m 
 
 VV H H T' 
 
 
 J<:. 
 
mklkAkaAm 
 
 ' 19 RIVATE LIBRARY. [ 
 
 ] i 
 
 \ /'BERKELEY^ f 
 
 ' ' XT,; f I LIBRARY f 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP I k 
 

ENTERING PARADISE — Page 23. 
 
 So in they marched. Katy and Cecy heading the procession, and Dorry, with his grea' 
 trailing bunch of boughs, bringing up the rear. 
 
What Katy Did. 
 
 A STORT. 
 
 BY 
 
 SUSAN COOLIDGE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF **THK NKW VH\r's BARGAIN,'* " WHAT ICATY DID AT SCHOOIh' 
 AND "MlSCHlErs THANKSGlVINfi." 
 
 With Illustrations by Addie Lkl\akd, 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS. 
 1892. 
 
Bntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, 
 
 In the Office of the LiWarian of Congress, at Washington* 
 
 EDUC- 
 PSYCH. 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT 
 
TO FIVE. 
 
 Six of us once, my darlings, played together 
 Beneath green boughs, which faded long ago, 
 
 Made merry in the golden summer weather. 
 Pelted each other with new-fallen snow. 
 
 Did the sun always shine ? I can't remember 
 A single cloud that dimmed the happy blue, — 
 
 A single lightning-bolt or peal of thunder, 
 To daunt our bright, unfearing lives : can you? 
 
 We quarrelled often, but made peace as quickly. 
 Shed many tears, but laughed the while they fell. 
 
 Had our small woes, our childish bumps and bruises, 
 But Mother always '* kissed and made them well." 
 
 Is it long since ? — it seems a moment only : 
 Yet here we are in bonnets and tail-coats. 
 
 Grave men of business, members of committees, 
 Our play-time ended : even Baby votes I 
 
 And star-eyed children, in whose innocent faces 
 Kindles the gladness which was once our own. 
 
 Crowd round our knees, with sweet and coaxing voices, 
 Asking for stories of that old-time home. 
 
 (iii) 
 
 550 
 
iv TO FIVE. 
 
 " Were you once little too ? " they say, astonished ; 
 
 " Did you too play? How funny I tell us how." 
 Almost we start, forgetful for a moment ; 
 
 Almost we answer, " We are little now ! ** 
 
 Dear friend and lover, whom To-day we christen, 
 Forgive such brief bewilderment, — thy true 
 
 And kindly hand we hold ; we own thee fairest. 
 But ah I our yesterday was precious too. 
 
 So, darlings, take this little childish story, 
 In which some gleams of the old sunshine play, 
 
 And, as with careless hands you turn the pages, 
 Look back and smile, as here I smile to-day. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 The Litile Carrs 7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Fabadise • . 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Day of Scrapes ....... 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 KiKEBI ^2 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 In the Loft .71 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Intimate Friends ^ 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Cousin Helen's Visit 117 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 To-MoRROw • • 1^4 
 
71 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 VAOB 
 
 Dismal Days 164 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 St. Nicholas and St. Valentine 189 
 
 OflAPTBfC XI, 
 A New Lesson to Leabn. •••••• 218 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Two Yeabs Aftebwabd ••••••• 235 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 At Last • • « • 259 
 
WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE LITTLE CARRS. 
 
 WAS sitting in the meadows one day, 
 not long ago, at a place where there was 
 a small brook. It was a hot day. The 
 sky was very blue, and white clouds, like great 
 swans, went floating over it to and fro. Just 
 opposite me was a clump of green rushes, with 
 dark velvety spikes, and among them one single 
 tall, red cardinal flower, which was bending over 
 the brook as if to see its own beautiful face in the 
 water. But the cardinal did not seem to be vain. 
 The picture was so pretty that I sat a long 
 time enjoying it. Suddenly, close to me, two 
 small voices began to talk — or to sing, fori 
 (7) 
 
8 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 couldn't tell exactly which it was. One voice 
 was shrill ; the other, which was a little deeper, 
 sounded very positive and cross. They were 
 evidently diiiputing about something, for they 
 said the same words over and over a^ain. These 
 were the words — '^Katy did." ^^Katy didn't." 
 "She did." "She didn't." "She did." "She 
 didn't." "Did." "Didn't." I think they must 
 have repeated them at least a hundred times. 
 
 I got up from my seat to see if I could find the 
 speakers; and sure enough, there on one of the 
 cat-tail bulrushes, I spied two tiny pale-green 
 creatures. Their eyes seemed to be weak, for 
 they both wore black goggles. They had six 
 legs apiece, — two short ones, two not so short, 
 and two vory long. These last legs had joints 
 like the springs to l)uggy-tops ; and as I watched, 
 they began walking up the rush, and then I saw 
 that they moved exactly like an old-fashioned 
 gig. In fact, if I hadn't been too big, I think 
 1 should have heard them creak as they went 
 along. They didn't say anything so long as I 
 was there, but the moment my back was turned 
 ^hay began to quarrel again, and in the same old 
 
THE LITTLE CAEBS. 9 
 
 words — "Katydid." "Katy didn't." " She did." 
 "She didn't." 
 
 As I walked home I fell to thinking: about 
 another Katy, — a Katy I once knew, who 
 planned to do a great many wonderful things, 
 and in the end did none of them, but something 
 quite diflTerent, — something she didn't like at all 
 at first, but which, on the whole, was a great deal 
 better than any of the doings she had dreamed 
 about. And as I thought, this little story grew 
 in my head, and I resolved to write it down for 
 you. I have done it; and, in memory of my 
 two little friends on the bulrush, I give it their 
 name. Here it is — the story of What Katy 
 Did. 
 
 1 ATY'S name was Katy Carr. She lived 
 in the town of Burnet, which wasn't a 
 very big town, but was growing as fast 
 as it knew how. The house she lived in stood on 
 the edge of the town. It was a large square house, 
 white, with green blinds, and had a porch in front, 
 over which roses and clematis made a thick bower. 
 Four tall locust trees shaded the gravel path whicb 
 
10 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 led to the front gate. On one side of the honeje waa 
 an orchard ; on the other side were wood piles and 
 barns, and an ice-house. Behind was a kitchen 
 garden sloping to the south ; and behind that a 
 pasture with a brook in it, and butternut trees, 
 and four cows — two red ones, a yellow one with 
 sharp horns tipped with tin, and a dear little 
 white one named Daisy. 
 
 There were six of the Carr children — four 
 girls and two boys. Katy, the oldest, was twelve 
 years old ; little Phil, the youngest, was four, and 
 the rest fitted in between. 
 
 Dr. Carr, their Papa, was a dear, kind, busy 
 man, who was away from home all day, and 
 sometimes all night, too, taking care of sick peo- 
 ple. The children hadn't any Mamma. She had 
 died when Phil was a baby, four years before my 
 story began. Katy could remember her pretty 
 well ; to the rest she was but a sad, sweet name, 
 spoken on Sunday, and at prayer-times, or when 
 Papa was specially gentle and solemn. 
 
 In place of this Mamma, whom they recol- 
 lected so dimly, there was Aunt Izzie, Papa's sis- 
 ter, who came to take care of them when Mamma 
 
THE LITTLE CARRS. 11 
 
 went away on that long journey, from which, for 
 so many months, the little ones kept hoping she 
 might return. Aunt Izzie was a small woman, 
 sharp-faced and thin, rather old-looking, and 
 very neat and particular about everything. She 
 meant to be kind to the children, but they puz- 
 zled her much, because they were not a bit 
 like herself when she was a child. Aunt Izzie 
 had been a gentle, tidy little thing, who loved to 
 sit as Curly Locks did, sewing long seams in the 
 parlor, and to have her head patted by older 
 people, and be told that she was a good girl; 
 whereas Katy tore her dress every day, hated 
 sewing, and didn't care a button about being called 
 "good," while Clover and Elsie shied off like 
 restless ponies when any one tried to pat their 
 heads. It was very perplexing to Aunt Izzie, and 
 she found it hard to quite forgive the children for 
 being so "unaccountable," and so little like the 
 good boys and girls in Sunday-school memoirs, 
 who were the young people she liked best, and 
 understood most about. 
 
 Then Dr. Carr was another person who worrie<l 
 her. He wished to have the children hardy and 
 
12 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 bold, and encouraged climbing and lough plays, in 
 spite of the bumps and ragged clothes which re- 
 sulted. In fact, there was just one half-hour of 
 the day when Aunt Izzie was really satisfied about 
 her charges, and that was the half-hour before 
 breakfast, when she had made a law that they 
 were all to sit in their little chairs and learn the 
 Bible verse for the day. At this time she looked 
 at them with pleased eyes, they were all so spick 
 and span, with such nicely-brushed jackets and 
 such neatly-combed hair. But the moment the 
 bell rang her comfort was over. From that time 
 on, they were what she called ** not fit to be seen." 
 The neighbors pitied her very much. They used 
 to count the sixty stiff white pantalette legs hung 
 out to dry every Monday morning, and say to each 
 other what a sight of washing those children made, 
 and what a chore it must be for poor Miss Carr to 
 keep them so nice. But poor Miss Carr didn't 
 think them at all nice ; that was the worst of it. 
 
 ^ Clover, go up stairs and wash your hands I 
 Dorry, pick your hat off the floor and hang it on 
 the nail ! Not that nail — the third nail from the 
 ^jOi *iY I " These were the kind of things Aunt 
 
THE LITTLE CABRS. 18 
 
 Izzie was saying all day long. The children 
 minded her pretty well, but they didn't exactly 
 love her, I fear. They called her " Aunt Izzie " 
 always, never "Aunty." Boys and girls will 
 know what that meant. 
 
 I want to show you the little Carrs, and I don't 
 know that I could ever have a better chance than 
 one day when five out of the six were perched on 
 top of the ice-house, like chickens on a roost. 
 This ice-house was one of their favorite places 
 It was only a low roof set over a hole in the 
 ground, and, as it stood in the middle of the side- 
 yard, it always seemed to the children that the 
 shortest road to every place was up one of its 
 slopes and down the other. They also liked to 
 mount to the ridge-pole, and then, still keeping the 
 sitting position, to let go, and scrape slowly down 
 over the warm shingles to the ground. It was bad 
 f<^r their shoes and trousers, of course, but what of 
 that? Shoes and trousers, and clothes generally, 
 were Aunt Izzie's afiair ; theirs was to slide and 
 enjoy themselves. 
 
 Clover, next in age to Katy, sat in the middle. 
 She was a fair, sweet dumpling of a girl, with 
 
14 WHAT fCATY DID. 
 
 thick pig-tails of light brown hair, and short- 
 sighted blue eyes, which seemed to hold tears, 
 just ready to fall from under the blue. Really, 
 Clover was the jolliest little thing in the world ; 
 but these eyes, and her soft cooing voice, always 
 made people feel like petting her and taking 
 her part. Once, when she was very small, she 
 ran away with Katy's doll, and when Katy pur- 
 sued, and tried to take it from her, Clover held 
 fast and would not let go. Dr. Carr, who wasn't 
 attending particularly, heard nothing but the 
 pathetic tone of Clover's voice, as she said : " Me 
 won't ! Me want dolly I " and, without stopping 
 to inquire, he called out sharply: "For shame, 
 Katy ! give your sister her doll at once ! " which 
 Katy, much surprised, did ; while Clover purred 
 in triumph, like a satisfied kitten. Clover was 
 sunny and sweet-tempered, a little indolent, and 
 very modest about herself, though, in fact, she 
 was particularly clever in all sorts of games, and 
 extremely droll and funny in a quiet way. Every- 
 body loved her, and she loved everybody, espec- 
 ially Katy, whom she looked up to as ono of the 
 wisest people in the world. 
 
THE LITTLE OARRS. 15 
 
 Pretty little Phil sat next on the roof to Clover, 
 and she held him tight with her arm. Then came 
 Elsie, a thin, brown child of eight, with beautiful 
 dark eyes, and crisp, short curls covering the 
 whole of her small head. Poor little Elsie was 
 the " odd one " among the Carrs. She didn't seem 
 to belong exactly to either the older or the younger 
 children. The great desire and ambition of her 
 heart was to be allowed to go about with Katy 
 and Clover and Cecy Hall, and to know their se- 
 crets, and be permitted to put notes into the little 
 post-offices they were forever establishing in all 
 sorts of hidden places. But they didn't want 
 Elsie, and used to tell her to "run away and play 
 with the children," which hurt her feelings very 
 much. When she wouldn't run away, I am sorry 
 to say they ran away from her, which, as their 
 legs were longest, it was easy to do. Poor Elsie, 
 left behind, would cry bitter tears, and, as she was 
 too proud to play much with Dorry and John, her 
 principal comfort was tracking the older ones about 
 and discovering their mysteries, especially the 
 post-offices, T^'hich were her greatest grievance. 
 Her eyes were bright and quick as a bird's. She 
 
16 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 would peep and peer, and follow and watch, till 
 at last, in some odd, unlikely place, the crotch of 
 a tree, the middle of the asparagus bed, or, per- 
 haps, on the very top step of the scuttle ladder, 
 she spied the little paper box, with its load of 
 notes, all ending with : " Be sure and not let Elsie 
 know." Then she would seize the box, and, 
 marching up to wherever the others were, she 
 would throw it down, saying, defiantly : '^There^s 
 your old post-office I " but feeling all the time just 
 like crying. Poor little Elsie 1 In almost every 
 big family, there is one of these unmated, left- 
 out children. Katy, who had the finest plans 
 in the world for being '* heroic," and of use, never 
 saw, as she drifted on her heedless way, that here, 
 in this lonely little sister, was the very chance she 
 wanted for being a comfort to somebody who 
 needed comfort very much. She never saw it, 
 and Elsie's heavy heart went uncheered. 
 
