in the moonlight. Well, she's smarter'n I thought she was, any way. I'd ought to save some cherries for her, that's a fact, to pay her for not bein' afraid to go down stairs in the dark. Wait till I get in, an' I'll reward her, see 'f I don't." With that, Dora arose to her feet, and taking up a small stone, began to knock upon the door with it. Presently a light was visible in the house- keeper's sleeping-room, then a window was opened and " Who's there ? " came down to Dora, who was concealed from view by the porch. " Who's there, I say ! " was repeated in a shrill voice, but Dora remained perfectly quiet. " I think I must have been dreaming," were the next words heard, then the window was closed. Dora remained perfectly quiet, for perhaps five minutes, then she began to tap softly upon the door again, with the stone. A few minutes 62 DAISY TR AVERS. later she heard steps descending the stairs, then she quickly picked up her hat, and crouched close to the house, in the shadow of the porch. Presently the door was cautiously opened. " I don't understand it ; I'm sure I heard somebody knock," said the house-keeper, after looking out, and perceiving no one ; then she stepped softly to the end of the house, and peered around the corner in the direction of an old shed that looked, in the moonlight like a lurking-place for robbers, leaving the door open that she might retrace her steps, at a moment's notice. She had no sooner reached the end of the house, than Dora darted in the door, up the stairs, and entered her own room, where she pushed the cherries under the bed, then jumped into it, all dressed as she was. Fortunately for her, her sleeping companion was a very small girl, and a sound sleeper. She listened and heard the house-keeper return. A quarter of an hour passed then she arose, and moved towards Anne's room. Anne proved to be sound asleep. " Land ! " exclaimed Dora under her breath, as she bent over to look at her. " She knew I'd be back to treat her, that's why she went to sleep with her mouth open." CHERR T-S TONES. Q Q " Marrow-bones, cherry-stones, bundleumjig ! " continued she, aloud, as she dropped a handful of cherry-stones into Anne's open mouth, then hurried back to her own room. Poor Anne was awake in a minute, and, sitting up in bed, began to spit, and cough out the stones, frantically. "What's the matter?" questioned her room- mate,- awaking for the first time that night, and looking at her companion in alarm. "I don't know I'm sick. Call Mrs. Burns or somebody." " What's that you're spitting out ? " " My teeth, I guess. No, it can't be, 'cause I can feel them all in. It must be the croup. People ajways choke, when they have the croup. I'm choking to death! Can't you call somebody !" Lucy Stone, such was her name, rolled out of bed. It was much easier for her to roll out than .to step out, she was so fat and round. As she passed the window, on her way to the teacher's room, her face could be very plainly seen in the moonlight. She was not a homely girl, neither was she a handsome one. Her nose was as round as a nose could possibly be, and Q DAISY TRACERS. her mouth was nothing but a little, round hole. Perhaps her eyes were rounder than usual, to-night, as she thought of going the whole length' of the long passage in the dark, to the teacher's room frightened her a little. Lucy was not at all smart, and would never be able to earn the prize for perfect lessons ; and, though there was not a better dispositioned girl in the whole school, every one knew she would not take the prize for good behavior, as that included a neat, and orderly appearance, in regard to dress, and Lucy's toilet was always far from perfect. It was too bad it should be so, you will say, when you know that not one of the girls wanted to possess one of those beautiful dolls half so much as Lucy did. She soon succeeded in arousing Mrs. Burns, and that motherly woman was presently bending over Anne, with a lamp in her hand. "What's the trouble, Anne? Lucy tells me you are sick," said she. " I think it's the croup," replied Anna^ in a faint voice, lying back on the pillow. " Nonsense. I might believe that of Lucy, but you are altogether too thin, to be troubled with that disease." CHERRT-STONES. 65 " I nearly choked to death, an' lots of hard stuff come out of my mouth." "Hard stuff?" " Yes." "Where is it?" " It must be all over the floor." " I don't see anything but cherry-stones." said Mrs. Burns, stooping down, and flashing the light all around. " Cherry-stones ? " repeated Anne, sitting up quickly, and looking down at the floor. " Where in the world did you get so many cherries ? " questioned Mrs. Burns, looking severely at her. "I didn't -get any," replied Anne, lying down again, as the truth flashed across her mind. " It's that Dora Wentworth." " Dora Wentworth, again ? " " Yes. She came in here a long time ago, an' wanted me to get up, an' go after cherries, in the big orchard, near here. I said I wouldn't go, an' made her promise she wouldn't, but I s'pose slie did go, after all, an' when she came back, she must have come in here, an' put those stones in my mouth, when I was asleep/' Anne did not think it was necessary to say 5 66 DAIST TR AVERS. anything about herself getting up and locking her out. Mrs. Burns looked troubled, after hearing her explanation, and she left the room without a word. " Did she really go after cherries, all alone in the dark? " questioned Lucy, her eyes very round, indeed, after Mrs. Burns went out. " Dark ! " repeated Anne, sarcastically. " I don't think its very dark out, do you?" * But it's night, you know." " What of that ? " " I don't see how she dared to do it." " What a coward you are, anyway, Lucy," remarked Anne, all the while thinking how she felt when she went down stairs to lock the door. " Why didn't you go with her, when she asked you, if you wasn't afraid ? " " Do you think I'd steal ? " " Oh, I forgot the cherries don't belong to us." " You forget everything you'd ought to remem- ber," scornfully. " I know I do ; if I didn't I'd stand a chance of getting one of those b'eautiful dolls. Oh, dear ! I wish I could get one." " It isn't at all likely you will ; you miss, every , * CHERRT-STONBS. 67 day, you know, and you are never half fit to be seen. I'm trying for both prizes. I don't expect to get them both, but if I should, I'd let you take one of the dolls, once in a while ; an' we could play visiting with them, then." " Oh, wou]d you ? That would be splendid. I hype you will get both prizes. Wouldn't it be nice to have them both here, in our room ? " " You could help me to get them, if you want to." " How ? " " You know -it's my turn, every other day to make our bed, and sweep an' dust the room. If you'd do it every day, I'd have all that time extra to study, an' fix myself in." " Of course I'll do it. I like to make the bed, and dust and sweep, and am always glad when my day to do it comes round. You shall have all the time to study, and fix up in, and I will help you every way I can, if you'll only tell me just what you want me to do." " Do you know how to curl hair ? " " Dear me ! no ; why ? " "Because I wanted you to curl mine." " Your hair doesn't curl, does it ? " " No ; but I didn't know but you could make it." gg DAIS T TRA VERS. "Perhaps I can; I'll try, anyway." " If you do I'll look ever so much better and stand a better chance of getting a prize ; because if I go down every morning, looking real nice, and with my hair curled, Mrs. Burns will give me a credit for it, I know." With that, Anne turned over and went to sleep, while Lucy lay awake for some time, wondering if it would be possible for her companion to take both the prizes, and hoping it would be. The next morning Anne was awakened by feeling the fresh air from the open window blow- ing upon her face, and hearing a noise as if some one was sweeping the carpet, vigorously. Opening her eyes she beheld Lucy Stone, in her night-dress, and looking very warm, at that, sweeping the room. " What in the world are you doing, so early ? " said Anne, fretfully. " It isn't very early, an' I thought if I was to try to curl your hair I'd better get this work out of the way." "Has the first bell rung yet?" "No, but I expect to hear it, every minute." " I never was so sleepy in my life : but I sup- pose I may as well get up, now. I don't believe CHERR r-S TONES. 69 we'll see Dora Wentworth in the school -room to-day," continued Anne, looking at the cherry- stones on the carpet, and yawning fearfully. " I wonder what they'll do to her." " Lock her up, very likely, as they did yes- terday, an' feed her on bread an' water till she forgets how cherries taste. It'll serve her right, too. She's the hatefulest girl I ever set eyes on." " I like her. She knows a lot." " Oh, does she ! contemptuously." " I mean compared to what I know. An' truly, I think she might take a prize, if she wanted to, 'cause she can remember her lessons so easy, when she wants to. The other day Emma Goodwin an' I were studying together, an' she listened to us a little while. She never looked at her own book, once, I know ; an' when she came to recite, she had her lesson better'n either of us." " Which isn't saying much ; you two are the worst scholars in school." " She was always real good to me, too," con- tinued Lucy, after a pause, in which she swept away, aimlessly. Lots of times I don't know that my dress isn't buttoned up straight behind, 70 DAIS T TRA VERS . until she comes up to me an' says, 'Roily, you don't like black marks an' you're good for one. Stan' still while I fix you.' Then she'll button it up right for me. That's .more'n any other girl ever did for me, anyway," continued Lucy, perceiving that Anne was inclined to laugh. " There's the first bell, now ! " exclaimed Anne, springing from bed. "Hurry up, an' finish sweepin', an' make the bed. By that time I'll be ready for you to curl my hair. It's your morning to fix the room, anyway, this morning, isn't it ? " " Yes." " Never mind if it isn't done very well, then, only hurry." " I'm hurrying as fast as I can." " That's right.- I'll be ready for you, as soon as you are for me." The first bell woke up Dora, who sprang our of bed, and began to dress, immediately. " If I thought," said she to herself, " they'd find out about the cherries I wouldn't make the bed. Oh, come to think of it, 'tisn't my morning to make it. Here, child, wake up ! " continued she, taking hold of her room-mate's shoulder, and shaking it roughly. At that moment the door CHERR T-STONES. 71 opened, and Daisy Travers looked in upon her. "Good morning," said she, turning about quickly, a little surprised at such an early visit from her. Daisy was on her way to the city, and had stopped at the Hall to give Mrs. Burns a book she had asked for the day before, and that good woman had informed her of Dora's midnight proceedings. " 1 am surprised and grieved to hear another bad report of you, so soon," said Daisy, looking reproachfully at Dora, without replying to her * good morning,' as she stepped into the room. " What did they teU you, now ? I'll bet they made it out worse than it was," replied Dora, sitting down on the edge of the bed, and casting a searching look into Daisy's eyes, which the latter could not understand. She had received that look so often of late, that it was beginning to puzzle her exceedingly, as she had noticed it was never bestowed upon anyone but herself; but she was too much offended to ask the mean- ing of it this morning. " They could not have made it out much worse than it was, if it is true at all ; and those cherries in your hat prove that it is." " Have some ? They're just the nicest ever 72 DAISY TR AVERS. you tasted," said Dora, taking up the hat, and offering its contents to Daisy. " I don't care for stolen fruit, and this little girl must not see them when she wakes up. Open the window and throw them out." " Why, that would be a wilful waste, an' 'wilful waste makes woful want.' It would be woful, now, wouldn't it, to have me wanting them cherries, an' they down in the mud ? " " Let me have the hat ! " and Daisy, before Dora could guess at her intention, had snatched the hat from her hand, and thrown the cherries out of the window. "If you wasn't crazy, I'd pound you for that ! '' exclaimed Dora, very much excited. " Crazy ? " repeated Daisy, suddenly remem- bering what her grandfather had said to her the day before, then laughing at the thought, as soon as it came. " Do you think Tm crazy ? " " I know you are, an' you know it, too, if nobody else here does: an' I hope it'll make you as mad to hear me say so, as it used to crazy Bet ! " and there was a half doubtful, half defiant look in Dora's eyes, as she watched the effect of her words upon Daisy. " How long have you thought that of me ? " CHERRT-STONES. 73 questioned the latter, quietly concealing her surprise. " Ever since I've been here. S'pose I can't tell a crazy person when I've lived with one all my life ? " " What makes you think I'm crazy ? Is it because I've treated you kindly ? " "No," replied Dora, her eyes falling beneath Daisy's, " but you act an' talk at times, just as Bet used to. Perhaps you're not so far gone as she was, but you will be when you're as old." " Did you ever know anyone that wasn't crazy ? " " Yes." " Name some one that you are quite sure isn't crazy." " Mrs. Hodges, as has charge of the poor-house. No one ever said she was crazy." "Why not?" " Oh, because ; she was smart, she was ; she could make us all mind, even to crazy Bet her- self." " Could she make you mind ? " " I used to think it would be best for me to." "What would she do if you didn't mind." "Make me black an' blue all over," replied Y4 DAIST T RAVERS. Dora, confident that Daisy wasn't large enough to prove her saneness that way, if she should try. By this time the little girl in bed was awake, and listening to all that was said. " Come, Maria, I want you to get up and dress yourself as quickly as you can," said Daisy to her; then taking Dora's dress, she spread it across a chair, sat down upon it, and, taking a note-book from her pocket she tore from it a leaf, and began to write something upon it with a pencil ; Dora watching her curiously the while. Presently Maria was dressed, and Daisy, giving her the paper, said: " I want you to take that to Mrs. Shote, the house-keeper ; you'll find her in the kitchen, I think. You need not come back again." " It's my morning to make the bed, aunt Daisy," said the small girl, stopping half way to the door, on remembering that she would be likely to get a black mark, if her room wasn't in order, when the house-keeper went through the rooms, to see that everything was as it should be in them. " Never mind. I will tell Mrs. Shote to attend to it this morning," replied Daisy, and Maria CHERR r-S TONES. 75 left the room, very glad to get rid of that much work, so easily. Dora still sat upon the edge of the bed, sur- veying her feet, and watching Daisy, who appeared to be unconscious of her presence, as she sat drawing on her gloves. Presently Dora stepped down upon the floor, and approached her, with: " I'd like my dress ; you're on it." " You can't have it yet." " I must. I want to dress myself, an' go down stairs." " You cannot." "Cannot? why?" " Because, I'm going to convince you soon, by Mrs. Hodge's method, that I'm not crazy. Here is Mrs. Shote, now," continued Daisy, as the stout form of the house-keeper entered the room. " Good morning, Mrs. Shote. I see you are prompt, and understood my note," continued Daisy, as her eyes rested upon a long, thin rattan, in the house-keeper's hand. " This is the girl." " Indeed, I m glad you've resolved to punish her, at last, Miss," said Mrs. Shote, bending the rattan between her two hands, and looking, with evident satisfaction on the consternation visible 76 DAIST TR AVERS. on Dora's face. " I've had four girls to bring up, an' they wouldn't have been the smart women they are now, if I hadn't used the rod on 'em pretty freely." " How did you punish them, when they deserved it ? " " Why, I'd just tie them to the bed-post an' belabor their shoulders well, with a stick that wasn't near so comfortable as this one." " If Dora must be punished, and she says, herself, it's the only way to make her mind, I would rather you would punish her on her hands. If she will not submit to that, then she must be tied to the bed-post. How shall it be Dora ? " and Daisy turned, and looked into Dora's face, for the first time since the house- keeper entered the room. Dora returned the look, with such an expression of bitter disappointment. She was convinced at last and the knowledge was anything but pleasant to her that Daisy was sane. As sane, even, as Mrs. Hodges ; there could no longer be any doubts about it ; for Bet, good old, crazy Bet, would never talk like that about having her punished ; but would save her from being punished, instead, as she had often done, taking all the blame upon herself. CHE R R Y-S TONES. 77 " What are you going to whip me for, any- how ? I don't see as I did anything very dread- ful," said she, at last, looking at the formi- dable form of Mrs. Shote, then again at the rattan in her hand. "Hear that, now!" said that woman,, address- ing Daisy, with an incredulous smile. " A girl that would get up in the dead of the night, an' walk near a quarter of a mile, to steal cherries, not to say anything of disturbing peaceable people, an' making them get up, doesn't know what she's to be whipped for ! " " If there was any other way of convincing you that you must do better, you should not be punished that way," said Daisy, seriously. You will not listen to reason, and cannot appreciate kind treatment, and your promises to do better are worse than none. Do not wait any longer, Mrs. Shote," and Daisy, very much excited inwardly, but outwardly very calm, motioned for Mrs. Shote to begin, then walked to the window, and looked out, for she could not see it done. Four sharp quick strokes on each upraised hand, and it was over. Then Daisy was ready to cry ; but Dora's eyes were dry, and flashed angrily into the house-keeper's face. Two or 78 DAIS r TRA VERS. three quick gasps, were the only signs she gave that she suffered pain. " That's enough for to-day, I guess. The next time will take me longer ; but if you're wise there won't be any next time." With that parting admonition Mrs. Shote left the room. Daisy, as soon as the door closed after the house-keeper, turned from the window, and looked at her young protege ; she was looking at the red lines upon her hands, and must have felt Daisy's gaze upon her, for presently she raised her head, and flashed her eyes into Daisy's. In another moment Daisy had both the red, scarred hands in hers, and was rubbing them pityingly. " Poor, poor, hands ! I'm so sorry for them," said she, at last. "I'm so sorry, but what could I do, Dora ? " " I s'pose I can finish dressing myself, now, can't I ? " returned Dora, pulling away her hands, and avoiding Daisy's eyes. " Certainly," replied Daisy, repelled and dis- appointed. " How about locking me up ? " " You will not be locked up. When you deserve to be punished again, Mrs. Shote will attend to you," so sa\ r mg, Daisy left the room. CHAPTER V. LUCY " BOOMS " WITH DOKA. iHAT'S the matter with her hair?" Dora, to Lucy Stone, referring Anne Porter, half an hour later, as the children were leaving the dining-room. " I tried to curl it for her, an' it wouldn't curl, then I tried to comb it smooth, an' couldn't, 'cause the bell rang so quick, an' we had to go down. She'll get a black mark, her hair looks so. I'm awful sorry." " Sorry ? " " Yes ; cause she's trying for both prizes." " Is she, though ! It's like her to want both. If I were you I'd rumple her hair up every morning, for her." " No you wouldn't, 'cause she's promised me if she gets both the dolls she'll let me take one, once in a while." " How good of her ! Why don't you try to 79 80 DAIST TR AVERS. get one of the dolls, yourself, if you like it so well as all that?" " I couldn't get one, I know. I can't remem- ber my lessons if I study ever so hard." " You might get one for good behavior, for you never do anything out of the way, Roily." " But I get marks for not looking good." " Let's look at you ! Well, you do look as though a cow had . tossed you, that's a fact. I tell you what, Roily : that old pig Porter musn't get both those prizes. If you'll come into my room every morning, I'll fix you up handsome, see'f I don't ; then you'll surely get one of um." " Oh, will you ? But no, it's against the rules for us to go into each other's rooms, to ask for help, when we have a room-mate to help us about anything." " I'd laugh to see Anne Porter helping you about anything. Did she ever offer to ? " " No, but she's always real good-natured." " If you think so you must see yourself reflected in her brassy face. Did she have anything to say about cherries, this morning ? " " Oh, Dora, I know all about that. How could you do it ? " "Do what?" LUCY BROOMS" WITH DORA. 81 " Get up in the night, an' go off after cher- ries?" " How could you get up in the morning, an' eat your breakfast ? What's the great difference ? She didn't mention that she was much obliged to me for anything, did she ? " " No, but she thought she was sick in the night, an' made me call Mrs. Burns ; then she saw the cherry-stones an' told her all about it. She said you would be locked in the study, to-day." " She must have been so glad, when she said it. Here's Mrs. Burns ; I'm going to speak to her," continued Dora, as the teacher entered the school-room, where they now were, to sound the bell that would call all the children to their books. " Good morning, Mrs. Burns," said Dora, step- ping upon the platform, near the teacher's desk. " Good morning," replied Mrs. Burns, very much surprised, for it was the first time this pupil had ever voluntarily addressed her. " Can I do anything for you?" " I want to know if Lucy Stone can room with me, instead of Maria Kurd ? " "I don't think a change would be allowed. 6 82 DAIS r TRA VERS. The probability is, if you should change room- mates, the other children would suddenly dis- cover that they wanted to change, too, which would mix matters up considerably ; but I'll speak to Miss Travers about it, and it will be as she says, of course." With that Mrs. Burns turned to speak to another scholar Avho was standing near her, and Dora passed on towards her seat. "What are they going to do with you for what you did last night ? " said Anne Porter, stopping her, as she passed her desk. " Do ? Why you never saw how they did take on about it." " It was enough to make them, I should think," replied Anne, curling her upper lip scornfully. . " So I think, but I didn't expect they would be quite so glad." "Glad?" " Yes, that there's one girl in school who isn't afraid of her own shadow." " That sounds likely, doesn't it ! " and Anne's lip curled higher. " I don't see why they didn't lock you up." " Lock me up ! Why they've given me the LUCT" ROOMS" 1 WITH DORA. 83 run of the house, an' I'm to have preserves every meal, if I want um. I'm to do just as I want to for two months, an' at the end of that time I'm to have a hand-organ. Think of that ! " " A hand-fetter more like, such as they put on people's hands when they take them to prison. What were you saying to Mrs. Burns ?" " I was telling her you'd ought to have a credit this morning on account of your hair. It's really very becoming to you, the way it's fixed." " You needn't trouble yourself about my credits, I shall have enough of them," and Anne tossed her head angrily, though she appeared to be trying to find something that was on a map hanging on the wall. But Dora wasn't much interested in maps, and would not take her eyes from her (Anne's) hair to look at it. " Lucy says you expect to get both prizes." " I'm sure I shall get one. I'm the only girl here that can get a lesson." " That does get a lesson, you mean." " No, I mean that can get one." " Well you are smart, for your kind. I tell you what, Anne, they promised me a hand-organ, but didn't say anything about a monkey. Per- haps you'll be good-natured, about that time, 84 DAIST TR AVERS, an' won't mind trotting 'round while I grind." At that moment the bell sounded, and the chil- dren took their seats, to begin to study the lessons for the day. " She hates me, now, worse'n crazy Bet used to hate spiders," said Dora to herself. " I always used to think," continued she, "that I couldn't get a lesson out of a book ; now I'm going to try. Wouldn't it be better'n cherries, if I could help Lucy to get one of those prizes. She likes dolls; I don't. But I don't like to be told I can\ do a thing till I've tried. Everybody told Mrs. Hodges she couldn't stop a hen from set- ting ; but land ! she did, by chopping its head off. If I can't get lessons as well as Anne Porter, my head ought to be chopped off, true's preaching." With that Dora took out a book, and began to study, much to Mrs. Burns won- der ; even the children noticed her unusual conduct, and glanced towards her eyery once in a while, thinking, perhaps, she was plotting some new mischief. After the lessons were through for the day, Daisy drove up to the Hall, in the pony phaeton as usual, to take the boy and girl who had recited the best, and the boy and girl who had LUCY " ROOMS " WITH DORA. 85 behaved the best, to ride. Dora was standing at the window, when she drove up, but on perceiving her, she immediately left the school- room, and went up stairs to her own apartment. "I think I have a little surprise for you," said Mrs. Burns to Daisy, as the latter entered. " A surprise ? " repeated Daisy, noticing that Dora was absent, and dreading to hear what would follow. " Yes, in regard to Dora." "I dos't think it will surprise me much. I'm prepared to hear almost anything about her, always." " Well, then, I haven't had cause to reprove her once to-day ; and her lessons have been perfect." " Is that, indeed, true, Mrs. Burns ? " said Daisy, very much surprised, after all. " Yes, she and Lucy go to ride with you, and little Martin, here, and Edgar." "Where is she, now?" " Perhaps she has gone to her room, to put on her hat. She went out a minute ago." " You don't know how glad I am to hear that of her, Mrs. Burns. I was beginning to be afraid we could do nothing with her," said Daisy, 86 DAISY TR AVERS. in a low tone, that the children might not hear. "She is gone long, isn't she? I think I'll go up and speak to her, as the others are ready to go," continued Daisy, immediately proceeding up stairs to Dora's room. Opening the door softly she looked in. Dora was sitting by the open window, thinking ho\v easy it was, after all, to have perfect lessons, and feeling very well satisfied with herself, indeed. Don't you want to go to ride, Dora? " said Daisy, as the former turned to see who had opened the door. *' I don't like to ride. Let one of the little ones go in my place," was the reply. Daisy, disappointed again, turned to leave her, thinking it best to appear perfectly satisfied with her decision, when she was arrested by her saying : " Has Mrs. Burns said anything about Lucy Stone rooming with me ? " "No." " She said she would. I want to know if Lucy can room with me, instead of Maria ? " " If Lucy is willing, yes." " That's all right, then. An' I guess I'll try LUCY " ROOMS " WITH DORA. 87 for one of the dolls instead of the hand-organ, if it isn't too late." "I'm very glad to hear it, and of course it isn't too late." " If I should get one I s'pose I can do what I've a mind to with it, can't I ? " " Certainly." "That's all I wanted to know." With that abrupt dismissal, Dora turned to the window again, and Daisy, more puzzled than ever, left her to herself. An hour after, Lucy came up, with : "Oh, Dora, how did you do it?" "Do what?" " Get me to room with you ? You don't know how glad I am ; an' Anne Porter is furious, because I said I'd do her work, while she studied and fixed herself, an' now I'm going to be with you. She says I'm worse than you are." " I'm obliged to her. I'd no idea she though so well of me. She can get Maria to do her work, that is if she can wake her up in time ; I think after she tries that a spell, she'll prefer to do her own work." "Why wouldn't you go to ride with us? We had a splendid time. Aunt Daisy talked to 88 DAIST TRAVERS. us all the way, an' told us ever so many things we didn't know before. Then we tied the ponies to a tree, an' took a long walk through the woods. An' we found a crow's nest with five young crows in it." " I would have liked the crows." " No, you wouldn't. They are homely things, an' most all mouths." " I don't think they're homely. I had one, once, an' it was so tame it would follow me just like a kitten. I got it out of the nest when it was little, an' had it for months, before anyone found it out, till one day fatty Hodges, Mrs. Hodge's husband, caught it trying to run away with his hammer, to hide it. He tried to kill it, but I managed to get it away, an' I kept it close for a long time, till Mrs. Hodges missed her silver thimble. She said it was silver, though it smelt of brass horridly. Then she said the crow had stolen it, an' hid it away, where no one could ever find it ; so she watched me when I went to feed my crow, an' followed me to find out where I kept it, an' when she found out she got her dog, an' set him on it. He killed it. Bit it right through the head." "Oh, that was too bad!" LUCT " ROOMS " WITH DORA. 89 44 Crazy Bet said she'd go with me an' try to find another crow's nest ; but I didn't want another crow ; I knew it would get killed like the first. Crow's nests are hard to find. I don' see how you found one to-day." 44 Why, we saw the old crow, an' Aunt Daisy said it had a nest somewhere near, she could tell by the way it acted. If we walked in one direction, it would fly at us, an' make a dreadful noise, but if we turned about, an' walked another way it wouldn't notice us ; so we walked towards it, till we found the nest. It was on top of a great high tree. Edgar wanted to go up an' look in it, an' Aunt Daisy said he might. Then he brought down one of the young birds for us to see, an* took it back again, after we had seen it. Don't you wish you had been with us ? " 44 "What do you think of Aunt Daisy, as you call her ? " interrogated Dora, slightly changing the subject. 