 Dorry and Joanna sat on the two ends of the 
 
 /fidge pole. Dorry was six years old; a pale, 
 
 pudgy boy, with rather a solemn face, and smears 
 
 of molasses on the sleeve of his jacket. Joanna, 
 
 whom the children called "John," and "Johnnie," 
 
THE LITTLE CARES. 17 
 
 was a square, splendid child, a year younger than 
 Dorry ; she had big brave eyes, and a wide rosy 
 mouth, which always looked ready to laugh. 
 These two were great friends, though Dorry 
 seemed like a girl who had got into boy's clothes 
 by mistake, and Johnnie like a boy who, in a fit 
 of fun, had borrowed his sister's frock. And 
 now, as they all sat there chattering and giggling, 
 the window above opened, a glad shriek was heard, 
 and Katy's head appeared. In her hand she held 
 a heap of stockings, which she waved trium- 
 phantly. 
 
 " Hurray ! " she cried, " all done, and Aunt Izzie 
 says we may go. Are you tired out waiting? I 
 couldn't help it, the holes were so big, and took 
 so long. Hurry up. Clover, and get the things ! 
 Cecy and I will be down in a minute." 
 
 The children jumped up gladly, and slid down 
 the roof. Clover fetched a couple of baskets 
 from the wood-shed. Elsie ran for her kitten. 
 Dorry and John loaded themselves with two great 
 fagots of green boughs. Just as they were ready, 
 the side-door banged^, and Katy and Cecy Hall 
 came into the yard. 
 s 
 
18 WHAT KATY DID. ^ 
 
 I must tell you about Cecy. She was a great 
 friend of the children's, and lived in a house 
 next door. The yards of the houses were only 
 separated by a green hedge, with no gate, so that 
 Cecy spent two-thirds of her time at Dr. Carr's, 
 and was exactly like one of the family. She was 
 a neat, dapper, pink-and-white-girl, modest and 
 prim in manner, with light shiny hair, which al- 
 ways kept smooth, and slim hands, which never 
 looked dirty. How different from my poor Katy I 
 Katy's hair was forever in a snarl; her gowns 
 were always catching on nails and " tearing them- 
 selves " ; and, in spite of her age and size, she 
 was as heedless and innocent as a child of six. 
 Katy was the longest girl that was ever seen. 
 What she did to made herself grow so, nobody 
 could tell ; but there she was — up above Papa's 
 ear, and half a head taller than poor Aunt Izzie- 
 Whenever she stopped to think about her height 
 she became very awkward, and felt as if she were 
 all legs and elbows, and angles and joints. Hap- 
 pily, her head was so full of other things, of 
 plans and schemes, and fancies of all sorts, that 
 she didn't often take time to remember how tall 
 
THE LITTLE CARRS. 19 
 
 she was. She was a dear, loving child, for all 
 her careless habits, and made bushels of good 
 resolutions every week of her life, only unluckily 
 she never kept any of them. She had fits of re- 
 Bponsibility about the other children, and longed 
 to set them a good example, but when the chance 
 came, she generally forgot to do so. Katy's days 
 flew like the wind ; for when she wasn't studying 
 lessons, or sewing and darning with Aunt Izzie, 
 which she hated extremely, there were always 
 BO many delightful schemes rioting in her brains, 
 that all she wished for was ten pairs of hands to 
 carry them out. These same active brains got 
 her into perpetual scrapes. She was fond of 
 building castles in the air, and dreaming of the 
 time when something she had done would make 
 her famous, so that everybody would hear of her, 
 and want to know her. I don't think she had 
 made up her mind what this wonderful thing was 
 to be ; but while thinking about it she often for- 
 got to learn a lesson, or to lace her boots, and 
 then she had a bad mark, or a scolding from Aunt 
 Izzie. At such times she consoled herself with 
 planning how, by and by, she would be beautiful 
 
20 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 and beloved, and amiable as an angel. A great 
 deal was to happen to Katy before that time 
 came. Her eyes, which were black, were to turn 
 blue; her nose was to lengthen and straighten, 
 and her mouth, quite too large at present to suit 
 the part of a heroine, was to be made over into a 
 sort of rosy button. Meantime, and until these 
 charming changes should take place, Katy forgot 
 her features as much as she could, though still, I 
 think, the person on earth whom she most envied 
 was that lady on the outside of the Tricopheroua 
 bottles with the wonderful hair which sweeps the 
 ground. 
 
CHAPTEB II. 
 
 PARADISE. 
 
 |HE place to which the children were 
 going was a sort of marshy thicket at 
 the bottom of a field near the house. It 
 wasn't a big thicket, but it looked big, because the 
 trees and bushes grew so closely that you could not 
 see just where it ended. In winter the ground was 
 damp and boggy, so that nobody went there, except- 
 ing cows, who don't mind getting their feet wet ; 
 but in summer the water dried away, and then it was 
 all fresh and green, and full of delightful things — ^ 
 wild roses, and sassafras, and birds' nests. Nar- 
 row, winding paths ran here and there, made by 
 the cattle as they wandered to and tro. This 
 place the children called *' Paradise," and to them 
 it seemed as wide and endless and full of adven- 
 ture as any forest of fairy land. 
 
 The way to Paradise was through some wooden 
 (21) 
 
52 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 bars. Katy and Cecy climbed these with a hop, 
 skip and jump, while the smaller ones scrambled 
 underneath. Once past the bars they were fairly 
 in the field, and, with one consent, they all began 
 to run till they reached the entrance of the wood. 
 Then they halted, with a queer look of hesitation 
 on their faces. It was always an exciting occa- 
 sion to go to Paradise for the first time after the 
 long winter. Who knew what the fairies might 
 not have done since any of them had been there 
 to see? 
 
 '* Which path shall we go in by? " asked Clover, 
 at last. 
 
 ** Suppose we vote," said Katy. '' I say by the 
 Pilgrim's Path and the Hill of Difficulty." 
 
 *' So do 1 1 " chimdd in Clover, who always 
 agreed with Katy. 
 
 "The Path of Peace is nice," suggested Cecy. 
 
 *' No, no ! We want to go by Sassafras Path 1 " 
 cried John and Dorry. 
 
 However, Katy, as usual, had her way. It was 
 agreed that they should first try Pilgrim's Path, 
 and afterward make a thorough exploration of the 
 fvrhole of their little kingdom, and see all that ha^l 
 
PARADISE. 23 
 
 happened since last they were there. So iu they 
 marched, Katy and Cecy heading the procession, 
 and Dorry, with his great trailing bunch of 
 boughs, bringing up the rear. 
 
 ** Oh, there is the dear Kosary, all safe ! " cried 
 the children, as they reached the top of the Hill 
 of Difficulty, and came upon a tall stump, out 
 of the middle of which waved a wild rose-bush, 
 budded over with fresh green leaves. This " Ro- 
 sary" was a fascinating thing to their minds. 
 They were always inventing stories about it, and 
 were in constant terror lest some hungry cow 
 should take a fancy to the rose-bush and eat it up. 
 
 '^ Yes," said Katy, stroking a leaf with her 
 finger, " it was in great danger one night last win- 
 ter, but it escaped." 
 
 '' Oh ! how? Tell us about it 1 " cried the oth- 
 ers, for Katy's stories were famous in the family. 
 
 ''It was Christmas Eve," continued Katy, in a 
 mysterious tone. " The fairy of the Rosary was 
 quite sick. She had taken a dreadful cold in her 
 head, and the poplar-tree fairy, just over there, 
 told her that sassafras tea is good for colds. So she 
 made a large acorn-cup full, and then cuddled 
 
24 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 herself in where the wood looks so black and soft, 
 and fell asleep. In the middle of the night, when 
 she was snoring soundly, there was a noise in the 
 forest, and a dreadful black bull with fiery eyes 
 galloped up. He saw our poor Rosy Posy, and, 
 opening his big mouth, he was just going to bite 
 her in two ; but at that minute a little fat man, 
 with a wand in his hand, popped out from behind 
 the stump. It was Santa Claus, of course. He 
 gave the bull such a rap with his wand that he 
 moo-ed dreadfully, and then put up his fore-paw, 
 to see if his nose was on or not. He found it 
 was, but it hurt him so that he ' moo-ed ' again, 
 and galloped oflF as fast as he could into the woods. 
 Then Santa Claus waked up the fairy, and told 
 her that if she didn't take better care of Eosy 
 Posy he should put some other fairy into her 
 place, and set her to keep guard over a prickly, 
 scratchy, blackberry-bush." 
 
 ''Is there really any fairy?" asked Dorry, who 
 had listened to this narrative with open mouth. 
 
 ''Of course," answered Katy. Then bending 
 down toward Dorry, she added in a voice in- 
 
PARADISE. 25 
 
 tended to be of wonderful sweetness : " I am a 
 fairy, Dorry I " 
 
 " Pshaw 1 " was Dorry's reply ; " you're a gi- 
 raffe — Pa said so ! " 
 
 The Path of Peace got its name because of its 
 darkness and coolness. High bushes almost met 
 over it, and trees kept it shady, even in the mid- 
 dle of the day. A sort of white flower grew 
 there, which the children called Pollypods, be- 
 cause they didn't know the real name. They 
 staid a long while picking bunches of these flow- 
 ers, and then John and Dorry had to grub up an 
 armful of sassafras roots ; so that before they had 
 fairly gone through Toadstool Avenue, Eabbit 
 Hollow, and the rest, the sun was just over their 
 beads, and it was noon. 
 
 "Fm getting hungry," said Dorry. 
 
 '^Oh, no, Dorry, you mustn't be hungry till the 
 bower is ready I " cried the little girls, alarmed, 
 for Dorry was apt to be disconsolate if he was 
 kept waiting for his meals. So they made haste 
 to build the bower. It did not take long, being 
 composed of boughs hung over skipping-ropes, 
 which were tied to the very poplai tree where the 
 
?6 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 fairy lived who had recommended sassafras tea to 
 the Fairy of the Rose. 
 
 When it was done they all cuddled in under- 
 neath. It was a very small bower — just big 
 enough to hold them, and the baskets, and the 
 kitten. I don't think there would have been 
 room for anybody else, not even another kitten. 
 Katy, who sat in the middle, untied and lifted 
 the lid of the largest basket, while all the rest 
 peeped eagerly to see what was inside. 
 
 First came a great many ginger cakes. These 
 were carefully laid on the grass to keep till 
 W^anted : buttered biscuit came next — three a 
 piece, with slices of cold lamb laid in between ; 
 and last of all were a dozen hard-boiled eggs, and 
 a layer of thick bread and butter sandwiched with 
 corned-beef. Aunt Izzie had put up lunches for 
 Paradise before, you see, and knew pretty well 
 what to expect in the way of appetite. 
 
 Oh, how good everything tasted in that bower, 
 with the fresh wind rustling the poplar leaves, 
 sunshine and sweet wood-smells about them, and 
 birds singing overhead! No grown-up dinner 
 party ever had half so much fun. Each mouth 
 
PARADISE. 27 
 
 ful was a pleasure; and when the last crumb 
 had vanished, Katy produced the second basket, 
 and there, oh, delightful surprise ! were seven little 
 pies — molasses pies, baked in saucers — each 
 with a brown top and crisp candified edge, which 
 tasted like toffy and lemon-peel, and all sorts of 
 good things mixed up together. 
 
 There was a general shout. Even demure 
 Cecy was pleased, and Dorry and John kicked 
 their heels on the ground in a tumult of joy. 
 Seven pairs of hands were held out at once to- 
 ward the basket; seven sets of teeth went to 
 work without a moment's delay. In an incred- 
 ibly short time every vestige of pie had disap- 
 peared, and a blissful stickiness pervaded the 
 party. 
 
 " What shall we do now ? " asked Clover, while 
 little Phil tipped the baskets upside down, as if 
 to make sure there was nothing left that could 
 possibly be eaten. 
 
 " I don't know," replied Katy, dreamily. She 
 had left her seat, and was half-sitting, half-lying 
 on the low, crooked bough of a butternut treey 
 which hung almost over the children's heads. 
 
28 WHAT KATr DID. 
 
 ^ Let's play we're grown up," said Cecy, " and 
 tell what we mean to do." 
 
 ''Well," said Clover, ''you begin. What do 
 you mean to do ? '* 
 
 "I mean to have a black silk dress, and pink 
 roses in my bonnet, and a white muslin long- 
 shawl," said Cecy; "and I mean to look exactly 
 like Minerva Clark 1 I shall be very good, too ; 
 as good as Mrs. Bedell, only a great deal prettier. 
 All the young gentlemen will want me to go and 
 ride, but I sha'n't notice them at all, because you 
 know I shall always be teaching in Sunday-school, 
 and visiting the poor. And some day, when I am 
 bending over an old woman and feeding her with 
 currant jelly, a poet will come along and see 
 me, and he'll go home and write a poem about 
 rae," concluded Cecy, triumphantly. 
 