44 What do I think of her ? " repeated Lucy. "Yes, do you like her?" 44 As though anyone could help liking her, when she's so good. Don't you like her ? " 44 1 did like her." 44 Don't you now ? " 90 DAISY TR AVERS. " If you keep on asking so many questions, Lucy, you'll know more'n your head can hold. You had better begin to bring your things in here, an' call Maria to take her's out. It'll be supper time in a minute." Lucy came down the next morning, looking very neat and pretty. " Oh, I think I understand it now ! " said Anne, to herself, on seeing her. " That's all Dora Went worth's work. She's determined I shan't get both of the prizes, an' as she can't get one herself, she's going to help Lucy to get one, out of spite. I don't care. I'm sure of one, anyhow, if she did have perfect lessons yesterday. She'd have to work pretty hard to catch up with me, after all the time she's lost. I guess I'll keep on trying for both ; she'd be so mad if I got them. I wonder where she is ? She wasn't down to prayers." But Anne did .not have to wonder long, for at that moment Dora came down, looking as though she had dressed herself in a hurry ; but her face was radiant. " She's been up to more mischief. All the worse for her,"* continued Anne to herself, then aloud, as Dora passed near her, "you LUCT " ROOMS " WITH DORA. 91 have got a mark for not being down to prayers." " Have I ? " said Dora, innocently. " Yes ; and you'll doubtless have another for not being half dressed." " That's good. I always did like marks of all kinds. I expect to make my mark, some day, don't I, Mark? " and Dora turned abruptly to a small boy, with a very wide mouth, which was now stretched to its utmost extent ; while Anne tossed her head, contemptuously, and walked off. " There, that'll do, Mark. Don't grin any more. You make me think of a box that opens on hinges, an' I feel as though I wanted to take hold of your nose an' open you, when I see your mouth stretched way round like that. Say, Mark, have you got a knife you'll let me take ? " " A knife ? " "Yes; a knife." "I never had a knife in my life." "How in the world have you lived so long? But perhaps you took a dinner-knife, when you wanted to whittle. I've often done that, myself ; but I found a splendid three-bladed knife one day in the street. I forgot to bring it with me when I came here, though, an' I never missed 92 , DAISY TR AVERS. anything so much in my life, as I've missed that. Have any of the boys got one, do you know ? " " Don't b'lieve they have. I never saw them have one." " Well, if I were you, instead of trying to win an old toy ship for a prize, I'd speak out, an' say I'd rather have a 'knife. Twelve boys, an' not a knife in the crowd ! " "I've got one," said Edgar Ford, who had heard the conversation between the two, stepping up, and searching his pockets for the desired article. " Let me take 'it ? " "For how long?" " A week, perhaps." " I don't care ; only have it handy, in case I should want it before that time." " All right." " Dora ? " called Mrs. Burns, who had been informed by Anne that Dora was borrowing a knife, and who was made nervous by the know- ledge. " Dora ? " Yes'm." " What is that you have in your hand ? " " Edgar says it's a knife," replied Dora, open- LUCT" ROOMS " WITH DORA. 93 ing it. " But I should say it's a screw-driver, seeing the point's gone, an' both edges are alike." "Is that your knife, Edgar?" said Mrs. B. " Yes, ma'am." " Take it back, then. I wouldn't like to trust Dora with a knife. She might get angry with one of the little girls, and do her a harm with it." " That knife couldn't harm a fly," returned Dora, " but land ! you can have it back. I'd as soon try to whittle with the latch of a door as with that," and Dora returned the knife, and walked away, looking very much disappointed. Lucy heard the whole and started to follow her. " Dora," said she, taking her by the arm, as she was going out. " Dora, come up to our room a minute." "What for?" "I'll tell you when we get there." " But we can't hear the study-bell there." " I believe you're trying for a prize, Dora. I saw you studying yesterday as though you were, an' now you're so particular about hearing the study-bell." " Bother the prize ! I'm only trying to see what I can do." 94 DAIST TR AVERS. " Well, come up to our room a minute, there is plenty of time. I've got something I want to show you." "I'm there, then." A minute later, Lucy was kneeling before the bureau in her room, opening the drawer that held all her earthly possessions. Taking out a small box, she opened it, and took from it some- thing that was carefully wrapt up in paper. " There ! " said she, handing it to Dora, "you can take that, because you'-ve been so good to me. I'd give it to you, only it used to be my brother's, an' it's all I've got to remember him by." Dora removed the paper, and exposed to view an ordinary, two-bladed pocket-knife. " I'm just as glad as I can be ! " exclaimed she, opening the blades to see if they were in a good condition. " It's just what I wanted." " You won't do any Harm with it ; will you ? " said Lucy, suddenly remembering what Mrs. Burns *had said. " I won't take it out of this room, Holly ; an' I won't take it at all, if you are afraid of me." " Dear, me ! I wasn't thinking about myself, at all. Tell me what you're going to do with LUCT" ROOMS " WITH DORA. 95 it ? " and Lucy sat down upon the floor, clasp- ing her hands over her knees, and looking inquiringly up into Dora's face. " I don't mind telling you, if you'll keep still about it. See what I found this morning ! " and Dora drew from under the bed, a block of wood nearly a foot square. " I don't think that's a very big find," said Lucy, after one glance at it. " Just look at it. There's not a knot in it, nor a crack." " What of that ? What's it good for, any- how?" " Just you wait, an' you'll see. What kind of an animal does Anne Porter remind you of ? " " What kind of an animal ? " repeated Lucy, inquiringly, wrinkling up her round face, in a puzzled manner, as she looked at Dora for an explanation. " Yes ; don't everybody remind you of some kind of an animal ? I've found out, at last, what she's like ; she's just like the old speckled pig they had at the poor-house, going round sticking her nose into everything, an' trying to get everything for herself. She looks like it, too, about the eyes. Land ! I could almost 96 DAIST TRA VERS. hear her grunt, this morning, when she was so glad 'cause I got a mark." " What's that to do with the block ? " " I'm going to cut a pig out of it, an' write on it, ' a good likeness of Anne Porter.' Then I'll put it in her desk. Won't she be mad when she sees it ! I'll bet she -won't eat any pork for a month afterwards." " You can't cut a pig out of that block," said Lucy, incredulously. " Wait an' see if I can't. I've cut out things before to-day, I guess. If I cut out Mrs. Hodge's face once, I cut it out a dozen times. She always knew it was meant for her face, though I always made it look worse'n she did, a purpose." " Didn't it make her mad ? " " I guess so, though I never happened to be 'round when she found it. I used to sly into her room, when she was eatiii' dinner, an' put it on the bureau, right front of the looking glass, where she'd see it, first thing, when she went up to comb her hair. Crazy Bet said she thought her husband made it an' put it there, as he used to be whittling 'bout all the time ; an' she'd make him step round lively, for a week LUCT " ROOMS " WITH DORA. 9J afterwards, every time. But then he'd make us step 'round lively, in turn, so I didn't make much by it, an' gave up doing it, after a while." " We'd better go down, now ! " exclaimed Lucy, suddenly springing to her feet, as she thought it must be time for study. And Dora, after carefully hiding the block and knife under the bed, followed her to the recitation room, which they reached not a minute too soon. That day also, Dora's lessons were perfect, to the surprise of all but herself. But Anne was not at all alarmed. She felt quite sure that Dora could not now catch up with her, even if she herself did miss occasionally, and rather enjoyed witnessing her late attempts. This day as the day before, Dora refused to take a ride with Daisy, and the latter did not urge her to go. Lucy lost her ride by some small misdemeanor ; so after lessons were over, both the girls went up to their room together, where Dora pulled out the block, and sitting down by the window, began to whittle away at it, while Lucy seated herself on the floor before her, to watch her proceedings. " I don't see why you wouldn't take your 7 98 DAISY TRAVERS. ride," said Lucy, at last, after watching for ten minutes and perceiving no signs of a pig in the block in Dora's hands. " If you don't like Aunt Daisy, you'd ought to be ashamed of yourself, after what she's done for you, an' you're the only one in the school that doesn't think she's splendid." Dora stopped whittling, and looked at Lucy, a little surprised at her unusual earn- estness. "Did I say I didn't like her ? " " You act it plain enough, without saying it." " There's no love lost, anyway ; so don't fret about it, Roily, you'll lose flesh if you do." " Then you don't like her ? " " No, I don't, if you must know. I rather guess I hate her. She isn't much older'n I am, anyway, an' the idea of her telling Mrs. Shote to do what she did. If I ever get a chance to pay her back, I will ; see'f I don't ! " " Oh, Dora, you wouldn't harm Aunt Daisy ! " and Lucy's round eyes opened very wide with amazement. " Can't tell till I get a chance. Guess I'd like to give her just as good as she gave me, anyhow. Now see. here, Roily, I don't want to get mad LUCT " ROOMS " WITH DORA. QQ with you, an' nothing '11 make me unless you keep on talking about Aunt Daisy. The one that made that knife didn't have common sense ! Might'a known such a shaped handle as that would blister anyone's hands," continued she, dropping the knife and block in her lap, and looking at the blister that had come already upon her hand. Lucy made no reply, but the expression upon her face showed that Dora had fallen greatly in her estimation. Presently she arose and left the room. " I don't suppose, now," said Dora to herself, as soon as she had gone, winding her handker- chief around the handle of the knife to protect her hand. " I don't suppose now, she'll ever like me again as well as she did. Nobody ever did like me but Crazy Bet, an' perhaps she wouldn't if she hadn't been crazy. I almost wish I was back again with her. I wonder if she misses me, an' if she ever gets any tea, now. Poor, old Bet ! " then, after a pause, u I wasn't sure that I hated Aunt Daisy before, but now I'm sure of it." CHAPTER VI. DORA " PAYS " DAISY. ^UNT DAISY." [fg "Well, Lucy? What is it?" and Daisy took both of Lucy's plump little hands in her own, and smiled down into her round face ; for of all the girls at Hive Hall this was her" favorite. " I want to tell you- something." "Well, I'm listening." "It's about Dora." "What about her?" " I want you to be careful, an' not give her a chance to hurt you ; because she would, I know, if she should get you alone." " Oh, Lucy, I'm sorry to hear you talk like that. I thought you and she were going to be great friends, and was very glad of it. What is the trouble between you ? " " There's no trouble, an' we are friends ; but 100 DORA " PATS " DAISY. 101 she said she'd pay you back for what you did to her, an' I know she'll keep her word. She was always real good to me, an' I wouldn't have told, only I don't want you to get hurt." " Did she say what it was I did to her ? " " No. You will not do anj'thing to her for saying what she did, will you ? " " Certainly not. And, Lucy, though it would have been better if you had tried to reason with her and convince her that she was wrong, instead of coming to me and repeating what she had told you in confidence, and what, perhaps, she did not mean at all ; nevertheless, I am very glad you did tell me, for it may be the means of making us understand each other. Now run along ; there's the supper-bell." A surprise awaited the children, in the shape of a treat ; for after they had finished their usual supper, in came Mrs. Sliote with a great basket of white-heart cherries, and every plate was heaped high with the delicious fruit, that had been picked from the very tree on which Dora had made her midnight raid. Dora, on seeing them, did not appear so delighted as the other children did, and seemed to eat them with reluctance. 102 DA 1ST TR AVERS. " I guess Dora don't like cherries," said one little girl to Anne Porter. " Why ? " said Anne, who knew better. " 'Cause she eats them as though she didn't," was the reply, as the speaker held up two to eat at once. " Oh, that's because she didn't steal them." "Steal them?" said the first speaker, loud enough for Dora to hear. " Yes ; wait till we go out, an' I'll tell you all about it." " I don't want you to ever mention that matter again," said Daisy in a low tone to Anne ; she had been standing behind them, and had heard all then walking over to Dora, who was now eating her cherries with evident satisfaction, she bent down, and putting her face close to Dora's, said : " I want you to come up to my study as soon as you have finished your cherries ; I will only keep you a few minutes," then she went out, and left the children to themselves. Dora sat until she had finished her last cherry ; then she went up to her room, and, pulling out her block from its hiding-place, began to whittle. She worked away at it, diligently, for perhaps ten minutes, looking very ill at ease, and dissat- DORA " PATS " DAISY. 103 isfied. Presently she arose, and putting back the block and knife, said to herself : u I may as well hear what she's got to say, anyway. She'll bring Mrs. Shote in to me, if I don't, I suppose. I wish I was back with Mrs. Hodges an' crazy Bet oh, don't I!" With that Dora proceeded towards Daisy's study. The door was open when she reached it, and Daisy was sitting by the window waiting for her. She arose, as Dora entered, and, going to the door, shut it, and turned the key in the lock. " I did not do that, Dora, to lock you in," said she, perceiving that Dora noticed the act, " but to lock everybody else out. I asked you to come up here to give you a chance to pay me ; you'll find the same rattan on the desk there, that Mrs. Shote used on you. Why don't you hurry ? " for Dora hesitated. " Is it possible you don't want to pay me, after all ? " No, it was not possible, for Dora went imme- diately to the desk, and taking the rattan, approached Daisy with it, trying to look as though everything was just as it *hould be. Daisy held out her hand. What a tender, little white hand it was! Dora could not help com- 104 DAISY TR AVERS. paring it to her own, which were rough, and coarse, from doing hard work at the poor-house. Well, this hand was tender, and would feel the pain all the more. Down came the rattan relent- lessly upon it. Once ! twice ! three times ! Then Dora stole a look into Daisy's face. She stood it bravely. This would decide if she would ever have any power over this girl, and she scarcely felt the pain, her thoughts were so busy imag- ining how it would end. The fourth time Dora hesitated, but it was only for a moment ; down went the rattan again, and with that blow she realized for the first time all that hand had done for her ; realized the difference between her life, now, and what it had been before that hand was held out to help her. Up went Daisy's other hand, and down went the rattan upon that, but this time it descended hesitatingly, and Daisy felt no pain ; presently she looked into the face before her to see why another blow did not follow, and their eyes met. Then down went the rattan upon the floor, and down went Dora after it, all in a bunch, crying as though her heart would break. Daisy took up the rattan, and held it towards her, saying : DORA "PAYS" DAISY. Page 104. DORA " PATS " DAIST. 1Q5 "You have not finished yet ; there are three more, you know." " Take it away ! Go away, can't you, an' let me be alone, for a little while," was the broken reply. "Tell me," first, if we are even, now, Dora?" said Daisy, kneeling down upon the floor beside her. A gasping sob was the only reply. "Tell me, Dora, are we even, now?" and Daisy's hand fell softly upon the arm that was trembling with emotion. "No no! oh, go away, till I get over this." " I'm so sorry we are not, Dora. I'm afraid you'll always hate me." " What do you want to talk like that, for, when you hate me, you know you do ! " said Dora, hotly, lifting her flushed face. " I hate you, Dora ? You do not believe that, I'm sure. Have I ever given you cause to think that, since you've been here ? " down went Dora's head again, and a low moan was the only reply. " Tell me, Dora, if you have had cause to think I hate you ? " " No, no ! but I hate myself ! I hate myself ! I hate myself ! " and Dora snatched Daisy's poor, 106 DAIS T TRA VERS. red hand, that was resting lightly on hers, and pressed it passionately to her wet, hot face. " You have no cause to do that, either, Dora, for I know that you have a good, loving heart. But you have had a hard time of it, poor child ! and it's no wonder you mistrusted my feeling for you. You will no longer doubt, will you, that I want to be a true friend to you, and you can't tell how much I want you to like me in return," said Daisy, the tears chasing each other down her own cheeks, now. "I shall always have it to think of what I did to you, just now." " It was the very best thing that could have happened, Dora. You might have gone on mis- understanding me for I don't know how long ; and losing your rides, too," continued Daisy, with a little laugh. " You will not refuse to go to ride with me to-morrow, will you ? if you earn the right to." "I never should have refused, only " " Only what? " for Dora hesitated to complete her sentence. " I was sure you hated me, an' wouldn't care to have me with you." Daisy bent down, at that, and pressed upon Dora's forehead the first DORA " PATS " DAIST. 107 kiss she had given her since she had been at Hive Hall. " If I had known that but never mind, you'll not think it again. Dry your eyes, now, Dora. They'll be wondering what has become of us, and they must not see us looking like this, without an onion to show as the cause," said Daisy with a laugh, that did not agree with the expression upon her face. Then thinking that Dora would regain her composure sooner if alone, she arose and put on her hat, concealing her face as much as possible behind her veil ; then taking a book from a stand, she placed it upon the desk, saying : " I must go, now, Dora," you can stay here as long as you want to. Here is a book full of nice pictures, that you can look at, if you wish to." Half an hour later, Dora entered her own room, " looking kind of queer," so Lucy, who had been waiting for her, and wondering where she could be, said to herself, as she entered. " Where have you been ? I thought you were in a hurry to get that pig done. You'll never get it done at this rate. I can't see any sign of a pig yet." 108 DAIS T TJt AVERS. " I guess I won't make a pig," replied Dora, taking the block that Lucy had been looking " There ! I knew you'd have to give it tip ! " and Lucy's face expressed her disappointment. " "What are angels ? Lucy." " Angels ? Why don't you know ? Angels are in heaven." " But what are they ? " " Why, everybody that's real good, when they die they go to heaven, an' are angels," " Do you think it would please a lady, if I should cut an angel out of this block, an' give it to her, an' tell her she'll be an angel some- time ? " " Why, I don't know," replied Lucy, hesi- tatingly. "^That's as much as to say she ain't one now, an' it might make her mad." " I thought you said they couldn't be angels till they died." " So they can't ; not real angels ; but lots of folks think they're angels, an' sometimes, if any- one is very good, they're called angels before they die. Like a woman that used to live in the town I came from ; everybody said she was an angel." DORA " PATS " DAIST. 1Q9 " Then how would it do to cut out an angel, an' make it look as much as I can like the one I'm going to give it to, an' put her name on it?" " She'd like that. But you're not going to cut an angel out of that block, are you ? " " Yes.'-' " That's the greatest ! get a pig half made, then make it into an angel ! " 44 The pig wasn't half made. You don't know anything about it." 44 1 know that if the one you give the angel to, should hear how it was made, she'd think you meant to tell her she's pig inside, an' angel out." " Lucy Stone, do you see anything about that block that looks like a pig ? " said. Dora, her eyes flashing. 44 Not a thing ; I only see a hump." 44 It's nothing but a block of wood, is it ? " 44 That's all." 44 Well, I'm going to make an angel out of that block of wood, an' don't you dare to say anything more about a pig." Anne was not at all satisfied with Maria Hurd for a room-mate. She was too young to HO DAIST TR AVERS. talk to, and too lazy to be any help at all ; so Anne was resolved that she would have Lucy, with her good-natured face and willing hands back again. She felt quite sure that she could easily induce her to return, for by this time she was doubtless tired of Dora, and her disagreeable ways, and would be only too glad to leave her, if asked to do so. " She must be getting well punishexl for going away," thought Anne, one morning, while stand- ing before the glass, combing her hair. " I think I'll let her stay there a while longer, so she'll get enough of it. Then I'll make her think that I don't care whether she comes back or not ; but if she really wants to she can, I'll tell her. Then won't she be glad enough to make the bed every morning, an' sweep out the room for me. In the meantime," continued Anne to herself, casting a look at Maria, who was seated upon the floor tying her shoes, and looking very sleepy, indeed. " In the meantime perhaps I can get that girl to do something, by threaten- ing to send her back to Dora ! I never thought of that," and Anne turned from the glass to try the experiment. " Maria ? " Maria looked up without speak- DORA " PAYS " DAISY. \\\ ing, and without stopping the work she was eiiGracjed at. o o " How would you like to go back to Dora's room ? " " Makes no odds to me where I go." replied Maria, yawning fearfully, and resting her chin on her knee the while. " Which do you like the best me or Dora ? " " Don't like neither of you too well." " It seems as though you might tell which of us you like best, but if you won't then which of us do you think's the smartest ? " " Dora, by a long chalk," replied Maria, arising to -her feet and walking towards the door t " It's a waste of time trying to talk to an idiot," observed Anne, contemptuously, turning to the glass again. "What's an idiot?" questioned Maria, paus- ing. " Look in the glass, an you'll see one." " I'm looking, but I only see your face ! " " Go down stairs, if you're going ! Do you hear ? " and Anne stamped smartly upon the floor. Maria opened the door suddenly, looking very much bewildered at the turn affairs had 1 i 2 DAIS T TRA VERS. taken, and there stood Dora, and Lucy, laughing to themselves. Anne no sooner saw them, than she slammed the door in their faces, but not before Maria had time to get out. " See here Maria," said Dora, in a low tone, taking hold of Maria's shoulder. " Just say what you want me to do for you, an' I'll do it, see'f I don't; 'cause you did that well, you know you did." " Let me alone, can't you ? " said Maria, shrinking away, and frowning. " I ain't done nothing to nobody, an' I just wish folks would let me alone." "Oh, I'll let you alone, if that's all ; but you're too modest. You might have asked more, an' got it." With that Dora joined Lucy, laughing, and they went down stairs together, leaving Maria , to follow at her pleasure. A week later Anne thought it was time to hint to Lucy that she could room with her again, if she wanted to, and was not a little surprised when Lucy refused to take the hint. But after thinking awhile, she came to the con- clusion that Lucy was angry because she had not asked her to return before. " I shan't hint DORA " PATS " DAI ST. H3 to her again," said she to herself. " She'll have to come to me, now, an' ask me to let her come back : that's all she'll make by it," and Anne thought, with satisfaction, of how reluctantly she would appear to give her consent, when she should ask it of her. But Anne was never to experience that grati- fication, for a wonderful friendship had sprung up between the two girls, since Lucy was made aware of Dora's changed feeling for Aunt Daisy ; and the knowledge that the angel, that was now nearly completed was intended for Daisy, kept Lucy in a fever of anxiety for fear it would prove a failure after all. 8 CHAPTER VII. A STJKPBJSE FOB "AUNT DAISY." }HERE; Lucy, it is done ! " " All done ? Let me see it now," and Lucy held -out her hand to receive the image that was at last completed. " It don't look so good as I wanted it to," said Dora, with a sigh, " for the old knife got dull, an' I didn't have anything to sharpen it on. But I guess it'll do." " I think it is splendid ! an' it looks ever so much like Aunt Daisy, too ; only wasn't it too bad that knot in the wood happened to be there; it nearly spoilt one ear." " Never mind, it isn't so bad as though it had been on the face." " I don't see how you could make the wings so well," and Lucy scrutinized first one wing, then the other, while Dora watched her, with a pleased expression upon her face. 114 A SURPRISE FOR AUNT DAIST. H5 " Oh, that was easy enough to do," said she, " I remembered just how my old crow's wings looked, you see." " Are you going to give it to her, to-day ? " "Yes. I wish I. had a box, or something to put it in. You don't know of anything, do you ? 'cause I don't like to give it to her right out plain." " You might wrap it up in a paper. I've got & nice white piece that I'll give you, that'll be just the thing," and Lucy went to the bureau where she kept all her treasures, for the paper. " There she goes, now ! " exclaimed Dora, glancing out of the window, and seeing Daisy walking down the road away from Hive Hall. " If we could only give it to her now, it would be 'foetter'n giving it where all the children could see it, an' wonder what it is." " So we can. Here's the paper : hurry up an' do it up, an' run down with it ! " Dora took the paper, and wrapt the image in it, but instead of going down to give it to her, she sat watching her retreating form. "Why don't you go, if you're going?" said Lucy, giving her an impatient push. " I guess I won't give it to her, after all, and Dora began to unwrap the paper from the image." 