 "Poohl" said Clover. "I don't think that 
 would be nice at all. Tm going to be a beautiful 
 lady — the most beautiful lady in the world I 
 And I'm going to live in a yellow castle, with yel- 
 low pillars to the portico, and a square thing on 
 top, like Mr. Sawyer's. My children are going tc 
 have a play-house up there. There's going to be a 
 
PARADISE. 29 
 
 spy-glass in the window, to look out of. I shall 
 wear gold dresses and silver dresses every day, 
 and diamond rings, and have white satin aprons 
 to tie on when I'm dusting, or doing anything 
 dirty. In the middle of my back-yard there will 
 be a pond-full of Lubin's Extracts, and whenever 
 I want any I shall go just out and dip a bottle in. 
 And I sha'n't teach in Sunday-schools, like Cecy, 
 because I don't want to; but every Sunday I'll 
 go and stand by the gate, and when her scholars 
 go by on their way home, I'll put Lubin's Extracts 
 >n their handkerchiefs." 
 
 "I mean to have just the same," cried Elsie, 
 whose imagination was fired by this gorgeous 
 vision, ''only my pond will be the biggest. I 
 shall be a great deal beautifuller, too," she added. 
 
 *' You can't," said Katy from overhead. " Cloven 
 is going to be the most beautiful lady in the world.^ 
 
 *'But I'll be more beautiful than the most beau 
 tiful," persisted poor little Elsie; "and I'll be 
 big, too, and know everybody's secrets. And 
 every body '11 be kind, then, and never run awa 
 and hide ; and there won't be any post-offices, oi 
 anything disagreeable." 
 
80 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 ** What'll you be, Johnnie?" asked Clover, anx- 
 ious to change the subject, for Elsie's voice was 
 growing plaintive. 
 
 But Johnnie had no clear ideas as to her future. 
 She laughed a great deal, and squeezed Dorry's 
 arm very tight, but that was all. Dorry was 
 more explicit. 
 
 "I mean to have turkey every day,'* he de- 
 clared, "and batter-puddings; not boiled ones, 
 you know, but little baked ones, with brown 
 shiny tops, and a great deal of pudding sauce to 
 eat on them. And I shall be so big then that 
 nobody will say, ' Three helps is quite enough 
 for a little boy.' " 
 
 " Oh, Dorry, you pig 1 " cried Katy, while the 
 others screamed with laughter. Dorry was much 
 aflFronted. 
 
 ''I shall just go and tell Aunt Izzie what you 
 called me," he said, getting up in a great pet. 
 
 But Clover, who was a born peacemakei, 
 caught hold of his arm, and her coaxings and 
 entreaties consoled him so much that he finally 
 said he would stay ; especially as the others were 
 
PAKADISB. 31 
 
 quite grave now, and promised that they wouldn't 
 laugh any more. 
 
 "And now, Katy, it's your turn," said Cecy; 
 ^ tell us what you're going to be when you grow 
 up.'* 
 
 Tm not sure about what I'll be," replied Katy, 
 from overhead ; " beautiful, of course, and good if 
 I can, only not so good as you, Cecy, because it 
 would be nice to go and ride with the young gen- 
 tlemen sometimes. And I'd like to have a large 
 house and a splendiferous garden, and then you 
 could all come and live with me, and we would 
 play in the garden, and Dorry should have turkey 
 five times a day if he liked. And we'd have a 
 machine to darn the stockings, and another ma- 
 chine to put the bureau drawers in order, and 
 we'd never sew or knit garters, or do anything we 
 didn't want to. That's what I'd like to be. But 
 now I'll tell you what I mean to cZo." 
 
 "Isn't it the same thing? " asked Cecy. 
 
 "Oh, no 1" replied Katy, "quite diflFerent; foi 
 you see I mean to do something grand. I don't 
 know what, yet ; but when I'm grown up I shall 
 find out." (Poor Katy always said "when I'm 
 
32 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 grown up/' forgetting how very much she had 
 grown already.) *' Perhaps/' she went on, "it 
 will be rowing out in boats, and saving peoples' 
 lives, like that girl in the book. Or perhaps I 
 shall go and nurse in the hospital, like Miss Night- 
 ingale. Or else I'll head a crusade and ride on 
 a white horse, with armor and a helmet on my 
 head, and carry a sacred flag. Or if I don't 
 do that, I'll paint pictures, or sing, or scalp — 
 sculp, — what is it? you know — make figures in 
 marble. Anyhow it shall be something. And 
 when Aunt Izzie sees it, and reads about me in 
 the newspapers, she will say, 'The dear child! 
 I always knew she would turn out an ornament to 
 the family.' People very often say, afterward, 
 that they ' always knew,' " concluded Katy , saga- 
 ciously. 
 
 " Oh, Katy ! how beautiful it will be 1 " said 
 Clover, clasping her hands. Clover believed in 
 Katy as she did in the Bible. 
 
 " I don't believe the newspapers would be su 
 silly as to print things about yoUy Katy Can," put 
 in Elsie, vindictively. 
 
PARADISE* 33 
 
 •* Yes they will I '' said Clover 5 and gave Elsie 
 a push. 
 
 By and by John and Dorry trotted away on 
 mysterious errands of their own. 
 
 '^ Wasn't Dorry funny with his turkey ?** re- 
 marked Cecy ; and they all laughed again. 
 
 *'If you won't tell," said Katy, "I'll let you see 
 Dorry's journal. He kept it once for almost two 
 weeks, and then gave it up. I found the book, 
 this morning, in the nursery closet." 
 
 All of them promised, and Katy produced it 
 from her pocket. It began thus : 
 
 ^^March 12. — Have resolved to keep a jurnal. 
 
 March 13. — Had rost befe for diner, and cab- 
 age, and potato and appel sawse, and rice puding. 
 I do not like rice puding when it is like ours. 
 Charley Slack's kind is rele good. Mush and 
 sirup for tea. 
 
 March 19. — Forgit what did, John and me 
 saved our pie to take to schule. 
 
 March 21. — Forgit what did. Gridel cakes 
 for brekfast. Debby didn't fry enuff. 
 
 March 24t. — This is Sunday. Corn befe for 
 dinnir. Studdied my Bibel leson. Aunt Issy 
 % 
 
84 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 said I was gredy. Have resollved not to think 
 so much about things to ete. Wish I was a beter 
 boy. Nothing pertikeler for tea. 
 
 March 25. — Forgit what did. 
 
 March 27. — Forgit what did. 
 
 March 29.— Played. 
 
 March 31. — Forgit what did. 
 
 April 1. — Have dissided not to kepe a jurnal 
 enny more." 
 
 Here ended the extracts ; and it seemed as if 
 only a minute had passed since they stopped 
 laughing over them, before the long shadows 
 began to fall, and Mary came to say that all 
 of them must come in to get ready for tea. It 
 was dreadful to have to pick up the empty bas- 
 kets and go home, feeling that the long, delight- 
 ful Saturday was over, and that there wouldn't 
 be another for a week. But it was comforting to 
 remember that Paradise was always there; and 
 that at any moment when Fate and Aunt Izzie 
 were willing, they had only to climb a pair of 
 bars — very easy ones, and without any fear of an 
 angel with flaming sword to stop the way — enter 
 in, and take possession of their Eden. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DAY OF SCRAPES. 
 
 |RS. KNIGHT'S school, to which Katy 
 and Clover and Cecy went, stood quite 
 at the other end of the town from Dr. 
 Carr's. It was a low, one-story building, and had a 
 yard behind it, in which the girls played at recess. 
 Unfortunately, next door to it was Miss Miller's 
 school, equally large and popular, and with a yard 
 behind it also. Only a high board fence separated 
 the two play-grounds. 
 
 Mrs. Knight was a stout, gentle woman, who 
 moved slowly, and had a face which made you 
 think of an amiable and well-disposed cow. Miss 
 Miller, on the contrary, had black eyes, with black 
 corkscrew curls waving about them, and was gen- 
 erally brisk and snappy. A constant feud raged 
 between the two schools as to the respective merits 
 of the teachers and the instruction. The Knight 
 r35^ 
 
36 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 girls, for some unknown reason, considered them- 
 selves genteel and the Miller girls vulgar, and 
 took no pains to conceal this opinion ; while the 
 Miller girls, on the other hand, retaliated by 
 being as aggravating as they knew how. They 
 spent their recesses and intermissions mostly in 
 making faces through the knot-holes in the fence, 
 and over the top of it when they could get there, 
 which wasn't an easy thing to do, as the fence 
 was pretty high. The Knight girls could make 
 faces too, for all their gentility. Their yard had 
 one great advantage over the other : it possessed 
 a wood-shed, with a climbable roof, which com- 
 manded Miss Miller's premises, and upon this the 
 girls used to sit in rows, turning up their noses at 
 the next yard, and irritating the foe by jeering 
 /emarks. "Knights," and " Millerites," the two 
 schools called each other ; and the feud raged so 
 high, that sometimes it was hardly safe for a 
 Knight to meet a Millerite in the street ; all of 
 which, as may be imagined, was exceedingly im- 
 proving both to the manners and morals of the 
 young ladies concerned. 
 
 One morning, not long after the day in Paradise, 
 
THE DAY OF SCRAPES. 37 
 
 Katy was late. She could not find her things. 
 Her algebra, as she expressed it, had " gone and 
 lost itself," her slate was missing, and the string 
 was ofi* her sun-bonnet. She ran about, searching 
 for these articles and banging doors, till Aunt 
 Izzie was out of patience. 
 
 ^ As for your algebra," she said, " if it is that 
 very dirty book with only one cover, and scribbled 
 all over the leaves, you will find it under the 
 kitchen-table. Philly was playing before break- 
 fast that it was a pig : no wonder, I'm sure, 
 for it looks good for nothing else. How you do 
 manage to spoil your school-books in this manner, 
 Katy, I cannot imagine. It is less than a month 
 since your father got you a new algebra, and look 
 at it now — not fit to be carried about. I do wish 
 you would realize what books cost ! 
 
 "About your slate," she went on, "I know 
 nothing ; but here is the bonnet-string ;" taking it 
 out of her pocket. 
 
 *' Oh, thank you I " said Katy, hastily sticking it 
 on with a pin. 
 
 ''Katy Carrl" almost screamed Miss Izzie, 
 "what are you about? Pinning on your bonnet- 
 
38 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 string! Mercy on me, what shiftless thing will 
 you do next? Now stand still, and don't fidget I 
 You sha'n't stir till I have sewed it on properly." 
 
 It wasn't easy to "stand still and not fidget," 
 with Aunt Izzie fussing away and lecturing, and 
 now and then, in a moment of forge tfulness, stick- 
 ing her needle into one's chin. Katy bore it as 
 well as she could, only shifting perpetually from 
 one foot to the other, and now and then uttering a 
 little snort, like an impatient horse. The minute 
 she was released she flew into the kitchen, seized 
 the algebra, and rushed like a whirlwind to the 
 gate, where good little Clover stood patiently 
 waiting, though all ready herself, and terribly 
 afraid she should be late. 
 
 '' We shall have to run," gasped Katy, quite out 
 of breath. " Aunt Izzie kept me. She has been 
 so horrid 1 " 
 
 They did run as fast as they could, but time ran 
 faster, and before they were half way to school the 
 town clock struck nine, and all hope was over. 
 This vexed Katy very much ; for, though often late, 
 ehe was always eager to be early. 
 
 ^ There," she said, stopping short," I shall just 
 
THE DAT OF SCRAPES. 89 
 
 tell Aunt Izzie that it was her fault. It is too bad." 
 And she marched into school in a very cross mood. 
 A day begun in this manner is pretty sure to 
 end badly, as most of us know. All the morning 
 through, things seemed to go wrong. Katy missed 
 twice in her grammar lesson, and lost her place in 
 the class. Her hand shook so when she copied 
 her composition, that the writing, not good at 
 best, turned out almost illegible, so that Mrs. 
 Knight said it must all be done over again. This 
 made Katy crosser than ever ; and almost before 
 «he thought, she had whispered to Clover, " How 
 hateful ! " And then, when just before recess all 
 who had " communicated " were requested to stand 
 up, her conscience gave such a twinge that she 
 was forced to get up with the rest, and see a black 
 mark put against her name on the list. The tears 
 came into her eyes from vexation ; and, for fear 
 the other girls would notice them, she made a bolt 
 for the yard as soon as the bell rang, and mounted 
 up all alone to the wood house-roof, where she 
 sat with her back to the school, fighting with her 
 eyes, and trying to get her face in order before 
 the rest should come. 
 
40 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Mi3s Miller's clock was about four minutes slower 
 than Mrs. Knight's, so the next play-ground was 
 empty. It was a warm, breezy day, and as Katy 
 sat there, suddenly a gust of wind came, and seiz- 
 ing her sun-bonnet, which was only half tied on, 
 whirled it across the roof. She clutched after it 
 as it flew, but too late. Once, twice, thrice, it 
 flapped, then it disappeared over the edge, and 
 Katy, flying after, saw it lying a crumpled lilac 
 heap in the very middle of the enemy's yard. 
 
 This was horrible ! Not merely losing the bonnet, 
 for Katy was comfortably indififerent as to what 
 became of her clothes, but to lose it so. In 
 another minute the Miller girls would be out. Al- 
 ready she seemed to see them dancing war-dancegf 
 round the unfortunate bonnet, pinning it on a pole, 
 using it as a foot-ball, waving it over the fence, 
 and otherwise treating it as Indians treat a captivo 
 taken in war. Was it to be endured? Never' 
 Better die first ! And with very much the feeling 
 of a person who faces destruction rather than for- 
 feit honor, Katy set her teeth, and sliding rapidly 
 down the roof, seized the fence, and with one 
 bold leap vaulted into Miss Miller's yard. 
 