116 DAIST TR AVERS, " Not give it to her ? Why ? " *' 'Cause she might think I was making fun of her. The face don't look much better'n those I used to make of Mrs. Hodges, a'purpose to make her mad." " Dear, me ! Give it to me, an' Pll give it to her, an' tell her 'tain't half so good as you could have done if the knife hadn't been dull," and before Dora could hinder her, Lucy was down stairs, and out in the street, running towards Daisy, with the image held high above her head, and calling *' Aunt Daisy ! Aunt Daisy ! " at the top of her voice. Aunt Daisy stopped, at the first call, and waited for the round, waddling figure to come up to her, and presently Lucy stood before her, all out of breath. " There ! " said she as soon as she could speak, putting the image in Daisy's hand. " There's something Dora made for you. She could have made it ever so much better, only the knife got dull," with "that, Lucy turned to retrace her steps, without waiting to hear Daisy's opinion of it ; and Dora, watching from her window, saw Daisy remove the paper from the image, then walk slowly on. A SURPRISE FOR AUNT DAIS T. H7 " She didn't throw it away, anyhow, an' she didn't seem to act as though she was mad ; maybe she'll like it, after all. "What did she say ? " continued she, aloud, as Lucy entered, all red and hot, from running. " I didn't stop to hear. I was afraid Mrs. Burns would see me, an' give me a mark, for going away without permission. " I guess she wouldn't give you a mark for going that little distance, to speak to Aunt Daisy," replied Dora, in a disappointed tone. " How would she know how far I'd been, if she saw me come running up the street." " She'd know you wouldn't go very far, with- out your hat." " I didn't think of that," replied Lucy, provoked at her own dullness. " Grandfather Milly," said Daisy, as soon as she reached home, to that old gentleman, who was seated on the piazza trying to create a dis- turbance between Bruno and puss, by drawing the latters unsheathed claws over Bruno's nose. " Grandfather Milly, do you remember how you laughed when I ventured to say that one of my pupils might prove to be a genius, and if prop- erly educated might become famous ! " 118 DAISY TR AVERS. " Ha ! ha ! ha ! Don't make me laugh again, Daisy! don't!" " Then you don't believe that there's one born genius among my twenty-five scholars ? " " You haven't discovered one, have you ? " for something in the expression on Daisy's face made him curious. "/ should call the one that made that, a gen- ius," and Daisy put the image in grandfather Milly's hand, triumphantly. " Did one of the children make this ? " said he, with an amused smile. " An angel, with wings, and a chignon. Why, I believe it looks something like you, Daisy ; and here's your name carved in at the bottom. That's what I call a neat compliment ! " " My name isn't there, is it ? " said Daisy, taking the image again. " Sure enough I and I believe it does look like me. For a minute Daisy's eyes twinkled merrily; then a mist gathered over them, so that she could scarcely see the image in her hand. "Which one of them did it; I don't think I could guess, if I were to try ? " said grandfather at last, breaking the reverie she had fallen into. " I know you couldn't guess. Dora did it." " You don't mean it I " A SURPRISE FOR AUNT DAISY. H9 " The very last ono you would have thought of, isn't it ? " " What are you going to do with her ! send her to Italy ? " and Daisy thought the old man looked very much as though he was laughing, now ; but then he was always laughing. " I'll give the school a holiday, to-morrow and she shall go with me to Boston ; and I'll take her through every art gallery I know of. Then I'll bny her a set of sculptor's tools, and see what she'll do with them." The next morning as the children had begun their studies, in came a servant from Mr. Milly's, with information that Mrs. Burns was to give them a holiday, and that Dora Wentworth was to dress herself in her best, and return with him. Lucy followed Dora up to their room to assist her in dressing. "What do you suppose it's for?" questioned Dora, putting on her best dress that Lucy got out for her, and which she had never had occa- sion to wear before, on a week day. " Oh, I know what it's for ! Aunt Daisy was pleased with the angel, as I knew she'd be, an' is going to take you somewhere to have a good 120 DAISY TR AVERS. time. I never was so glad in my life ! " and unselfish Lucy bustled around, helping Dora. " I guess I'm glad, too. I feel just as I did one day at the poor-house, when I saw a hen's nest with fifteen eggs in it, then slipped, an' fell in it, an' smashed um all." " I want you to remember everything you see, an' do, an' have, so you can tell me all about it, as soon as you get back." "I wish they'd asked you to go, too." " Dear me ! why should they ? I couldn't make an angel, like you did, if I should try till the cows came home. There ! now you are all ready." " It doesn't seem strange, at all, for me to be dressed up, lately," remarked Dora, as she viewed herself in the glass, with satisfaction. " I wish crazy Bet could see me now, just to see 'f she'd know me. I know she wouldn't, 'less I spoke." Down stairs all the children appeared to be delighted, that they were to have a holiday, except Anne, who could not understand why Dora was to go to Mr. Milly's house, dressed in her best. She walked up and down the hall, feelinj very disagreeable, till the two girls came down stairs, then, as soon as Dora had gone, she flew to Lucy, to find out what ifc meant. A SURPRISE FOR AUNT DATS T. 121 " Why in the world did they send for her, Lucy ? I should think she was going to be pun- ished for something, only they wouldn't want her dressed up for that." " I guess Aunt Daisy's going to take her somewhere to have a good time," replied Lucy. " Take her somewhere ? Why, she's the worst girl in school." " I guess not. She hasn't done anything bad for a month, an' you know it," and Lucy's round eyes almost expressed anger, for a moment. " What of that ? I never did anything bad." " I didn't say Aunt Daisy's going to take her 'cause she's been good, did I ?" " Well, what is she going to take her for, then? It always takes you an hour to answer a question." " I don't think Dora'd like to have me tell you. I'll ask her, an' if she says she doesn't care, I'll tell you all about it, to-night." " You needn't. If you're so weak that you can't answer a question without asking ' Dora ' if you may, you're to^ be pitied." And Anne walked away, unable to express, in her move- ments, all the contempt she felt for poor Lucy, who looked after her, wondering why she wasn't 122 DAIST TR AVERS. as good-natured towards her as she used to be. About four o'clock that afternoon Dora returned and hurried up to her room with a good-sized bundle under her arm. At a sight of her radi- ant face, Lucy's became almost as radiant. " I knew you'd have a good time," said she. " A good time! Oh, Roily, you don't know anything about it ! " replied Dora, throwing her bundle on the bed, and taking off her hat, which Lucy took, and put away, before Dora had a chance to do it herself. " I know I don't ; but you're going to tell me all about it, you know." " I wish I could, but I can't." " Can't ? " and over Lucy's face came a cloud of disappointment. "No. How could I tell you, so you'd see things as I saw them ? Oh, Roily ! If you could have seen all the men, an' women, an' children, an' dogs, an' horses, an' everything, all carved out of stone that I saw to-day, you'd just as lives be blind all the rest of your life, I know ! " Lucy looked doubtful. " An' angels \ Roily ! How I wished I could have had the old thing I made, just long enough A SURPRISE FOR AUNT DAISY. 13 to smash it. But that ain't the best of it ! Aunt Daisy said maybe, sometime, I'd be able to make as good as any I saw to-day, if I'd try ; an' I'm just agoing to try, see 'f I don't ! " " Didn't j r ou see anything else ? What's in that bundle ? " questioned Lucy. " That's what I'm to try with. Did you ever see anything like those ! " and Dora untied the bundle, and held the tools before Lucy's won- dering eyes. " I guess I can do a little better with these, than I could with your knife. Ah ! Roily ! But if it hadn't been for your knife, I shouldn't have got these, that's certain. Presently she dropped the set of tools upon the bed, and going to the door, opened it, just in time to see Anne Porter hurrying from it to her own room. . " That Anne Porter has been at the door, listening all this time ! " said she, to Lucy, as she closed the door again and returned to the tools. " Well, I guess I can make a pig, now an' I'll make it look like Anne Porter, too ! see 'f I don't." CHAPTER VIII. AWABDING THE PKIZE. T last the long-talked-of day arrived, in which the four prizes were to be awarded to the four most deserving children at Hive Hall. There were to be no lessons that day, and the prizes would not be given out till afternoon; so the children had ample time to spare, after donning their holiday clothes, in which to dis- cuss among themselves the prizes, and those who would be most likely to receive them. One of the boys, Edgar Ford, the best scholar among them, was sure of one of the ships, and his face was radiant in consequence, as he walked around, trying not to look impatient. Anne, too, felt almost sure of receiving a prize, but not quite sure as she had felt a month ago. Who would take the prizes for good beha- viour none of them could guess, as their con- 124 A WARDING THE PRIZE. 125 duct had been, on an average, about the same, excepting Dora ; she received more black marks the first month than any of the others received in the whole three. Never was the sound of the bell so welcome before, as it was when Mrs. Burns rung it at two o'clock, to call all the children to their places in the school-room. Grandfather Milly had the seat of honor on the platform, and Daisy was flitting here and there, now speaking to this child, now to that, and now to Mrs. Burns, but never in the same place longer than two minutes at a time. While before them all, on the teacher's desk, were the two handsome, perfect ships, and the two large, wax dolls, with their extra dresses packed neatly away, and locked up in the trunk beside each. After :a few words from Daisy, to the schol- ars, Mrs. Burns proposed to read the names of the three girls that had gained the highest per cent, in their studies ; and taking up a paper she read from it first the name of Anne Porter, who had sixty-eight per cent. Anne looked important, then glanced at the dolls and won- dered if one wasn't a little better than the other, and hoped she would get the best one ; 126 DAIST TR AVERS, but she had no time to think more about it, for Mrs. Burns had read the name of Dora Went- worth, who had seventy per. cent, in her studies. "How's that, Anne Porker?" was Dora's inward exclamation, as she stole a side glance at Anne to see what effect the last name had upon her, but Anne had suddenly discovered a long scratch on her desk and was trying to rub it out. " I rather 'spect neither of us'll get it," con- tinued Dora, to herself, 'cause there's another name to come yet ; but, land ! it's all the same to me, so long as I'm two ahead of 3^011, Porker. Next time don't tell a body she can't do a thing till she's tried to do it. That's the greatest ! " exclaimed she, almost loud enough to be heard, for Mrs. Burns had read the name of Ella Myers, who was a quiet, unobtrusive girl, , who had never mentioned that she was trying for a prize, and none of the other girls had ever mis- trusted such a thing. In fact, if they had been asked, any day, if Ella Myers had failed that day, they could not have told, so little notice did they take of her, and of what she did. " Ella Myers," said Mrs. Burns, " has eighty- two per cent, and is entitled to the prize, which A WARDING THE PRIZE. 127 she will please come and receive." Ella walked up to the teacher's desk, looking very red in the face, indeed, and received the gaily dressed doll, with its trunk full of clothes, from Aunt Daisy. She was about to return to her seat, when Mr. Milly said : " I make a move that you all give three cheers for Ella Myers ; only, boys, don't be noisy about it." The boys were noisy about it, but no one seemed to mind it much. So were the girls, all but Anne, whose lips moved, and that was all. After order was restored, Mrs. Burns pro- ceeded to read the names of the three girls whose deportment had been the best. Ella Myers had sixty-five per cent., Anne Porter had eighty-two, and Lucy Stone had eighty-five. "Three cheers for Roily!" shouted Dora, springing to her feet, as soon as the last name with its per cent, was read. " Hush ! Dora ; all in good time," said Daisy, who could not help smiling at Dora's impulsive- ness ; while the boys who were about to give the cheers at her bidding, subsided, with a laugh among themselves. Then Lucy went to receive her prize, very happy indeed; and she was cheered even louder 128 DAIST TR AVERS. than Ella had been, because she was more of a favorite, and because the boys knew it was now their turn, and they would not be much longer in doubt as to which among them would receive the ships. . For the first prize Mrs. Burns said she would only read one boy's name, and that was Edgar Ford, who had ninety per cent. All the other boys were so far behind him, she was ashamed to read their names with their per cent. So Edgar went to receive his prize, and was cheered as he deserved to be. The other prize went to a poor pale-faced boy, who had had the misfortune . to lose one leg ; and as he hobbled up to receive the ship, his face glowing with pleasure, not one, among them all, had the heart to envy it of him. After that Daisy told them that three months from that day they would receive four more prizes ; and as she could not tell what each one would rather have, she would let those who earn the right to a prize, say what the prize shall be, provided it does not exceed in value ten dollars. To make the day still more pleasant, and one to be looked forward to, she had provided a A WARDING THE PRIZE. 129 basket of luscious great oranges, which she now exposed to view. Then dismissing the children, each was supplied with one, as they passed out. " Well, Roily, you got a doll, after all didn't you ? " said Dora to Lucy, as the two went up to their room. " Oh, Dora, I never expected to get one, and I'm sure I shouldn't have got this, if it hadn't been for you, fixing me up mornings." " Anne looked blue, didn't she ? " " Yes. It was too bad, wasn't it, that she didn't get one, when she was trying for both ? " "Too bad? Not a bit of it. It served her just right, I think, for being so piggish." " I mean to tell her she can take mine, some- times, if she wants to, an' will be very careful of it," said Lucy, putting the doll on the bed, and viewing it with pride ,nd satisfaction. "You are going to let her take it?" said Dora, not a little surprised. " Yes. Wouldn't you ? " " Don't ask me what P d do. But 1 11 tell you what, crazy Bet would say about it if she was here." "What would she say? " " Roily ! Roily ! don't cast pearls before swine ! " 130 DAIS T TR AVERS. Lucy looked puzzled, but she did not question her meaning, as a more important matter sud- denly occurred to her. " Wasn't you trying for a prize, too, Dora ? " interrogated she. "Me? Don't think it. Wliat I was trying to do, I did. I only wanted to convince Anne Porker that she isn't so much smarter than other people." "You don't like her at all, do you?" "I like her better'n she likes me, to-day. I'm just as sure of that, as I am that that doll's head'll break just about as easy as you can smash an egg." " Oh dear ! I wouldn't have it break for the world ! " and at the thought, Lucy lifted up the doll, and made a softer bed for it on the pillow, while Dora took out her tools, and began to work." " What would you want for a prize the next time ? " said she, to Lucy, after a while. " Dear me ! " exclaimed Lucy, almost drop- ping the trunk of clothes she had been admir- ing, in her surprise at the question. " I'm not going to try for another prize. I've got all I want now. I couldn't get one again, neither, I know ; an' if I could I'd feel mean to take A WARDING THE PRIZE. 131 two prizes, when the other girls are trying so for one." " "Well, if I was going to try for a prize, I'd try for something that was alive. Such as a bird, or a dog, or monkey ; something that would know me, an' like me." " Then I know what you'd better try for." " What ? " " A parrot. They're just the funniest birds you ever saw." " I've heard of them, but never saw one." Dora had learned to say them, instead of 'um. " I saw one, once. He could say almost any- thing, and could laugh, an' whistle tunes." " I wonder if they know much ? " " I guess they do. The lady that owned the one I saw, used to have a woman come every week to do the washing ; an' she always used to put the parrot in the room with her, so he could watch her, an' tell if she stopped washing, and wasted her time ; an' he'd always tell if she did, then the lady'd get another woman to do her washing." " Like as not he'd lie about it, just for the sake of seeing a new face. But I'd like one, ever so mucli." " I know YOU would." 132 DAISY TR AVERS. " Wouldn't I make it call pig ! pig ! pig ! every time Anne Porker went by." " Dear me ! Dora, you are always thinking of something to make Anne Porter mad ! I wish you wouldn't. I don't see how you can. \liate to have anyone mad with me." " Of course you do. That's because you're not like the kind of an animal I'm like. 'Spect I must be like a porcupine, but you are just like a little rabbit, that wouldn't harm anybody, an' only wants to get out of everybody's way; while I'm always in everyories way, an' sure to hurt those I touch." " You never hurt me," said Lucy, with a laugh. " Of .course not, 'cause you never gave me a chance. Whoever heard of a porcupine hurting a rabbit. The rabbit knows enough to keep out of the way of such an ugly thing." " Did I ever keep out of your way ? " * No ; an' it's so queer you don't, I believe it's causing my quills to drop out. I'm suie I haven't got so many to hurt with, as I used to have, before I knew you. If I'm with you much longer, who knows but they'll all go." CHAPTER IX. PETS. YEAR had passed away since the twenty- four pauper children entered Hive Hall, to f YVY be P r vided for, and educated, by Daisy Travers. Every . three months four prizes had been bestowed on them, and many of the children, in choosing what their prize should be, followed Dora Wentworth's example, and chose pets. Some of the animals chosen by the boys, such as rabbits, and Guinea pigs, multiplied so fast that Daisy thought it best to have a place built for them, instead of having each boy's room denied by rude boxes containing them. So a building was erected in the yard, half of which was furnished with large, wire cages, to accom- modate the boy's pets ; while the other half had a glass roof, and was furnished inside with one wide shelf, which was partitioned off into twelve 133 134 DAIST TR AVERS. parts by wire trellis-work, and each girl owned one of these parts for her own plants, which she was encouraged to care for to the best of her ability. Opposite the flower-shelf, the day our story opens, hung four canaries which four of the girls had been fortunate enough to secure as prizes, while in a corner, chained to a cross-bar, was a green parrot, that Dora had succeeded in win- ning. She was delighted with Polly, at first, and spent hours trying to teach her to talk ; but Polly seemed adverse to talking about anything but herself. She would say " Polly ! Pretty Polly I Beau-u-u-tiful Polly ! " and " How do you do, Polly ? " but as soon as Dora would try to teach her the name of Anne Porter, or, as she tried to make Polly say it, " Anne Porker ! pig ! pig ! pig ! " Polly would scream fearfully, and she would be glad to desist, though she never quite gave up the hope of teaching her it, in time. Anne Porter was standing very near Polly this day, tending her plants, of which she had some very fine specimens, when three little girls eritered, and going up to her, one of them said i ^ Anne, are you going to try for a prize, this time ? " PETS. 135 "Of course I am," replied Anne, transferring a trowel-full of earth from a basket to a flower- pot. " I'll have a new dress this time, an' a handsome one, too." " A dress ? Why, we can have all the dresses we need, without getting one that way." " All we need, perhaps, but not all we want. I want to dress better than the rest of the girls, and I'm going to, too." "You might give us a chance to get a prize this time, you've had so many." " I don't hinder you." " You know we can't get one if you big girls try. Dora Wentworth, an' Lucy Stone, an' Ella Myers have all said they wouldn't try this time, but would give us small girls a chance." " More fools they," said Anne, with a laugh. " And I'll stand all the better chance of getting one myself." "Anne Poster!" called another small girl, looking in the door-way at that moment ; she was doubtless on $ie errand the others were. " Anne Porter ! " Polly, at the sound of that name, dropped a piece of bread she was eating, and held her head on one side, waiting, perhaps, for the sentence to be finished, as Dora always 136 DAIST TR AVERS. finished it ; and when it was not, thinking doubtless, she could do better herself, she sud- denly screamed out, " Anne Porker ! pig ! pig I pig ! " then, elated at her success, she uttered a shrill cry, and repeated it all, just as Dora Wentworth entered. " You taught that bird to say that ! " exclaimed Anne, white with rage, turning to Dora, as she entered. " Polly knows a thing or two, without being taught," replied Dora, with a smile that angered Anne all the more. " What do you mean by that ? " " She know's the right time to say the right thing ; or she knows its almost dinner-time ! an', as I often give her a little piece of roast pork at dinner-time, 'cause she likes it so, she wants to know if I've got ' any pork, eh ? pig, pig, pig,' that's her way of asking for it." " There's that for your knowing bird ! " and Anne lifted her trowel suddenly, and threw it at Polly, cutting short what .she was about to say into " Anne Pork " then off she tumbled from her roost, and was held dangling in the air by her chain. Dora flew to Polly's relief, while Anne, hoping PETS. 137 the bird would die, made good her escape but of doors. " Polly ! Polly ! pretty Polly ! " said Dora holding up the bird, and trying to undo the chain, at, the same time, while the four small girls stood around, and looked on without saying a word, until Dora had freed the parrot, then one of them ventured to ask if she was hurt. " I guess not much," replied Dora, feeling if there were any broken bones ; while Polly turned one eye up to look in her face, and muttered faintly "pretty Polly." " Yes, you are a pretty Polly, so you are. I'll never doubt it again," said Dora, then she laughed to herself, as she smoothed down the rumpled feathers. "What are you doing with Polly," said Lucy Stone, coming in at that moment, her round good-natured face all of a glow, as it almost always was. " I say ! " said Dora, addressing the small girls, " will you four run out a little while ? Lucy, an' I want to talk together." The four small girls went out willingly enough, looking knowingly at each other the while. " What is it ? " questioned Lucy, as soon as they had gone. 138 DAIST TRA VERS. " Oh, the jolliest news ever you heard. You know what I've been trying to teach Polly for so long ? " "About Anne?" " Yes. She said it off to-day, just as well as I could say it myself; right before Anne, too. Wasn't she furious ! I tried to convince her that Polly was talking about her dinner, but she wouldn't believe it, which only goes to prove she is a pig, or she wouldn't be so sensi- tive about it. What do you think she did ? she threw her trowel at Polly, and knocked her off the roost with it. Sweet-tempered, isn't she? " "I'm sorry Polly said it," said Lucy, with a very serious face. " That's like you. After I was nearly a year teaching her to say it, as soon as she does say it, you're sorry." " I'm sorry for your sake. Don't you remem- ber how you couldn't use your sculptor's tools that Aunt Daisy gave you, for such a long time, because the first thing you carved out with them was a pig, with Anne's name to it, which you put in her desk. Like as not Anne will make a great fuss about what the parrot said, and maybe they'll take it away from you, an' give PETS. 139 it to one of the boys, because you teach it to say such spiteful things." " I wouldn't mind that much, if they gave it to Edgar Ford. He'd enjoy hearing Polly say it, quite as much as I would," replied Dora, with a laugh. " Dora Wentworth; teacher wants to see you ! " said a little girl putting her head in at the door. " There ! I told you so ! " exclaimed Lucy, in a voice of dismay. " She didn't let grass grow under her feet that time, that's a fact. Don't turn gray on my account, Roily, till I get back ; an' keep an eye on Polly, will you ? Some stray pig might come along, an' eat her; pigs will eat anything, you know," with that Dora followed the small messenger to Mrs. Burns the teacher. Half an hour later she returned. " Well ? " said Lucy, questiouingly. " Well ! " replied Dora, " they're going to send Polly to Boston, to-morrow, and change her for a parrot that's not so highly educated. Anne Porker knows it, an' she's going 'round, smacking her lips, as though she'd just swal- lowed a fine mess of swill. Just wait till I think how I'll be even with her." " Oh, Dora, I do wish you'd let it drop, where 140 DAIS T TRA VERS. it is, and not try to be even with her again. Every bit of trouble you have is caused by that trying to be even with her. I don't think she was so much to blame to-day. If it hadn't been for what you taught Polly there wouldn't have been any trouble." " How did she know Polly meant her. I explained it to her, good-natured enough, but she wouldn't believe me. If I was to blame, why didn't she throw the trowel at me ? Then I could have caught it, an' thrown it back at her, for her to catch, an' throw again. We might have played trowel, till, like as not, we became the best of friends. Instead of that she must throw it at Polly, who wasn't a bit to blame, then, thinking she might have hurt her, an' I would tell, she must rush and tell her story first, so as to get all the blame on me. I'll get an ugly, green toad, an' put it in her bed, see'f I don't ! . Won't she squeal when she lies down on it ! " " If you do, everyone will know you did it, an' you'll only be punished for it." " I s'pose every one would know I did that," replied Dora, thoughtfully, " but never mind, I'll think of something." " Dora." PETS. 141 " Well, Roily, have you thought of something to save me the trouble? That's good of you." " Do you remember once of calling yourself a porcupine, with quills to hurt every one that came near you ? And you said I had caused some of your quills to drop off. How I wish they would all drop off, then you couldn't hurt yourself; for you do hurt yourself more than anyone else, Dora." " Now you're talking, Roily. Whoever heard of a porcupine without any quills ! I'd want one to defend myself with." " I'll tell you what I've been thinking of, Dora. I'll let you have one quill to defend yourself, if you'll let me pull all the others out," said Lucy, her face radiant with a new idea. " How'll you go to work to do that ? " inter- rogated Dora, with a laugh. " Why, every time you are going to do some- thing that you really ought not to, you know, I'll get you to promise me that you won't do it, an' I'll call that pulling out a quill. Now, if you'll promise not to trouble Anne for what she did to-day, that will be the first one out." " Pulling that one out