THE DAY OF SCRAPES. 41 
 
 Just then the recess bell tinkled ; and a little 
 Millerite who sat by the window, and who, for 
 two seconds, had been dying to give the exciting 
 information, squeaked out to the others : " There's 
 Katy Carr in our back-yard ! " 
 
 Out poured the Millerites, big and little. Their 
 wrath and indignation at this daring invasion can- 
 not be described. With a howl of fury they pre- 
 cipitated themselves upon Katy, but she was quick 
 as they, and holding the rescued bonnet in her 
 hand, was already half-way up the fence. 
 
 There are moments when it is a fine thing to be 
 tall. On this occasion Katy's long legs and arms 
 served her an excellent turn. Nothing but a 
 Daddy Long Legs ever climbed so fast or so 
 wildly as she did now. In one second she had 
 gained the top of the fence. Just as she went 
 over a Millerite seized her by the last foot, and 
 almost dragged her boot off. 
 
 Almost, not quite, thanks to the stout thread 
 with which Aunt Izzie had sewed on the buttons. 
 With a frantic kick Katy released herself, and had 
 the satisfaction of seeing her assailant go head 
 over heels backward, while, with a shriek of 
 
42 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 triumph and fright, she herself plunged headlong 
 into the midst of a group of Knights. They were 
 listening with open mouths to the uproar, and 
 now stood transfixed at the astonishing spectacle 
 of one of their number absolutely returning alive 
 from the camp of the enemy. 
 
 I cannot tell you what a commotion ensued. 
 The Knights were beside themselves with pride 
 and triumph. Katy was kissed and hugged, and 
 made to tell her story over and over again, while 
 rows of exulting girls sat on the wood-house roof 
 to crow over the discomfited Millerites : and 
 when, later, the foe rallied and began to retort over 
 the fence. Clover, armed with a tack-hammer, 
 was lifted up in the arms of one of the tall girls 
 to rap the intruding knuckles as they appeared on 
 the top. This she did with such good- will that the 
 Millerites were glad to drop down again, and 
 mutter vengeance at a safe distance. Altogether 
 it was a great day for the school, a day to be re- 
 membered. As time went on, Katy, what with 
 the excitement of her adventure, and of being 
 praised and petted by the big girls, grew perfectly 
 reckless, and hardly knew what she said or did. 
 
THE DAY OP ^B,ORAPES. 43 
 
 A good many of the scholars lived too far from 
 school to go home at noon, and were in the habit 
 of bringing their lunches in baskets, and staying 
 all day. Katy and Clover were of this number. 
 This noon, after the dinners were eaten, it was 
 proposed that they should play something in the 
 school-room, and Katy's unlucky star put it into 
 her head to invent a new game, which she called 
 the Game of Rivers. 
 
 It was played in the following manner : Each 
 girl took the name of a river, and laid out for her- 
 self an appointed path through the room, winding 
 among the desks and benches, and making a low, 
 roaring sound, to imitate the noise of water- 
 Cecy was the Platte, Marianne Brooks, a tall girl, 
 the Mississippi, Alice Blair, the Ohio, Clover, 
 the Penobscot, and so on. They were instructed 
 to run into each other once in a while, because j 
 as Katy said, " rivers do." As for Katy herself, 
 she was "Father Ocean," and, growling horribly, 
 raged up and down the platform where Mrs, 
 Knight usually sat. Every now and then, when 
 the others were at the far end of the room, 
 she would suddenly cry out, " Now for a meet^ 
 
44 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 ing of the waters ! '' whereupon all the rivers 
 bouncing, bounding, scrambling, screaming, 
 would turn and run toward Father Ocean, 
 while he roared louder than all of them put to- 
 gether, and made short rushes up and down, to 
 represent the movement of waves on a beach. 
 
 Such a noise as this beautiful game made was 
 never heard in the town of Burnet before or since . 
 It was like the bellowing of the bulls of Bashan, 
 the squeaking of pigs, the cackle of turkey-cocks, 
 and the laugh of wild hyenas all at once ; and, in 
 addition, there was a great banging of furniture 
 and scraping of many feet on an uncarpeted floor. 
 People going by stopped and stared, children cried, 
 an old lady asked why some one didn't run for a 
 policeman ; while the Miller girls listened to the 
 proceedings with malicious pleasure, and told 
 everybody that it was the noise that Mrs. Knight's 
 scholars " usually made at recess." 
 
 Mrs. Knight coming back from dinner, was 
 much amazed to see a crowd of people collected 
 in front of her school. As she drew near, the 
 sounds reached her, and then she became really 
 frightened, for she thought somebody was 
 
THE DAY OF SCRAPES. 45 
 
 being murdered on her premises. Hurrying in, 
 she threw open the door, and there, to her dis-* 
 may, was the whole room in a frightful state of 
 confusion and uproar: chairs flung down, desks 
 apset, ink streaming on the floor; while in the 
 2nidst of the ruin the frantic rivers raced and 
 screamed, and old Father Ocean, with a face as 
 red as fire, capered like a lunatic on the platform, 
 
 ^ What does this mean ? " gasped poor Mrs. 
 Knight, almost unable to speak for horror. 
 
 At the sound of her voice the Rivers stood still ; 
 Father Ocean brought his prances to an abrupt 
 close, and slunk down from the platform. All of 
 a sudden, each girl seemed to realize what a con- 
 dition the room was in, and what a horrible thing 
 she had done. The timid ones cowered behind 
 their desks, the bold ones tried to look uncon- 
 scious, and, to make matters worse, the scholars 
 who had gone home to dinner began to return, 
 ftaring at the scene of disaster, and asking, in 
 whispers, what had been going on? 
 
 Mrs. Knight rang the bell. When the school 
 had come to order, she had the desks and chairs 
 jaicked up, while she herself brought wet cloths to 
 
46 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Bop the ink from the floor. This was done in pro- 
 found silence ; and the expression of Mrs. Knight's 
 face was so direful and solemn, that a fresh damp 
 fell upon the spirits of the guilty Eivers, and 
 Father Ocean wished himself thousands of mile? 
 away. 
 
 When all was in order again, and the girls had 
 taken their seats, Mrs. Knight made a short speech. 
 She said she never was so shocked in her life be- 
 fore; she had supposed that she could trust 
 them to behave like ladies when her back wa5» 
 turned. The idea that they could act so disgrace- 
 fully, make such an uproar and alarm people going 
 by, had never occurred to her, and she was deeply 
 pained. It was setting a bad example to all the 
 neighborhood — by which Mrs. Knight meant the 
 rival school, Miss Miller having just sent over a 
 little girl, with her compliments, to ask if any one 
 was hurt, and could she do anything? which waf 
 naturally aggravating I Mrs. Knight hoped they 
 were sorry ; she thought they must be — sorrj 
 and ashamed. The exercises could now go on aa 
 usual. Of course some punishment would be in- 
 flicted for the offence, but she should have to re 
 
THE DAY OF SCRAPES. 47 
 
 fleet before deciding what it ought to be. Mbjan- 
 time she wanted them all to think it o\rer seriously ; 
 and if any one felt that she was more to blame 
 than the others, now was the moment to rise 
 and confess it. 
 
 Katy's heart gave a great thump, but she rose 
 bravely : "I made up the game, and I was Father 
 Ocean," she said to the astonished Mrs. Knight, 
 who glared at her for a minute, and then re- 
 plied solemnly : '* Very well, Katy — sit down ; " 
 which Katy did, feeling more ashaned than ever, 
 but somehow relieved in her mind. - There is a 
 saving grace in truth which helps truth-tellers 
 through the worst of their troubles, and Katy found 
 this out now. 
 
 The afternoon was long and hard. Mrs. Knight 
 did not smile oncej the lessons dragged; and 
 Katy, after the heat and excitement of the fore- 
 noon, began to feel miserable. She had received 
 more than one hard blow during the meetings of 
 the waters, and had bruised herself almost with- 
 out knowing it, against the desks and chairs. All 
 these places now began to ache : her head throbbed 
 
48 WHAT KAirr did. 
 
 JO that she could hardly see, and a .ump of some- 
 thing heavy seemed to be lying on her heart. 
 
 When school was over, Mrs. Knight rose and said, 
 *'The young ladies who took part in the game thia 
 afternoon are requested to remain. " All the 
 others went away, and shut the door behind them. 
 It was a horrible moment : the girls never forgot 
 it, or the hopeless sound of the door as the last 
 departing scholar clapped it after her as she left. 
 
 I can't begin to tell you what it was that Mrs. 
 Knight said to them : it was very affecting, and be- 
 fore long most of the girls began to cry. The pen- 
 alty for their offence was announced to be the loss 
 of recess for three weeks ; but that wasn't half so bad 
 as seeing Mrs. Knight so '* religious and afflicted/ 
 as Cecy told her mother afterward. One by one 
 the sobbing sinners depai ted from the school-room. 
 When most of them were gone, Mrs. Knight 
 called Katy up to the platform, and said a few 
 words to her specially. She was not really severe, 
 but Katy was too penitent and worn out to bear 
 much, and before long was weeping like a water- 
 spout, or like the ocean she had pretended to be. 
 
 At this, tender-hearted Mrs. Knight was so 
 
All the way home she sobbed, faithful little Clover running along by her side, in great 
 distress. — Page 49. 
 
THE DAY OF SOKAPES. 49 
 
 much affected that she let her off at once, and 
 even kissed her in token of forgiveness, which 
 made poor Ocean sob harder than ever. All the 
 way home she sobbed ; faithful little Clover, run- 
 niAg along by her side in great distress, begging 
 her to stop crying, and trying in vain to hold up 
 the fragments of her dress, which was torn in at 
 least a dozen places. Katy could not stop crying, 
 and it was fortunate that Aunt Izzie happened to 
 be out, and that the only person who saw her in 
 this piteous plight was Mary, the nurse, who 
 doted on the children, and was always ready to 
 help them out of their troubles. 
 
 On this occasion she petted and cosseted Katy 
 exactly as if it had been Johnny or little Phil. 
 She took her on her lap, bathed the hot head, 
 brushed the hair, put arnica on the bruises, and 
 produced a clean frock, so that by tea-time the 
 poor child, except for her red eyes, looked like 
 herself again, and Aunt Izzie didn't notice any- 
 thing unusual. 
 
 For a wonder. Dr. Carr was at home that even- 
 ing. It was always a great treat to the children 
 when this happened, and Katy thought herself 
 i 
 
50 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 happy when, after the little ones had gone to bed, 
 she got Papa to herself, and told him the whole 
 story. 
 
 '^ Papa," she said, sitting on his knee, which, big 
 girl as she was, she liked very much to do, " what 
 is the reason that makes some days so lucky and 
 other days so unlucky? Now to-day began all 
 wrong, and everything that happened in it was 
 wrong, and on other days I begin right, and all 
 goes right, straight through. If Aunt Izzie hadn't 
 kept me in the morning, I shouldn't have lost my 
 mark, and then I shouldn't have been cross, and 
 then perhaps I shouldn't have got in my other 
 scrapes." 
 
 **But what made Aunt Izzie keep you, Katy?" 
 **To sew on the string of my bonnet. Papa." 
 *' But how did it happen that the string was off? " 
 ** Well, " said Katy, reluctantly,'' I am afraid that 
 was my fault, for it came off on Tuesday, and I 
 didn't fasten it on." 
 
 ^ So you see we must go back of Aunt Izzie for 
 the beginning of this unlucky day of yours, Childie. 
 Did you ever hear the old saying about 'For the 
 want of a nail the shoe was lost '? " 
 
THE DAY or SCRAPES. 51 
 
 '•No, never — tell it to me!'' cried Katy, who 
 loved stories as well as when she was three years 
 old. 
 
 So Dr. Carr repeated — 
 
 " For the want of a nail the shoe was lost. 
 For the want of a shoe the horse was lost, 
 For the want of a horse the rider was lost. 
 For the want of the rider the battle was lost. 
 For the want of the battle the kingdom was lost. 
 And all for want of a horse-shoe nail." 
 
 ^ Oh, Papa I " exclaimed Katy, giving him a great 
 hug as she got off his knee, " I see what you mean I 
 Who would have thought such a little speck of a 
 thing as not sewing on my string could make a 
 difference ? But I don't believe I shall get in any 
 more scrapes, for I sha'n't ever forget — 
 
 *For the want of a nail the shoe was lost' ** 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 KIKEHI. 
 
 |UT I am sorry to say that my poor, 
 thoughtless Katy did forget, and did 
 get into another scrape, and that no 
 later than the very next Monday. 
 
 Monday was apt to be rather a stormy day at 
 the Carr's. There was the big wash to be done, 
 and Aunt Izzie always seemed a little harder to 
 please, and the servants a good deal Grosser than 
 on common days. But I think it was also, in 
 part, the fault of the children, who, after the 
 quiet of Sunday, were specially frisky and up- 
 roarious, and readier than usual for all sorts of 
 mischief. 
 