would hurt like sixty. I guess you'll have to call that the quill that's going to stay in." 142 DAIS T TIf AVERS. Dora's room, at Hive Hall now presented a dif- ferent appearance than it did a year ago. Then there was no way of distinguishing it from the sleeping apartments of the other children, now, every available place in it was adorned with some figure or figures carved from wood or plaster, by Dora ; while upon the window-seat, where she had just been admiring it, was a nearly completed statuette, which was intended to rep- resent Una and the lion. This Dora considered her great triumph. She had tried to make it as near like one she had seen in Boston, as possible, and she felt sure she had succeeded well ; though a critic would doubtless have said the lion looked more like, a Newfoundland dog, and Una resembled too strongly the wash-woman style of beauty to be interesting. Nevertheless Dora was proud of it, and so was Lucy, her friend and room-mate ; and so, also, was Aunt Daisy, who watched Dora's sculptural attempts with interest. Dora was now standing before the bureau in her room, from the open drawer of which she had just taken a clean linen collar to wear with her best dress ; for it was Sunday morning, and she was preparing to go to church. PETS. 143 Every once in a while she would cast a sat- isfied glance towards Una. " What are you going to do with it, when it's done?" questioned Lucy, looking over the top of the towel she was rubbing her round face with, and trying to wink and blink out the soap-suds she had got in her eyes. " You'll have to take down Spring, an' put it up there," and Lucy looked at a small bracket in a corner, on which was a wooden figure of a girl very plentifully supplied with flowers. " I've been thinking I'll give it to Aunt Daisy, she likes it so well ; an' I haven't given her anything since I gave her the angel." " Dear me ; I wish I could make something to give her, too." " Why don't } r ou embroider a handkerchief or something, an' give it to her. I should think you might ; you can sew better than any girl in school. " Don't you say a word, an' I'll do it ! " ejac- ulated Lucy, joyfully. " I've got a bran-new handkerchief of my own, that I can take, an* I can get embroid'ry cotton from Mrs. Burns ; she uses lots of it. You're the best girl ever I saw to think of things." " You like to sew, don't you ? " 144 DAIST TR AVERS. " Of course I do. I'd rather sew than do anything." " I don't see how you can like it. The idea of picking away at soft cloth. If it was some- thing hard, now, like wood or stone, there wouldn't be so much wonder. I rather guess Anne Porker won't be at church to-day," con- tinued Dora, with a meaning smile. " Why do you guess that ? This pleasant day, too ! Catch her to stay away if she could. Besides, don't you know she's got a new hat ? Made it all herself. She asked Aunt Daisy for some ribbon an' roses, then she made just such a hat out of hers, as she saw in a shop window in the village. I tell you it's gay." " For all that, Lucy, you can take my word for it, she won't be at church to-day, or if she is there, she'll look mad." " Oh, Dora ! you haven't done anything to her, have you, on account of the parrot ? " questioned Lucy, her face growing suddenly sober. " No, I haven't done anything to "her : though I'm tempted to, everytime I think of poor Polly, and look at the old parrot I've got now, that can't do anything but bark like a poodle dog. PETS' 145 If he'd only grunt like a hog, instead, there'd be some fun in it." " Then what makes you think she won't be at church ? " " I dreamed she wouldn't : that's all." " Oh, that's nothing," returned innocent Lucy re-assured, " I often dream dreams that don't come true, in fact I don't believe I ever dreamed one that did come true." Half way to church Dora stopped short, and stood irresolute. " What are you stopping for ? " interrogated Lucy, who was walking beside her. " Una ! I left her on the window-seat, an' the window's open. You don't suppose she'll fall out, do you ? " " Of course not ; how can she ! unless the lion should take a notion to roar, an' frighten her," replied Lucy, with a laugh. While Dora and Lucy were dressing them- selves for church, Anne and her room-mate, Maria Hurd were going through the same per- formance. " I don't believe the people at church, to-day, will think I belong to this school, when they come to see me with my new hat on," said Anne, 146 DAIST TR AVERS. pinning on a pink bow, and arranging it to suit her. Maria, who never had much to say, made no reply, and Anne having arranged the bow to her satisfaction, took down from a shelf the box that contained her new hat. " O ! goodness me ! what's in it ! " ejaculated she, after having placed the box on a chair, and removed the cover. " What is in it ? " questioned Maria, with more curiosity than she usually exhibited. " O, I don't know ! Some dreadful, horrid things ; just look." " Why, them's young rats ! " exclaimed Maria, who had no idea of grammar, on seeing what was in the hat. * " Rats ! " screamed Anne. " Yes. I don't believe they're a week old yet ; see, their eyes ain't open. " O, goodness me ! how could they get in there ? " " I don't know, I 'spect there must be an old rat in the room, somewhere, an' she made her nest in your hat ; like as not she's " under the bed or bureau, now. No, she ain't, neither," continued Maria, after a careful search. " 'Spect she must have gone out of the door." PETS. 147 " Oh ! dear, dear ! I'm afraid they v'e spoilt my hat ! What shall I do with the horrid things, they'd ought to be killed." " Tip them into the box-cover, an' I'll take them up in the attic. There's a nest up there, with four more in it, just like these ; I found it yesterday, an' was going to tell the house- keeper about it, but forgot it. I'll put there these along with them up there, an' tell her to-morrow." " There they are ! Take them away ! " exclaimed Anne, tossing them into the box- cover, where they immediately began to kick and squirm. "I'm afraid my handsome new hat is spoilt!" said Anne, to herself, as soon as Maria had left the room. " There's a great stain on the rib- bon just where it will show. Oh, dear ! I shall have to have more ribbon, an' make it all over again. I can't go to church to-day, that's certain." And tears of vexation gathered in Anne's eyes, as she pulled the trimming off the hat before putting it away. " It's the curiousest thing ever I saw ! " exclaimed Maria, re-appearing. " Those four young rats I saw up in the attic yesterday are 148 DAIST TR AVERS. gone, an' I'll bet those that were in your hat are the same ones." " What ! " ejaculated Anne, sharply, a sus- picion of the truth beginning to dawn in her mind. " How could they get in my hat ? " " Like as not one of the girls found them, an' put them in for fun." " Well, if that's how they came there, you can just remember its all your fault, Maria Kurd, that my hat is spoilt. You should have killed them when you saw them, or else told Mrs. Shote, so she could have had them killed. Hurry up, an' go to church. I don't want to see you again to-day." " Served her right if her hat is spoilt ! " mut- tered Maria to herself, as she went down stairs. " The old cross-patch ! guess she can take care of her rats herself, another time." Anne remained in her room until every one in the house had gone to church, then, after waiting a while to make sure none would return for anything, she sought Dora's room. " Did any one ever see such a mess of rub- bish ! " said she, to herself, on entering, looking with contempt on Dora's statuettes. " Ah," con- tinued she, to herself, going to the window, and taking up " Una and the Lion," " thin is the PETS. 149 one I heard her talking about. She's been a long time working on this. How careless of her to leave it on the window-seat, just where the least touch would knock it out and break it. I mean to see just how easy it will fall out." Then placing it where it was before, she gave it a slight push, and watched it as it fell to the ground, where it broke in many pieces. " There ! " said she, as she started to return to her own room. " It's my opinion she'll be longer putting that together, than I'll be fixing my hat." " Why, Roily," exclaimed Dora, on her return from church, " you put Una away, didn't you, after all? That was good of you when I for- got it ; but it gave me such a start not to see it on the window-seat when I came in." " Put it away ? " repeated Lucy, looking over Dora's shoulder as she entered, her round eyes very round indeed. "I didn't touch it!" "You didn't? Then that Anne Porker has got it, an' has hid it out of spite ; there was no one else to take it, an' it couldn't go without hands. I'll have it again, if it's in her room, as soon as she goes down to dinner ; an' I won't mind rumpling up her things much, either." " Perhaps it fell out of the window, said 150 DAISr TR AVERS. Lucy, as she went to the window and looked out. " Oh, Dora, it's down there, all broken to smash ! " " Don't say so, Roily ! it's something else you see I threw a lot of plaster out there yester- day ; " but nevertheless Dora went to the win- dow and looked out, to be sure Lucy was wrong. A moment was long enough to con- vince her she wa,s not ; then she drew in her head, and sank down in a chair, without a word. " I'm so sorry, Dora ! " said Lucy, with tears in her eyes. " If I had only thought to put it away for you ! " " Never mind, Holly, you're not to blame. That's my pay for taking it out on Sunday. Aunt Daisy told me never to touch my work on Sunday, an' I never did before." "It won't take you so long to do another, like it, will it?" " I'm not going to do another one like it. I couldn't. I shouldn't feel as I did when I was making that." j. " You think so now, but in a day or two I know you '11 think differently. Why, this is just like what Anne put in her new hat ! " exclaimed she, stooping down, and picking up an artificial PETS. 151 flower. The next moment she could have bit her tongue for saying it. " So she was in here, an' did it, after all. I thought it was strange it could fall out with- out help," said Dora, her eyes flashing. " Oh, no ; I don't believe she was in here, and I'm sure she wouldn't do anything so mean as that," said the little peace-maker. " It might have been in the entry, and we might have brought it in on our dresses, you know." " Humbug ! what's the use of saying that when you know better ! " " Have you done anything to her since since Polly was taken away ? " " Nothing to deserve such mean treatment in return." " What did you do ? " " I put some young rats in her new hat. I donH 'believe they hurt it any, an* if they did, it could be easily fixed. It isn't as though it took months to make a hat." "_Oh, Dora, I told you not to have anything more to do with her, but you wouldn't heed me. You always get the worst of it." " We'll see who gets the worst of it the next time," replied Dora, quite frightening poor Lucy with her earnestness. CHAPTER X. A GIPSY FOBTUNE-TELLER. WEEK passed by, and Dora still mourned the loss of her statuette, and grew morose and unlike herself, because she had no opportunity to satisfy her desire to "be even" with Anne, in all that time. Lucy had done her best to discourage her in her design, but all to no purpose. Aunt Daisy was grieved on learning that the statuette was broken, but had no suspicion of the cause of its destruction, for Dora and Lucy had kept the secret so well, that even Anne felt quite sure she was not suspected. It was Saturday afternoon. Hive Hall was nearly deserted, for all the children but Anne and Dora had gone on a picnic in the woods. Anne had remained behind to trim her hat, and make it even " handsomer than it was before," as she said to herself ; while Dora remained 152 Tin: GYPSEY FORTDNK-TELLER. Pago 153. A G IPS T FORTUNE-TELLER. 153 because she knew she would not enjoy herself with the other children, if she went, and pre- ferred to be by herself. She had wandered about aimlessly, feeling very disagreeable, indeed, the most of the after- noon, and was now standing by the gate, at the entrance of Hive Hall, looking up the way, to catch the first view of the children when they should return. So busy was she with her thoughts that she did not hear steps approaching in the opposite direc- tion, and could have screamed with fright when a harsh, disagreeable voice close to her ear, said : " Give me money, money, in my hand, little girl, an' I'll tell }*our fortune!" Dora, turning quickly, beheld the most repulsive looking gipsy woman she had ever seen. She was large and angular, with a face that expressed wickedness, avarice and cunning. " I haven't any money!" replied Dora shortly. " No money ! an' live in such a nice house as that ! You can get some if you try, I know." "No I can't. Aunt Daisy never gives us money. She buys everything we need, for us, herself." " Well, then, if you can't give me money, I'll 154 DAIST TR AVERS. take clothes instead. Come, now, I know you've got a dress that you'd give me, for the sake of having your fortune told. A fine fortune yours will be, but I'll not tell a word till you give something." "I- wouldn't dare to give my dresses away." " You don't look to be such a coward. Well, then, a pair of shoes would do, or a hat." " Or a hat ! " what a thrill as those words passed through Dora's frame. " I haven't got any to give away," said she, after a minute's pause." But there's a girl up at the Hall, there, that has just finished a hand- some hat, an' you can get it, if you want it." "Will she give it to me, if I tell her for- tune ? " " No, she wouldn't give it to you, because she thinks too much of it, but you could take it, couldn't you ? " returned Dora, avoiding the gipsy's sharp eyes. " Ah, I understand," replied the gipsy, with a satisfied chuckle. " She is a bad girl, an' has wronged you ; an' to punish her you want her to lose her hat. That is good ! Where shall I find her?" Dora looked towards Hive Hall. Mrs. Shote, A GIPSY FORTUNE-TELLER. 