 To Clover and Elsie, Sunday seemed to begin 
 
 at Saturday's bed-time, when their hair was wet, 
 
 and screwed up in papers, that it might curl next 
 
 dav. Elsie's waved naturally, so Aunt Izzie 
 
 ^52) 
 
KIKERI. 5^ 
 
 didu't think it necessary to pin her papers very 
 tight ; but Clover's thick, straight locks required 
 to be pinched hard before they would give even 
 the least twirl, and to her, Saturday night vi^ 
 one of misery. She would lie tossing, and turn- 
 ing, and trying first one side of her head and 
 then the other; but whichever way she placed 
 herself, the hard knobs and the pins stuck 
 out and hurt her; so when at last she fell 
 asleep, it was face down, with her small nose 
 buried in the pillow, which was not comfort- 
 able, and gave her bad dreams. In consequence 
 of these sufferings Clover hated curls, and when 
 she '' made up " stories for the younger children, 
 they always commenced : " The hair of the beau- 
 tiful princess was as straight as a yard-stick, and 
 she never did it up in papers — never I " 
 
 Sunday always began with a Bible story, fol- 
 lowed by a breakfast of baked beans, which two 
 things were much tangled up together in Philly's 
 mind. After breakfast the children studied ^.heir 
 Sunday-school lessons, and then the big carryall 
 came rcund, and they drove to church, which was 
 a good mile off. It was a large, old-fashioned 
 
54 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 church, with galleries, and long pews with high 
 red-cushioned seats. The choir sat at the end, 
 behind a low, green curtain, which slipped from 
 side to side on rods. When the sermon began, 
 they would draw the curtain aside and show 
 themselves, all ready to listen, but the rest of the 
 time they kept it shut. Katy always guessed 
 that they must be having good times behind the 
 green curtain — eating orange-peel, perhaps j or 
 reading the Sunday-school books — and she often 
 wished she might sit up there among them. 
 
 The seat in Dr. Carr's pew was so high that 
 none of the children, except Katy, could touch 
 the floor, even with the point of a toe. This 
 made their feet go to sleep ; and when they felt 
 the queer little pin-pricks which drowsy feet use 
 to rouse themselves with, they would slide off the 
 seat, and sit on the benches to get over it. Once 
 there, and well hidden from view, it was almost 
 impossible not to whisper. Aunt Izzie would 
 frown and shake her head, but it did little good, 
 especiallj'- as Phil and Dorry were sleeping with 
 their heads on her lap, and it took both her hands 
 to keep them from rolling off into the bottom of 
 
KIKERI. 55 
 
 the pew. When good old Dr. Stone said, 
 *^ Finally, my brethren,'' she would begin waking 
 them up. It was hard work sometimes, but gen- 
 erally she succeeded, so that during the last 
 hymn the two stood together on the seat, quite 
 brisk and refreshed, sharing a hymn-book, and 
 making believe to sing like the older people. 
 
 After church came Sunday-school, which the 
 children liked very much, and then they went 
 home to dinner, which was always the same on 
 Sunday — cold corned-beef, baked potatoes, and 
 rice pudding. They did not go to church in the 
 afternoon unless they wished, but were pounced 
 upon by Katy instead, and forced to listen to the 
 reading of The Sunday Visitor^ a religious paper, 
 of which she was the editor. This paper was partly 
 written, partly printed, on a large sheet of foolscap, 
 and had at the top an ornamental device, in lead 
 pencil, with " Sunday Visitor " in the middle of 
 it. The reading part began with a dull little piece 
 of the kind which grown people call an editorial, 
 about ** Neatness," or "Obedience," or "Punc- 
 tuality." The children always fidgeted when 
 listening to this, partly, I think, because it 
 
56 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 aggravated them to have Katy recommendiug on 
 paper, as very easy, the virtues which she herself 
 found it so hard to practise in real life. Next 
 came anecdotes about dogs and elephants and 
 snakes, taken from the Natural History book, 
 and not very interesting, because the audience 
 knew them by heart already. A hymn or two 
 followed, or a string of original verses, and, last 
 of all, a chapter of " Little Maria and Her Sisters,' 
 a dreadful tale, in which Katy drew so much 
 moral, and made such personal allusions to the 
 faults of the rest, that it was almost more than 
 they could bear. In fact, there had just been a 
 nursery rebellion on the subject. You must 
 know that, for some weeks back, Katy had been 
 too lazy to prepare any fresh Sunday Visitors^ 
 and so had forced the children to sit in a row 
 and listen to the back numbers, which she read 
 aloud from the very beginning I " Little Maria " 
 sounded much worse when taken in these large 
 doses, and Clover and Elsie, combining for once, 
 made up their minds to endure it no longer. So, 
 watching their chance, they carried off the whole 
 edition, and poked it into the kitchen fire, where 
 
KIKERI. 57 
 
 they watched it burn with a mixture of fear aud 
 delight which it was comical to witness. They 
 da^ed not confess the deed, but it was impossible 
 not to look coiiscious when Katy was flying about 
 and rummaging after her lost treasure, and sh 
 suspected them, and was very irate in conse- 
 quence. 
 
 The evenings of Sunday were always spent m 
 repeating hymns to Papa and Aunt Izzie. This 
 was fun, for they all took turns, and there 
 was quite a scramble as to who should secure the 
 favorites, such as "The west hath shut its gate oi 
 gold," and " Go when the morning shineth." On 
 the whole, Sunday was a sweet and pleasant day, 
 and the children thought so ; but, from its being 
 BO much quieter than other days, they always got 
 up on Monday full of life and mischief, and ready 
 to fizz over at any minute, like champagne bottles 
 with the wires just cut. 
 
 This particular Monday was rainy, so there 
 couldn't be any out-door play, which was the 
 usual vent for over-high spirits. The little ones, 
 cooped up in the nursery all the afternoon, had 
 grown perfectly riotous. Philly was not quite 
 
58 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 well, and had been taking medicine. The 
 medicine was called Elixir Pro. It was a 
 great favorite with Aunt Izzie, who kept a 
 bottle of it always on hand. GPhe bottle was 
 large and black, with a paper label tied round its 
 neck, and the children shuddered at the sight 
 of it. 
 
 After Phil had stopped roaring and spluttering, 
 and play had begun again, the dolls, as was only 
 natural, were taken ill also, and so was " Pikery," 
 John's little yellow chair, which she always pre- 
 tended was a doll too. She kept an old apron 
 tied on his back, and generally took him to bed 
 with her — not into bed, that would have been 
 troublesome ; but close by, tied to the bed-post. 
 Now, as she told the others, Pikery was very 
 sick indeed. He must have some medicine, just 
 like Philly. 
 
 ^ Give him some water," suggested Dorry. 
 
 *'No," said John, decidedly, '^it must be black 
 and out of a bottle, or it won't do any good." 
 
 After thinking a moment, she trotted quietly 
 across the passage into Aunt Izzie's room. No- 
 body waa there, but John knew where the Elixir 
 
KIKEBI. 59 
 
 Pro was kept — in the closet on the third shelf. 
 She pulled one of the drawers out a little, climbed 
 up, and reached it down. The children were en- 
 chanted when she marched back, the bottle in one 
 hand, the cork in the other, and proceeded to 
 pour a liberal dose on to Pikery's wooden seat, 
 which John called his lap. 
 
 ** There 1 there! my poor boy," she said, pat- 
 ting his shoulder — I mean his arm — " swallow it 
 down — it'll do you good." 
 
 Just then Aunt Izzie came in, and to her dis- 
 may saw a long trickle of something dark and 
 sticky running down on to the carpet. It was 
 Pikery's medicine, which he had refused to 
 swallow. 
 
 *'What is that?" she asked sharply. 
 
 **My baby is sick," faltered John, displaying 
 the guilty bottle. 
 
 Aunt Izzie rapped her over the head with a 
 thimble, and told her that she was a very naughty 
 child, whereupon Johnnie pouted, and cried a lit- 
 tle. Aunt Izzie wiped up the slop, and taking 
 away the Elixir, retired with it to her closet, say* 
 
60 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 mg that she *' never knew anything like it — it 
 was always so on Mondays." 
 
 What further pranks were played in the nursery 
 that day, I cannot pretend to tell. But late in 
 the afternoon a dreadful screaming was heard, and 
 when people rushed from all parts of the house to 
 see what was the matter, behold, the nursery 
 door was locked, and nobody could get in. Aunt 
 Izzie called through the keyhole to have it opened, 
 but the roars were so loud that it was long before 
 she could get an anwer. At last Elsie, sobbing 
 violently, explained that Dorry had locked the 
 door, and now the key wouldn't turn, and they 
 couldn't open it. Would they have to stay there 
 always, and starve? 
 
 ^ Of course you won't, you foolish child," ex* 
 claimed Aunt Izzie. "Dear, dear, what on earth 
 will come next ? Stop crying, Elsie — do you hear 
 me? You shall all be got out in a few minutes." 
 
 And sure enough, the next thing came a rattling 
 at the blinds, and there was Alexander, the hired 
 man, standing outside on a tall ladder and nodding 
 his head at the children. The little ones forgot 
 their fright. They flew to open the window, and 
 
KIKERI. 6j 
 
 frisked and jumped about Alexander as he climbed 
 in and unlocked the door. It struck them as be- 
 ing such a fine thing to be let out in this way, that 
 Dorry began to rather plume himself for fastening 
 them in. 
 
 But Aunt Izzie didn't take this view of the case. 
 She scolded them well, and declared they were trou- 
 blesome children, who couldn't be trusted one mo- 
 ment out of sight, and that she was more than half 
 sorry she had promised to go to the Lecture that 
 evening. "How do I know," she concluded, 
 •' that before I come home you won't have set the 
 house on fire, or killed somebody?" 
 
 " Oh, no we won't ! no we won't ! " whined the 
 children, quite moved by this frightful picture. 
 But bless you — ten minutes afterward they had 
 forgotten all about it. 
 
 All this time Katy had been sitting on the ledge 
 of the bookcase in the Library, poring over a 
 book. It was called Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. 
 The man who wrote it was an Italian, but some- 
 body had done the story over into English. It 
 was rather a queer book for a little girl to take a 
 fancy to, but somehow Katy liked it very much. 
 
62 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 It told about knights, and ladies, and giants, and 
 battles, and made her feel hot and cold by turns 
 as she read, and as if she must rush at something, 
 and shout, and strike blows. Katy was naturally 
 fond of reading. Papa encouraged it. He kept a 
 few books locked' up, and then turned her loose in 
 the Library. She read all sorts of things : travels, 
 and sermons, and old magazines. Nothing was 
 so dull that she couldn't get through with it. Any - 
 thing really interesting absorbed her so that she 
 never knew what was going on about her. The 
 Kttle girls to whose houses she went visiting had 
 found this out, and always hid away their story- 
 books when she was expected to tea. If they 
 didn't do this, she was sure to pick one up and 
 plunge in, and then it was no use to call her, or 
 tug at her dress, for she neither saw nor heard 
 anything more, till it was time to go home. 
 
 This afternoon she read the Jerusalem till it 
 was too dark to see any more. On her way up 
 stairs she met Aunt Izzie, with bonnet and shawl 
 on« 
 
 ** Where have you been?" she said. '^I have 
 been calling you for the last half-hour." 
 
EIKEBI. 68 
 
 • I didn't hear you, ma'am." 
 
 ^ But where were you ? " persisted Miss Izzie. 
 
 ** In the Library, reading," replied Katy. 
 
 Her aunt gave a sort of sniff, but she knew 
 Katy's ways, and said no more. 
 
 **I'm going out to drink tea with Mrs. Hall 
 and attend the evening Lecture," she went on. 
 •* Be sure that Clover gets her lesson, and if Cecy 
 comes over as usual, you must send her home 
 early. All of you must be in bed by nine." 
 
 ^ Yes'm," said Katy, but I fear she was not at- 
 tending much, but thinking, in her secret soul, 
 how jolly it was to have Aunt Izzie go out for 
 once. Miss Carr was very faithful to her duties : 
 she seldom left the children, even for an evening ; 
 so whenever she did, they felt a certain sense of 
 novelty and freedom, which was dangerous as 
 well as pleasant. 
 
 Still, I am sure that on this occasion Katy 
 meant no mischief. Like all excitable people, 
 she seldom did mean to do wrong, she just did it 
 when it came into her head. Supper passed off 
 Buccessfully, and all might have gone well, had it 
 not been that after the lessons were learned^ and 
 
64 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Cecy had come in, they fell to talking about 
 '^Kikeri." 
 
 Kikeri was a game which had been very pop- 
 ular with them a year before. They had in- 
 vented it themselves, and chosen for it this queer 
 name out of an old fairy story. It was a sort of 
 mixture of Blindman's Buff and Tag — only instead 
 of any one's eyes being bandaged, they all played 
 in the dark. One of the children would stay out 
 in the hall, which was dimly lighted from the 
 stairs, while the others hid themselves in the nurs- 
 ery. When they were all hidden, they would 
 call out "Kikeri," as a signal for the one in the 
 hall to come in and find them. Of course, com 
 ing from the light he could see nothing, while the 
 others could see only dimly. It was very excit- 
 ing to stand crouching up in a corner and watch 
 the dark figure stumbling about and feeling to 
 right and left, while every now and then some- 
 body, just escaping his clutches, would slip past 
 and gain the hall, which was "Freedom Castle," 
 with a joyful shout of "Kikeri, Kikeri, Kikeri, 
 Ki ! " Whoever was caught had to take the place 
 of the catcher. For a long time this game was the 
 
KIKERI. 65 
 
 delight of the Carr children ; but so many scratches 
 and black-and-blue spots came of it, and so many 
 of the nursery things were thrown down and 
 broken, that at last Aunt Izzie issued an order 
 that it should not be played any more. This was 
 almost a year since ; but talking of it now put it 
 into their heads to want to try it again. 
 
 ''After all we didn't promise," said Cecy. 
 
 "No, and Pwpa never said a word about our 
 not playing it," added Katy, to whom "Papa" 
 was authority, and must always be minded, while 
 Aunt Izzie might now and then be defied. 
 
 So they all went up stairs. Dorry and John, 
 though half undressed, were allowed to join the 
 game. Philly was fast asleep in another room. 
 
 It was certainly splendid fun. Once Clover 
 climbed up on the mantle-piece and sat there, 
 and when Katy, who was finder, groped about a 
 little more wildly than usual, she caught hold 
 of Clover's foot, and couldn't imagine where it 
 came from. Dorry got a hard knock, and cried, 
 and at another time Katy's dress caught on the 
 bureau handle and was frightfully torn, but these 
 were too much aflfairs of every day to interfere io 
 
 6 
 
66 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 the least with the pleasures of Kikeri. The fun 
 and frolic seemed to grow greater the longer they 
 played. In the excitement, time went on much 
 faster than any of them dreamed. Suddenly, in 
 the midst of the noise, came a sound — the sharp 
 distinct slam of the carryall-door at the side en- 
 trance. Aunt Izzie had returned from her 
 Lecture I 
 
 The dismay and confusion of that moment 1 
 Cecy slipped down stairs like an eel, and fled on 
 the wings of fear along the path which led to her 
 home. Mrs. Hall, as she bade Aunt Izzie good- 
 night, and shut Dr. Carr's front door behind her 
 with a bang, might have been struck with the 
 singular fact that a distant bang came from her 
 own front door like a sort of echo. But she was 
 not a suspicious woman ; and when she went up 
 stairs there were Cecy's clothes neatly folded on a 
 chair, and Cecy herself in bed, fast asleep, only 
 with a little more color than usual in her cheeks. 
 
 Meantime, Aunt Izzie was on her way up 
 stairs, and such a panic as prevailed in the 
 nursery! Katy felt it, and basely scuttled off 
 to her own room, where she went to bed with all 
 
EIKEBI. 67 
 
 possible speed. But the others found it much 
 harder to go to bed; there were so many of 
 them, all getting into each other's way, and with 
 no lamp to see by. Dorry and John popped 
 under the clothes half undressed, Elsie dis- 
 appeared, and Clover, too late for either, and 
 hearing Aunt Izzie's step in the hall, did this 
 horrible thing — fell on her knees, with her face 
 buried in a chair, and began to say her prayers 
 Tery hard indeed. 
 
 Aunt Izzie, coming in with a candle in her 
 band, stood in the doorway, astonished at the 
 spectacle. She sat down and waited for Clover 
 to get through, while Clover, on her part, didn't 
 dare to get through, but went on repeating "Now 
 I lay me " over and over again, in a sort of de- 
 spair. At last Aunt Izzie said very grimly: 
 ^That will do. Clover, you can get up I" and 
 Clover rose, feeling like a culprit, which she was, 
 for it was much naughtier to pretend to be pray- 
 ing than to disobey Aunt Izzie and be out of bed 
 after ten o'clock, though I think Clover hardly 
 understood this then. 
 
 Aunt Izzie at once beoran to undress her, and 
 
68 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 while doing so asked so many questions, that be^ 
 fore long she had got at the truth of the whole 
 matter. She gave Clover a sharp scolding, and 
 leaving her to wash her tearful face, she went to the 
 bed where John and Dorry lay, fast asleep, and 
 snoring as conspicuously as they knew how. 
 Something strange in the appearance of the bed 
 made her look more closely : she lifted the clothes, 
 and there, sure enough, they were — half dressed, 
 and with their school-boots on. 
 
 Such a shake as Aunt Izzie gave the little 
 scamps at this discovery, would have roused a 
 couple of dormice. Much against their will, 
 John and Dorry were forced to wake up, and be 
 slapped and scolded, and made ready for bed, 
 Aunt Izzie standing over them all the while, like 
 a dragon. She had just tucked them warmly 
 in, when for the first time she missed Elsie. 
 
 " Where is my poor little Elsie ? " she exclaimed, 
 
 "Ipbed," said Clover, meekly. 
 
 ''In bed!" repeated Aunt Izzie, much amazed. 
 Then stooping down, she gave a vigorous pull. 
 The trundle-bed came into view, and sure enough, 
 there was Elsie, in full dress, shoes and all, but 
 
KIKEBI. 69 
 
 BO fast asleep that not all Aunt Izzie's shakes, and 
 pinches, and calls, were able to rouse her. Her 
 clothes were taken off, her boots unlaced, her 
 night-gown put on; but through it all Elsie 
 slept, and she was the only cyie of the children 
 who did not get the scolding she deserved that 
 dreadful night. 
 
 Katy did not even pretend to be asleep when 
 Aunt Izzie went to her room. Her tardy con- 
 science had waked up, and she was lying in bed, 
 very miserable at having drawn the others into a 
 scrape as well as herself, and at the failure of her 
 last set of resolutions about " setting an example 
 to the younger ones." So unhappy was she, that 
 Aunt Izzie'* severe words were almost a relief; 
 and though she cried herself to sleep, it was rather 
 from the burden of her own thoughts than be- 
 cause she had been scolded. 
 
 She cried even harder the next day, for Dr. 
 Carr talked to her more seriously than he had ever 
 done before. He reminded her of the time when 
 her Mamma died, and of how she said, " Katy must 
 be a Mamma to the little ones, when she grows 
 up." And he asked her if she didn't think the 
 
fO WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 time was come for beginning to take this deai 
 place towards the children. Poor Katy 1 She 
 sobbed as if her heart would break at this, and 
 though she made no promises, I think she was 
 never quite so thoughtless again, after that day. 
 As for the rest. Papa called them together and 
 made them distinctly understand that ''Kikeri" 
 was never to be played any more. It was so sel- 
 dom that Papa forbade any games, however bois- 
 terous, that this order really made an impression 
 on the unruly brood, and they never have played 
 Ejkeri again, from that day to this. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 IN THE LOPT. 
 
 DECLAEE, said Miss Petingill, laying 
 down her work, " if them children don't 
 beat all I What on airth are they going 
 to do now ? " 
 
 Miss Petingill was sitting in the little room ir 
 the back building, which she always had when she 
 came to the Carr's for a week's mending and mak- 
 ing over. She was the dearest, funniest old 
 woman who ever went out sewing by the day. 
 Her face was round, and somehow made you 
 think of a very nice baked apple, it was so criss- 
 crossed, and lined by a thousand good-natured 
 puckers. She was small and wiry, and wore caps 
 and a false front, which was just the color of a 
 dusty Newfoundland dog's back. Her eyes were 
 dim, and she used spectacles ; but for all that, she 
 was an excellent worker. Every one liked Misa 
 
72 WHAT e:aty did. 
 
 Petingill, though Aunt Izzie did once say that her 
 tongue "was hung in the middle." Aunt Izzie 
 made this remark when she was in a temper, and 
 was by no means prepared to have Phil walk up 
 at once and request Miss Petingill to " stick it 
 out," which she obligingly did; while the rest 
 of the children crowded to look. They couldn't 
 see that it was different from other tongues, but 
 Philly persisted in finding something curious about 
 it; there must be, you know — since it was hung 
 in that queer way I 
 
 Wherever Miss Petingill went, all sorts of 
 treasures went with her The children liked to 
 have her come, for it was as good as a fairy story, 
 or the circus, to see her things unpacked. Miss 
 Petingill was very much afraid of burglars ; she 
 lay awake half the night listening for them, and 
 nothing on earth would have persuaded her to 
 go anywhere, leaving behind what she called her 
 ''Plate." This stately word meant six old tea- 
 spoons, very thin and bright and sharp, and a 
 butter-knife, whose handle set forth that it was 
 **A testimonial of gratitude, for saving the life 
 of Ithuriel Jobson, aged seven, on the occasion 
 
IN THE LOFT. 73 
 
 of his being attacked with quinsy sore throat." 
 Miss Petingill was very proud of her knife. It 
 and the spoons travelled about in a little basket 
 which hung on her arm, and was never allowed to 
 be out of her sight, even when the family she was 
 sewing for were the honestest people in the world. 
 Then, beside the plate-basket. Miss Petingill 
 never stirred without Tom, her tortoise-shell cat. 
 Tom was a a beauty, and knew his power; he 
 ruled Miss Petingill with a rod of iron, and 
 always sat in the rocking-chair when there was 
 one. It was no matter where she sat. Miss Pet- 
 ingill told people, but Tom was delicate, and 
 must be made comfortable. A big family Bible 
 always came too, and a special red merino pin- 
 cushion, and some " shade pictures " of old Mr. 
 and Mrs. Petingill and Peter Petingill, who was 
 drowned at sea; and photographs of Mrs. Porter, 
 who used to be Marcia Petingill, and Mrs. Por- 
 ter's husband, and all the Porter children. Many 
 little boxes and jars came also, and a long row of 
 phials and bottles, filled with home-made physic 
 and herb teas. Miss Petingill could not have slept 
 without having them beside her, for, as she said. 
 
74 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 how did she know that she might not be'^to^^k 
 sudden" witn something, and die for want of a 
 little ginger-balsam or pennyroyal ? 
 
 The Carr children always made so much noise, 
 that it required something unusual to make Miss 
 Petingill drop her work, as she did now, and fly 
 to the window. In fact there was a tremendous 
 hubbub : hurrahs from Dorry, stamping of feet, 
 and a great outcry of shrill, glad voices. Look- 
 ing down. Miss Petingill saw the whole six — no, 
 seven, for Cecy was there too — stream out of the 
 wood-house door — which wasn't a door, but only 
 a tall open arch — and rush noisily across the 
 yard. Katy was at the head, bearing a large 
 black bottle without any cork in it, while the 
 others carried in each hand what seemed to be a 
 cookie. 
 
 "Katherine Carr ! Kather-ine/" screamed Miss 
 Petingill, tapping loudly on the glass. "Don't 
 you see that it's raining? you ought to be ashamed 
 to let your little brothers and sisters go out and 
 get wet in such a way 1 " But nobody heard her, 
 and the children vanished into the shed, where 
 nothing could be seen but a distant flapping of 
 
IN THE LOFT. 75 
 
 pantalettes and frilled trousers, going up what 
 seemed to be a ladder, farther back in the shed. 
 So, with a dissatisfied cluck, Miss Petingill drew 
 back her head, perched the spectacles on her nose, 
 and went to work again on Katy's plaid alpaca, 
 which had two immense zigzag rents across the 
 middle of the front breadth. Katy's frocks, 
 strange to say, always tore exactly in that place ! 
 
 If Miss Petingill's eyes could have reached a 
 little farther, they would have seen that it wasn't 
 a ladder up which the children were climbing, but 
 a tall wooden post, with spikes driven into it 
 about a foot apart. It required quite a stride to get 
 from one spike to the other ; in fact the littler ones 
 couldn't have managed it at all, had it not been 
 for Clover and Cecy " boosting " very hard from 
 below, while E^aty, making a long arm, clawed 
 from above. At last they were all safely up, and 
 in the delightful retreat which I am about tc 
 describe : 
 
 Imagine a low, dark loft without any windows, 
 and with only a very little light coming in 
 through the square hole in the floor, to which thd 
 Bpikey post led. There was a strong smell of 
 
76 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 cotn-cobs, though the corn had been taken away ; 
 a great deal of dust and spider-web in the cor- 
 ners, and some wet spots on the boards ; for the 
 roof always leaked a little in rainy weather. 
 
 This was the place, which for some reason I have 
 ne^er been able to find out, the Carr children 
 preferred to any other on rainy Saturdays, when 
 they could not play out-doors. Aunt Izzie was 
 as much puzzled at this fancy as I am. When 
 she was young (a vague, far-off time, which none 
 of her nieces and nephews believed in much) , 
 she had never had any of these queer notions 
 about getting off into holes and corners, and poke- 
 away places. Aunt Izzie would gladly have for- 
 bidden them to go to the loft, but Dr. Carr had 
 given his permission, so all she could do was to 
 invent stories about children who had broken 
 their bones in various dreadful ways, by climbing 
 posts and ladders. But these stories made no im- 
 pression on any of the children except little Phil, 
 and the self-willed brood kept on their way, and 
 climbed their spiked post as often as they liked. 
 
 ** What's in the bottle?" demanded Dorry, tho 
 minute he was fairly landed in the loft. 
 
IN THE LOFT. 77 
 
 ** Don't be greedy/' replied Katy, severely $-^" 
 "you will know when the time comes. It is 
 something delicious^ I can assure you. 
 
 **Now," she went on, having thus quenched 
 Dorry/' all of you had better give me your cookies 
 to put away : if you don't, they'll be sure to be 
 eaten up before the feast, and then you know there 
 wouldn't be anything to make a feast of." 
 
 So all of them handed over their cookies. 
 Dorry, who had begun on his as he came up the 
 ladder, was a little unwilling, but he was too 
 much in the habit of minding Katy to dare to dis- 
 obey. The big bottle was set in a corner, and a 
 stack of cookies built up around it. 
 
 *' That's right," proceeded Katy, who, as old- 
 est and biggest, always took the lead in their 
 plays. ''Now if we're fixed and ready to 
 begin, the Fete (Katy pronounced it Feet) can 
 commence. The opening exercise will be 'A 
 Tragedy of the Alhambra,' by Miss Hall." 
 
 "No," cried Clover; ''first 'The Blue Wizard, 
 or Edwitha of the Hebrides,' you know, Katy." 
 
 "Didn't I tell you?" said Katy ; "a dreadful ac- 
 cident has happened to that." 
 
78 WHAT KATY Dm. 
 
 ^'Oh, what?'' cried all the rest, for Edwitha waa 
 rather a favorite with the family. It was one of 
 the many serial stories which Katy was forever 
 writing, and was about a lady, a knight, a blue 
 wizard, and a poodle named Bop. It had been 
 going on so many months now, that everybody had 
 forgotten the beginning, and nobody had any 
 particular hope of living to hear the end, but .still 
 the news of its untimely fate was a shock. 
 