155 the housekeeper was in her own room, seated by the window, sewing. To approach the house by the front way*, without being seen by her, would be impossible. " You will have to go up the drive-way and 'round the house to the back. I will be at the back door to let you in." " Will there be anybody there ? " said the. gipsy, hesitating. " There is no one in the house but Mrs. Shote, there, an' the girl, who is in another part of the house. You can get out of the way before she can let Mrs. Shote know, if you are smart." " I'm not afraid of her letting Mrs. Shote know for a while when I'm done with her," replied the gipsy, looking very much gratified, Dora thought. " You will not harm her ? " said she growing suddenly suspicious. " I will not let you in, unless you promise you will not harm her." " I won't hurt her. I'll have to gag her, an' tie her, for it wouldn't be well for me to get caught taking her hat ! " with that, the gipsy turned, and walked up the way, with quick, long steps, as though impatient to begin the 156 DA IS T TRA VERS. undertaking. Dora watched her for a moment, feeling not wholly satisfied with what she was about to do, then she walked slowly towards the house, entered, and passed through it to the back door; on opening that, there stood the gipsy on the step. " I was here before you, after all," said she with a leer. " You'll have to hurry. The whole school will return in a minute," said Dora, for the gipsy did not seem in a hurry now, but flashed her sharp eyes here and there, in a manner that puzzled Dora exceedingly. Nothing seemed too small for her notice. Even the locks to the doors and windows were scrutinized. After a while her curiosity seemed to be satisfied, and she followed Dora, who ascended the stairs, and designated Anne's room by a gesture ; then after the gipsy entered it, she hurried down stairs again, and stood waiting in the entry for her to return. Anne had just finished trimming her hat, and was holding it out at arm's length, to admire it, when the gipsy entered. " Who are you ? an' what do you want here ? " said she, as soon as her astonishment would allow her to speak. A GIPST FORTUNE-TELLER. 157 " I want to tell your fortune, little girl. Give me some money, an' I'll tell it for you," replied the gipsy, going towards her. " I haven't any money." said Anne, rising from her seat, and moving towards the door. " No money ? well, I'll make something else do, then. Give me that dress, hanging there an' I'll tell it for you," said the gipsy, moving herself towards the door, and placing her hand on the knob. " That's my best dress. I couldn't give it away if I wanted to, which I don't," replied Anne, decisively. " That hat that's in your hand, then. I tell you you won't have another chance to know what the future has in store for you ; whether you'll be rich or poor, high or low. Ah, I see you've changed your mind, an' will give me the hat." "No you can't have this hat!" said Anne, putting it behind her, for the gipsy had stretched out her hand to receive it. "But you can have those stockings on the bureau there, if you'll tell it for that." " Stockings ? well sit down in that chair, an' I'll tell it for you," replied the gipsy, taking the 158 DAIST TR AVERS. stockings, while Anne sat down, feverish with curiosity and expectation. " You can't have that, too ! " exclaimed she, for the gipsy had taken her skipping-rope from a nail, where it was hanging. "I sha'n't keep it. I want it but a minute" replied the gipsy, then like a flash the stockings were forced into Anne's mouth, and she, strug- gling and unable to scream for assistance, was tied hand and foot, then lashed to the chair. " Your future is soon told," said the gipsy, bending over her with a leer as soon as she was secured." You'll always be unfortunate, but this is one of your worst days ; be thankful it has come, an' will soon be over," with that, she took up the hat that Anne had dropped, then took down the best dress, and with them left the room. "You didn't hurt her, did you?" interrogated Dora, pale and uneasy, when the gipsy descended the stairs. " Bless you bonny eyes, no. Shall I tell your fortune. " No ; I don't want to hear it. Hurry an' get away from here that's all I want," and Dora, not noticing the dress, that was rolled up, and A GIPSY FORTUNE-TELLER. 159 tucked away under the gipsy's arm, conducted her to the door through which she had entered, and watched her, until her form disappeared from sight, then she left the house, and walked rapidly down the street to meet the children returning from the picnic. Dora walked on and on. " Why were they so long coming ? " thought she to herself, and at every step, her fears in regard to Anne in- creased. What if the gipsy had hurt her? She had listened and had heard not the slightest sound. Surely Anne must have had time to make one outcry, unless she had been taken by surprise and knocked senseless. Perhaps she was tying on her room floor now, insensible ! Per- haps oh, what a chill came over Dora at the thought and a cold sweat started from every pore Perhaps she was dead! She quickened her steps into a run, then paused abruptly. " I won't go any farther," said she to herself. "I'll go back, an' send Mrs. Shote to her room ; maybe I will be too late to help her if she is hurt. Oh, whatever made me do such a wicked thing ! " at that moment a distant shout reached her ears and looking, she beheld the 160 DAISY TR AVERS. school-children returning. "I may as well wait for them, now," said she. " A few minutes can't make a great difference, either way," and Dora seated herself upon a stone, by the road- side, to await the children's approach, looking anything but happy. Poor girl ! she had yet to learn that revenge is not for us ; that there is One who knows all our wrongs, great and small, and has promised to repay them. " Oh, Dora ! " exclaimed Lucy, who was one of the first to come up to where Dora was seated. "You don't know what a good time we've had all the afternoon? I wish you had been with us." "I wish I had, too,"' replied Dora, soberly, looking into the bright animated face before her. " Well, you look as though you did, I must say. It's your own fault that you didn't go. I knew you'd be sorry for it." " It's too late to talk about it now: let's get home as soon as we can." " What's your hurry ? I think its splendid here. Did you ever see such a red sunset." " Bother the sunset, to-night ; the other chil- dren will all get home before we do, " and Dora arose and walked on. A GIPST FORTUNE-TELLER. 161 " You are the strangest girl I ever saw. Some evenings you can't look at the sunset long enough, even when it isn't half as handsome as it is now," said Lucy, as she walked along by her side. " One can't always feel the same." " Why didn't you come along to the woods if you wanted to so bad? you would have found us all there ; you couldn't have missed us. If I had known yo\i felt so about it, I'd have come back after you." " For goodness sake, Lucy, don't talk any more about it. I know you would ; you're the best girl I ever knew. I don't care about the picnic. I've got the blues, I guess. I want to get home too to get some supper." " Oh, if that's all," replied Lucy, with a laugh, " you'll soon be yourself again." Dora's steps began to grow slower, as they drew near Hive Hall. She would soon know all now. Maria Hurd, Anne's roommate, was one of the first to enter. Dora watched her as she ascended the stairs to her room, to remove her hat and brush her hair, before appearing at the supper table. Then Dora entered, and stopped at the foot of 11 162 DAISY TRA VERS. the stairs to listen, while the other children brushed by her, on their way to their rooms. No unusual sounds greeted her listening ears. Presently Maria re-appeared, looking fresh and clean. Dora looked inquiringly into her face, as she descended the stairs, but her face was as expressionless as usual; what could it mean? Dora decided to remain in suspense no longer; she would look into Anne's room herself; but an awful thought suddenly arrested her steps in that direction. What if the gipsy had mur- dered Anne, and hid the body where Maria could not see it when she entered the room! It must be so, thought Dora, and she bowed her head on the banister in an agony of remorse. For a while she stood motionless ; then, sud- denly resolving to know the worst, she ascended the stairs, and opening the door looked into Anne's room ; a minute was long enough to prove to her that Anne was not there. Very much puzzled she closed the door, and walked towards her own room ; Lucy was just coming out of it, as she approached. " You look as though you'd seen a ghost, Dora ! I never saw you so pale before ; are you sick ? " A GIPSY FORTUNE-TELLER. 163 " Sick ? no. What a foolish child you are. Run along down. I'll be down as soon as I brush my hair,' ' and Dora entered her room, and shut the door almost in Lucy's sympathizing face. She did not attempt to brush her hair, however, but sank down in a chair, and there remained for she knew not how long. She, was disturbed at last, by Lucy, who bounced into the room, exclaiming : " Oh, Dora, have you heard the news ? " " What news ? " said Dora, starting suddenly. " About Anne Porter." *' I haven't heard anything about her," Dora managed to articulate. "What about her? " " Why you came near losing her, before you got even with her," replied Lucy, with a laugh. " Came near losing her ? " and Dora began to breathe again. " Yes ; it's the strangest thing ever you heard of. Don't you think, a horrid old gipsy woman, you'd ought to hear Anne describe her, went into her room this afternoon an' wanted to tell her fortune. How I wish I'd been here ; I'd have had mine told." " Well, what did she do ? " questioned impa- tient Dora. 164 DAISY TR AVERS. " Anne told her she didn't have any money, then she wanted her best dress, or hat instead, and Anne would not give them to her, of course ; so then she took a pair of stockings that were on the bureau, an' forced them into Anne's mouth, so she couldn't cry out, then tied her into a chair, and walked off with the best dress and that unfortunate hat." " Was Anne hurt ? " "No, not at all; only her jaws are stiff." " I'm glad ! " exclaimed Dora, with a sigh of relief. "Glad of what?" " I'm glad she glad the gipsy took away her best dress, an' that hat." " Don't be in such a hurry. Aunt Daisy took her to the village and bought her a new hat, the one she saw, and tried to make hers like ; then she took her home with her, and gave her a dress ; one she used to wear herself, I guess, but I tell you it's gay. Won't she feel big, to-morrow ? Why, you'd think she'd done some- thing wonderful, herself, by the way she is put- ting on airs, and every one is making much of her." " What do you mean by ' making much of her.' " A GIPST FORTUNE-TELLER. 165 " Why, Mrs. Shote took her into her own private room, an' gave her lots of nice things to eat ; then Mrs. Burns took her off to her room, an' I don't know what she gave her, but she came out looking pleased enough; an' Aunt Daisy says she wants her to spend the evening with her, at her house." Dora greeted this informa- tion with a low whistle. " Yes," continued Lucy, with a laugh, " it won't be of any use for us to speak to her for a month, she wouldn't answer us, if we did, she feels so big." " You forget that I don't speak to her." " Dear me ! so you don't. I don't see how you can help it, at such a time as this, though ; I couldn't. I wish I hadn't gone to the picnic. Perhaps I should be of some consequence, now, if I hadn't. How is it the gipsy didn't touch you, when she got into the house ? or wasn't you here ? " " I was out nearly all the afternoon. Did any of the other girls lose anything ? " " No ; Mrs. Shote went through all the rooms to see if anything else was stolen. She thinks the gipsy must have got frightened, an' left before she had time to take anything else ? " 166 DAISY TR AVERS. " You didn't say who first saw Anne after the gipsy left her ? " " Aunt Daisy. She was going to ride and stopped here, to see if we had left our rooms in good order. When she opened Anne's room door, there was Anne tied in a chair, an' nearly choked to death with the stockings in her mouth. She must have taken on dreadfully about her hat an' dress, for Aunt Daisy took her to the village for a new hat as soon as she had told Mrs. Shote about it all." " Well, I don't want to hear any more about it. I'm going down to supper." "Supper? Why, supper was over an hour ago." "It was?" " Yes. Wasn't you down to it ? " " It's likely I'd say I was going down to it now if I was." " Nobody noticed that you wasn't there, we were all having such a talk about Anne and the gipsy. Did you fall asleep ? " " I suppose so," and Dora turned her face to the window. "Never mind, Dora; I'll go down and tell Mrs. Shote that you fell asleep and didn't hear A GIPSY FORTUNE-TELLER. 167 the supper-bell, an' to give me something for you to eat. It will taste all the nicer, eating it here. I'll tell her I didn't eat anything myself, there was so much talk going on, so she can give enough for two." With that, generous, unsuspecting Lucy left the room. Dora, as soon as she was alone, began to meditate on how differently the gipsy affair had ended from what she had expected. Anne had certainly gained by it. The only one that lost by it was Aunt Daisy, whom Dora loved more than any one else in the world. The only one that had really suffered by it was herself, while she was in suspense as to Anne's fate. " Open the door, Dora ! " called Lucy, return- ing; and Dora arose to open it, letting in her room-mate who held a waiter on which were two glasses of milk, some sandwiches, and two slices of cake. " Now won't we have a jolly time all by our- selves. Mrs. Shote was good-natured enough for anything. Just turn that chair around, so I can put this on it; I'm tired of holding it." * There ! you always have to tell me what to do, but you always know just what to do with- out being told, Roily," said Dora, as she placed 168 DAISY TR AVERS, the chair to receive the waiter. "I should have gone to bed hungry, to-night, if it hadn't been for you." " And I should have gone to bed hungry if it hadn't been for you ; so we're even," replied Lucy with a laugh. "That cake, so Mrs. Shote told me, is some she took