 « ril tell you," said Katy. " Old Judge Kirby 
 called this morning to see Aunt Izzie; I was 
 studying in the little room, but I saw him come 
 in, and pull out the big chair and sit down, and 
 I almost screamed out * don't ! ' " 
 
 ''Why?" cried the children. 
 
 "Don't you see? I had stuffed 'Edwitha' down 
 between the back and the seat. It was a beautiful 
 hiding-place, for the seat goes back ever so far; 
 but Edwitha was such a fat bundle, and old Judge 
 Earby takes up so much room, that I was afraid 
 there would be trouble. And sure enough, he 
 had hardly dropped down before there was a great 
 crackling of paper, and he jumped up again and 
 called out, ' Bless me 1 what is that ? ' And then 
 
IN THE LOFT. 79 
 
 he begau poking,*and poking, and just as he had 
 poked out the whole bundle, and was putting on 
 his spectacles to see what it was, Aunt Izzie came 
 in/' 
 
 **Well, what next?*' cried the children, im- 
 mensely tickled. 
 
 "Oh I" continued Katy, "Aunt Izzie put on 
 her glasses too, and screwed up her eyes — you 
 know the way she does, and she and the judge 
 read a little bit of it ; that part at the first, you 
 remember, where Bop steals the blue-pills, and 
 the Wizard tries to throw him into the sea. You 
 can't think how funny it was to hear Aunt Izzie 
 reading * Edwitha ' out loud — " and Katy went 
 into convulsions at the recollection "where she 
 got to 'Oh Bop — my angel Bop — ' I just 
 rolled under the table, and stuffed the table-cover 
 in my mouth to keep from screaming right out. 
 By and by I heard her call Debby, and give 
 her the papers, and say: 'Here is a mass of 
 trash which I wish you to put at once into the 
 kitchen fire.' And she told me afterward that 
 she thought I would be in an insane asylum 
 before I was twenty. It was too bad," ended 
 
80 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Katy, half laughing and half crying, " to barn 
 up the new chapter and all. But there's one good 
 thing — she didn't find 'The Fairy of the Dry 
 Goods Box,' that was stuffed farther back in the 
 seat. 
 
 " And now," continued the mistress of ceremo- 
 nies, " we will begin. Miss Hall will please rise." 
 
 *' Miss Hall," much flustered at her fine name, 
 got up with very red cheeks. 
 
 " It was once upon a time," she read, "Moonlight 
 lay on the halls of the Alhambra, and the knight, 
 striding impatiently down the passage, thought 
 she would never come." 
 
 " Who, the moon ? " asked Clover. 
 
 " No, of course not," replied Cecy, " a lady he 
 was in love with. The next verse is going to tell 
 about her, only you interrupted. 
 
 '' She wore a turban of silver, with a jewelled 
 crescent. As she stole down the corregidor the 
 beams struck it and it glittered like stars. 
 
 " ' So you are come, Zuleika ? ' 
 
 *' ' Yes, my lord.' 
 
 " Just then a sound as of steel smote upon the 
 ear, and Zuleika's mail-clad father rushed in. He 
 
m THE LOFT. 81 
 
 drew his sword, so did the other. A moment 
 more, and they both lay dead and stiff in the 
 beams of the moon. Zuleika gave a loud shriek, 
 and threw herself upon their bodies. She was 
 dead, too ! And so ends the Tragedy of the Al- 
 hambra.'' 
 
 *' That's lovely," said Katy, drawing a long 
 breath, " only very sad I What beautiful stories 
 you do write, Cecy 1 But I wish you wouldn't 
 always kill the people. Why couldn't the knight 
 have killed the father, and — no, I suppose Zu- 
 leika wouldn't have married him then. Well, 
 the father might have — oh, bother I why must 
 anybody be killed, anyhow? why not have them 
 fall on each other's necks, and make up?" 
 
 ''Why, Katy!" cried Cecy, 'Ut wouldn't have 
 been a tragedy then. You know the name was 
 A Tragedy of the Alhambra." 
 
 " Oh, well," said Katy, hurriedly, for Cecy's lips 
 were beginning to pout, and her fair, pinkish face 
 to redden, as if she were about to cry ; '' perhaps 
 it VMS prettier to have them all die; only 
 your ladies and gentlemen always do die, and I 
 thought, for a change, you know t — What a lovely 
 
 6 
 
82 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 word that was — ' Corregidor ' — what does it 
 moan?" 
 
 " I don't know/' replied Cecy, quite consoled. 
 " It was in the ' Conquest of Granada.' Something 
 to walk over, I believe." 
 
 **The next," went on Katy, consulting her paper, 
 '^is 'Yap,' a Simple Poem, by Clover Carr." 
 
 All the children giggled, but Clover got up 
 composedly, and recited the following verses : 
 
 ** Did you ever know Yap ? 
 The best little dog 
 Who e'er sat on lap * 
 
 Or barked at a frog. 
 
 " His eyes were like beads, 
 ^ His tail like a mop, 
 
 And it waggled as if 
 It never would stop. 
 
 ** His hair was like silk 
 Of the glossiest sheen. 
 He always ate milk, 
 And once the cold-cream 
 
 •* Off the nursery bureau 
 (That line is too long I) 
 It made him quite ill, 
 So endeth my song. 
 
m THE LOFT. 83 
 
 ** For Yappy he died 
 
 Just two months ago, 
 And we oughtn't to sing 
 At a funeral, you know.'* 
 
 The ^ Poem " met with immense applause ; all 
 the children laughed, and shouted, and clapped, 
 till the loft rang again. But Clover kept her 
 face perfectly, and sat down as demure as ever, 
 except that the little dimples came and went at 
 the corners of her mouth ; dimples, partly natural, 
 and partly, I regret to say, the result of a pointed 
 slate-pencil, with which Clover was in the habit 
 of deepening them every day while she studied 
 her lessons. 
 
 ''Now," said Katy, after the noise had subsided, 
 ' now comes ' Scripture Verses,' by Miss Elsie 
 and Joanna Carr. Hold up your head, Elsie, 
 and speak distinctly ; and oh, Johnnie, you mustn't 
 giggle in that way when it comes your turn I " 
 
 But Johnnie only giggled the harder at this 
 appeal, keeping her hands very tight across her 
 mouth, and peeping out over her fingers. Elsie, 
 however, was solemn as a little judge, and with 
 great dignity began : 
 
84 WHAT KATY DIP, 
 
 ** An angel with a fiery sword, 
 Came to send Adam and Eve abroad ; 
 And as they journeyed through the skies . 
 They took one look at Paradise. 
 They thought of all the happy hours 
 Among the birds and fragrant bowers. 
 And Eve she wept, and Adam bawled, 
 And both together loudly squalled." 
 
 Dorry snickered at this, but sedate Clovei 
 hushed him. 
 
 "You mustn't," she said; *'its about the Bible, 
 you know. Now John, it's your turn." 
 
 But Johnnie would persist in holding her hands 
 over her mouth, while her fat little shoulders 
 shook with laughter. At last, with a great eflfort, 
 she pulled her face straight, and speaking as fast 
 as she possibly could, repeated, in a sort of burst : 
 
 " Balaam's donkey saw the Angel, 
 And stopped short in fear. 
 Balaam didn't see the Angel, 
 Which is very queer." 
 
 After which she took refuge again behind her 
 fingers, while Elsie went on — 
 
IN THE LOFT. b^ 
 
 "E^ah by the creek, 
 He by ravens fed, 
 Took from their homy beak 
 Pieces of meat and bread." 
 
 *• Come Johnnie," said Katy, but the incorrig- 
 ible Johnnie was shaking again, and all they could 
 make out was — 
 
 " The bears came down, and ate — and ate." 
 
 These ^ Verses " were part of a grand project on 
 which Clover and Elsie had been busy for more 
 than a year. It was a sort of rearrangement of 
 Scripture for infant minds ; and when it was fin- 
 ished, they meant to have it published, bound in 
 red, with daguerreotypes of the two authoresses 
 on the cover, " The Youth's Poetical Bible " was 
 to be the name of it. Papa, much tickled with 
 the scraps which he overheard, proposed, instead, 
 ''The Trundle-Bed Book," as having been com- 
 posed principally in that spot, but Elsie and Clover 
 were highly indignant, and would not listen to the 
 idea for a moment. 
 
 After the '' Scripture Verses," came Dorry'a 
 turn. He had been allowed to choose for himself, 
 
86 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 which was unlucky, as his taste was peculiar, not 
 to say gloomy. On this occasion he had selected 
 that cheerful hymn which begins — 
 
 ** Hark, from the tombs a doleful sound.** 
 
 And he now began to recite it in a lugubrious 
 voice and with great emphasis, smacking his lips, 
 as it were, over such lines as — 
 
 ** Princes, this clay shall be your bed, 
 In spite of all your towers." 
 
 The older children listened with a sort of fasci- 
 nated horror, rather enjoying the cold chills which 
 ran down their backs, and huddling close together, 
 as Dorry's hollow tones echoed from the dark cor- 
 ners of the loft. It was too much foir Philly, 
 however. At the close of the piece he was found 
 to be in tears. 
 
 *' I don't want to st-a-a-y up here and be groaned 
 at," he sobbed. 
 
 ^ There, you bad boy I " cried Katy, all the more 
 angry because she was conscious of having enjoyed 
 it herself, ''that's what you do with your horrid 
 hymns, frightening us to death and making 
 
m THE LOFT* 87 
 
 Phil cry I *' And she gave Dorry a little shake. 
 He began to whimper, and as Phil was still sobbing, 
 and Johnnie had begun to sob too, out of sympa* 
 thy with the others, the Feet in the Loft seemed 
 likely to come to a sad end. 
 
 *' Pm going to tell Aunt Izzy that I don't like 
 you," declared Dorry, putting one leg through 
 the opening in the floor. 
 
 ''No you aren't," said Katy, seizing him, ''you 
 are going to stay, because now we are going to 
 have the Feast ! Do stop, Phil ; and Johnnie, don't 
 be a goose, but come and pass round the cookies." 
 
 The word "Feast" produced a speedy effect on 
 the spirits of the party. Phil cheered at once, 
 and Dorry changed his mind about going. The 
 black bottle was solemnly set in the midst, and 
 the cookies were handed about by Johnnie, who 
 was now all smiles. The cookies had scalloped 
 edges and caraway seeds inside, and were very 
 nice. There were two apiece ; and as the last was 
 finished, Katy put her hand in her pocket, and, 
 amid great applause, produced the crowning ad- 
 dition to the repast — seven long, brown sticks 
 of cinnamon. 
 
88 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 ** Isn't it fun?" she said. ''Debby was real 
 good-natured to-day, and let me put my own 
 hand into the box, so I picked out the longest 
 sticks there were. Now, Cecy, as you're com- 
 pany, you shall have the first drink out of the 
 bottle.'' 
 
 The '* something delicious " proved to be weak 
 vinegar-and-water. It was quite warm, but 
 somehow, drank up there in the loft, and out of a 
 bottle, it tasted very nice. Beside, they didn't 
 call it vinegar-and-water — of course not 1 Each 
 child gave his oj' her swallow a difierent name, as 
 if the bottle were like Signor Blitz's and could 
 pour out a dozen things at once. Clover called 
 her share "Raspberry Shrub," Dorry christened 
 his " Ginger Pop," while Cecy, who was romantic, 
 took her three sips under the name of " Hydomel," 
 which she explained was something nice, made, 
 she believed, of beeswax. The last drop gone, 
 and the last bit of cinnamon crunched, the c(>ra- 
 pany came to order again, for the purpose '^f 
 hearing Philly repeat his one piece, — 
 
 " Little drops of water," 
 
m THE LOFT. 89 
 
 wliich exciting poem he had said every Saturday 
 as far back as they could remember. After that 
 Katy declared the literary part of the "Feet" 
 over, and they all fell to playing " Stage-coach,** 
 which, in spite of close quarters and an occasional 
 bump from the roof, was such good fun, that a 
 general '* Oh dear 1 " welcomed the ringing of the 
 tea-bell. I suppose cookies and vinegar had 
 taken away their appetites, for none of them 
 were hungry, and Dorry astonished Aunt Izzie 
 very much by eyeing the table in a disgusted way, 
 and saying : " Pshaw 1 onZy plum sweetmeats and 
 sponge cake and hot biscuit ! I don't want any 
 supper.'* 
 
 ''What ails the child? he must be sick,** said 
 Dr. Carr ; but Katy explained. 
 
 •'Oh no. Papa, it isn't that — only we*ve been 
 having a feast in the loft.** 
 
 "Did you have a good time?*' asked Papa, 
 while Aunt Izzie gave a dissatisfied groan. And 
 all the children answered at once : " Splendifer- 
 ous I ** 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 INTIMATE FRIENDS. 
 
 |[UNT Izzie, may I ask Imogen Clark to 
 spend the day here on Saturday ? " cried 
 Katy, bursting in one afternoon. 
 "Who on earth is Imogen Clark? I never 
 heard the name before," replied her aunt. 
 
 " Oh, the loveliest girl ! She hasn't been going 
 to Mrs. Knight's school but a little while, but 
 we're the greatest friends. And she's perfectly 
 beautiful, Aunt Izzie. Her hands are just as 
 white as snow, and no bigger than that. She's 
 got the littlest waist of any girl in school, and 
 she's real sweet, and so self-denying and unselfish • 
 I don't believe she has a bit good times at home, 
 either. Do let me ask her ! " 
 
 ''How do you know she's so sweet and self- 
 denying, if you've known her such % short 
 r90) 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS. 91 
 
 time?** asked Aunt Izzie, in an unpromising 
 tone. 
 
 *'0h, she tells me everything! We always 
 walk together at recens now. I know all about 
 her, and she's just lovely I Her father used to be 
 real rich, but they're poor now, and Imogen had 
 to have her boots patched twice last winter. I 
 guess she's the flower of her family. You can't 
 think how I love her I " concluded Katy, senti- 
 mentally. 
 
 ^ No, I can't," said Aunt Izzie. " I never could 
 see into these sudden friendships of yours, Katy, 
 and I'd rather you wouldn't invite this Imogen, 
 or whatever her name is, till I've had a chance to 
 ask somebody about her." 
 
 Katy clasped her hands in despair. '* Oh, Aunt 
 Izzie !" she cried, '* Imogen knows that I came in 
 to ask you, and she's standing at the gate at this 
 moment, waiting to hear what you say. Please 
 let me, just this once ! I shall be so dreadfully 
 ashamed not to." 
 
 ** Well," said Miss Izzie, moved by the wretch- 
 edness of Katy's face, *^ if you've asked her al- 
 ready, it's no use my saying no, I suppose. But 
 
92 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 recollect, Katy, this is not to happen again. 1 
 can't have you inviting girls, and then coming for 
 my leave. Your father won't be at all pleased. 
 He's very particular about whom you make friends 
 with. Kemember how Mrs. Spenser turned out." 
 
 Poor Katy I Her propensity to fall violently in 
 love with new people was always getting her into 
 scrapes. Ever since she began to walk and talk, 
 '^Katy's intimate friends" had been one of the 
 jokes of the household. 
 
 Papa once undertook to keep a list of them, 
 but the number grew so great that he gave it up 
 in despair. First on the list was a small Irish 
 child, named Marianne O'Riley. Marianne lived 
 m a street which Katy passed on her way to 
 school. It was not Mrs. Knight's, but an A 
 B C school, to which Dorry and John now went. 
 Marianne used to be always making sand-pies in 
 front of her mother's house, and Katy, who was 
 about five years old, often stopped to help her. 
 Over this mutual pastry they grew so intimate, 
 that Katy resolved to adopt Marianne as her own 
 little girl, and bring her up in a safe and hidden 
 corner. 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS. 93 
 
 She told Clover of this plan, but nobody else. 
 The two children, full of their delightful secret, 
 began to save pieces of bread and cookies from 
 their supper every evening. By degrees they 
 collected a great heap of dry crusts, and other re- 
 freshments, which they put safely away in the gar- 
 ret. They also saved the apples which were given 
 them for two weeks, and made a bed in a big 
 empty box, with cotton quilts, and the dolls' 
 pillows out of the baby-house. When all was 
 ready, Katy broke the plan to her beloved Mari- 
 anne, and easily persuaded her to run away and 
 take possession of this new home. 
 
 '' We won't tell Papa and Mamma till she's 
 quite grown up,*' Katy said to Clover ; " then we'll 
 bring her down stairs, and wori^t they be surprised? 
 Don't let's call her Marianne any longer, either. 
 It isn't pretty. We'll name her Susquehanna 
 instead — Susquehanna Carr. Recollect, Mari- 
 anne, you mustn't answer if I call you Marianne 
 — only when I say Susquehanna." 
 
 " Yes'm," replied Marianne, very meekly. 
 
 For a whole day all went on delightfully. Sus- 
 quehanna lived in her wooden box, ate all the 
 
94 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 apples and the freshest cookies, and was happy. 
 The two children took turns to steal away and 
 play with the " Baby," as they called Marianne, 
 though she was a great deal bigger than Clover. 
 But when night came on, and nurse swooped on 
 Katy and Clover, and carried them off to bed. 
 Miss O'Eiley began to think that the garret was a 
 dreadful place. Peeping out of her box, she could 
 see black things standing in corners, which she 
 did not recollect seeing in the day-time. They 
 were really trunks and brooms and warming-pans, 
 but somehow, in the darkness, they looked differ- 
 ent — big and awful. Poor little Marianne bore 
 it as long as she could ; but when at last a rat be- 
 gan to scratch in the wall close beside her, her 
 courage gave way entirely, and she screamed at 
 the top of her voice. 
 
 **What is that?" said Dr. Carr, who had just 
 come in, and was on his way up stairs. 
 
 "It sounds as if it came from the attic," said 
 Mrs. Carr (for this was before Mamma died). 
 ^ Can it be that one of the children has got out of 
 bed and wandered up stairs in her sleep ? " 
 
 No, Katy and Clover were *afe in the nursery, 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS. 95 
 
 SO Dr. Can took a candle and went as fast as he 
 could to the attic, where the yells were growing 
 terrific. When he reached the top of the stairs, 
 the cries ceased. He looked about. Nothing was 
 to be seen at first, then a little head appeared over 
 the edge of a big wooden box, and a piteous voice 
 sobbed out: 
 
 " Ah, Miss Katy , and indeed I can't be stayin' 
 any Iqnger. There's rats in it 1 " 
 
 "Who on earth are yow?" asked the amazed 
 Doctor. 
 
 " Sure I'm Miss Katy's and Miss Clover's Baby. 
 But I don't want to be a baby any longer. I want 
 to go home and see my mother." And again the 
 poor little midge lifted up her voice and wept. 
 
 I don't think Dr. Carr ever laughed so hard in 
 his life, as when finally he got to the bottom of 
 the story, and found that Katj" and Clover had 
 been " adopting " a child. But he was very kind 
 to poor Susquehanna, and carried her down stairs 
 in his arms, to the nursery. There, in a bed close 
 to the other children, she soon forgot her trou- 
 bles and fell asleep. 
 
 The little sisters were much surprised whea 
 
96 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 they waked up in the morning, and found their 
 Baby asleep beside them. But their joy was 
 speedily turned to tears. After breakfast, Dr. 
 Carr carried Marianne home to her mother, who 
 was in a great fright over her disappearance, and 
 explained to the children that the garret plan must 
 be given up. Great was the mourning in the 
 nursery; but as Marianne was allowed to come 
 and play with them now and then, they gradually 
 got over their grief. A few months later Mr. 
 O'Kiley moved away from Burnet, and that was 
 the end of Katy's first friendship. 
 
 The next was even funnier. There was a queer 
 old black woman who lived all alone by herself in 
 a small house near the school. This old woman 
 had a very bad temper. The neighbors told hor- 
 rible stories about her, so that the children were 
 afraid to pass the house. They used to turn 
 always just before they reached it, and cross to the 
 other side of the street. This they did so reg- 
 ularly, that their feet had worn a path in the 
 grass. But for some reason Katy found a great 
 fascination in the little house. She liked to dodge 
 about the door^ always holding herself ready to 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS. 97 
 
 turn and run in case the old woman rushed out 
 upon her with a broomstick. One day she 
 begged a large cabbage of Alexander, and rolled 
 it in at the door of the house. The old woman 
 seemed to like it, and after this Katy always 
 stopped to speak when she went by. She even 
 got so far as to sit on the step and watch the old 
 woman at work. There was a sort of perilous 
 pleasure in doing this. It was like sitting at the 
 entrance of a lion's cage, uncertain at what mo- 
 ment his Majesty might take it into his head to 
 give a spring and eat you up. 
 
 After this, Katy took a fancy to a couple 
 of twin sisters, daughters of a German jewel- 
 ler. They were quite grown-up, and always 
 wore dresses exactly alike. Hardly any one 
 could tell them apart. They spoke very lit- 
 tle English, and as Katy didn't know a word 
 of German, their intercourse was confined to 
 smiles, and to the giving of bunches of flowers, 
 which Katy used to tie up and present to them 
 whenever they passed the gate. She was too 
 shy to do more than just put the flowers m their 
 hands and run awav; but the fwinn woi«o r,rr:- 
 1 
 
98 ' WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 dently pleased, for one day, when Clover hap- 
 pened to be looking out of the window, she saw 
 them open the gate, fasten a little parcel to a 
 bush, and walk rapidly off. Of course she called 
 Katy at once, and the two children flew out to 
 see what the parcel was. It held a bonnet — a 
 beautiful doll's bonnet of blue silk, trimmed with 
 artificial flowers; upon it was pinned a slip of 
 paper with these words, in an odd foreign hand : 
 
 ** To the nice little girl who was so kindly to 
 give us some flowers." 
 
 You can judge whether Katy and Clover were 
 pleased or not. 
 
 This was when Katy was six years old. I can't 
 begin to tell you how many different friends she 
 had set up since then. There was an ash-man, 
 and a steam-boat captain. There was Mrs. Saw- 
 yer's cook, a nice old woman, who gave Katy les- 
 sons in cooking, and taught her to make soft custard 
 and sponge-cake. There was a bonnet-maker, 
 pretty and dressy, whom, to Aunt Izzie's great 
 indignation, Katy persisted in calling ''Cousin 
 Estelle 1 " There was a thief in the town-jail, 
 Under whose window Katy used to stand, saying, 
 
XNTIMATE FRIENDS. 99 
 
 " Fill SO sorry, poor man ! " and " have you got 
 any little girls like me?" in the most piteous way. 
 The thief had a piece of string which he let down 
 from the window. Katy would tie rose-buds and 
 cherries to this string, and the thief would draw 
 them up. It was so interesting to do this, that 
 Katy felt dreadfully when they carried the man off 
 to the State Prison. Then followed a short inter- 
 val of Cornelia Perham, a nice, good-natured girl, 
 whose father was a fruit-merchant. I am afraid 
 Katy's liking for prunes . and white grapes played 
 a part in this intimacy. It was splendid fun to 
 go with Cornelia to her father's big shop, and have 
 whole boxes of raisins and drums of figs opened 
 for their amusement, and be allowed to ride up 
 and down in the elevator as much as they liked. 
 But of all Katy's queer acquaintances, Mrs. Spen- 
 ser, to whom Aunt Izzie had alluded, was the 
 queerest. 
 
 Mrs. Spenser was a mysterious lady whom 
 nobody ever saw. Her husband was a handsome, 
 rather bad-looking man, who had come from parts 
 unknown, and rented a small house in Burnet. 
 He didn't seem to have smy particular business. 
 
100 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 and was away from home a great deal. His wife 
 was said to be an invalid, and people, when they 
 spoke of him, shook their heads and wondered 
 how the poor woman got on all alone in the house, 
 while her husband was absent. 
 
 Of course Katy was too young to understand 
 these whispers, or the reasons why people were 
 not disposed to think well of Mr. Spenser. The 
 romance of the closed door and the lady whom 
 nobody saw, interested her very much. She 
 used to stop and stare at the windows, and wonder 
 what was going on inside, till at last it seemed as 
 if she must know. So, one day she took some 
 flowers and Victoria, her favorite doll, and boldiv 
 marched into the Spenser's yard. 
 
 She tapped at the front door, but nobody an- 
 swered. Then she tapped again. Still nobody 
 answered. She tried the door. It was locked 
 So shouldering Victoria, she trudged round to tb-e 
 back of the house. As she passed the side-doo^r 
 she saw that it was open a little way. Sh^ 
 knocked for the third time, and as no one came, 
 she went in, and passing through the little ha^^ 
 began to tap at all the inside doors. 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS. 101 
 
 There seemed to be no people in the house. 
 Katy peeped into the kitchen first. It was bare 
 and forlorn. All sorts of dishes were standing 
 about. There was no fire in the stove. The par- 
 lor was not much better. Mr. Spenser's boots 
 lay in the middle of the floor. There were dirty 
 glasses on the table. On the mantle-piece was a 
 platter with bones of meat upon it. Dust lay 
 thick over everything, and the whole house looked 
 as if it hadn't been lived in for at least a year. 
 
 Katy tried several other doors, all of which 
 were locked, and then she went up stairs. As 
 she stood on the top step, grasping her flowers, 
 and a little doubtful what to do next, a feeble 
 voice from a bed-room called out : 
 
 ''Who is there?" 
 
 This was Mrs. Spenser. She was l3aug on her 
 bed, which was very tossed and tumbled, as if it 
 hadn't been made up that morning. The room 
 was as disorderly and dirty as all the rest of the 
 house, and Mrs. Spenser's wrapper and night-cap 
 were by no means clean, but her face was sweet, 
 and she had beautiful curling hair, which fell over 
 the pillow. She was evidently very sick, and al- 
 
102 WHAT KATY DID, 
 
 together Katy felt sorrier > for her than she had 
 ever done for anybody in her life. 
 
 *' Who are you, child? " asked Mrs. Spenser, 
 
 **rm Dr. Carr's little girl," answered Katy, 
 going straight up to the bed. "I came to bring 
 you some flowers." And she laid the bouquet on 
 the dirty sheet. 
 
 Mrs. Spenser seemed to like the flowers. She 
 took them up and smelled them for a long time, 
 without speaking. 
 
 ** But how did you get in ? " she said at last. 
 
 **The door was open," faltered Katy, who was 
 beginning to feel scared at her own daring, '^ and 
 they said you were sick, so I thought perhaps you 
 would like me to come and see you." 
 
 ** You are a kind little girl," said Mrs. Spenser, 
 and gave her a kiss. 
 
 After this Katy used to go every day. Some- 
 times Mrs. Spenser would be up and moving feebly 
 about ; but more often she was in bed, and Katy 
 would sit beside her. The house never looked a 
 bit better than it did that first day, but after a 
 while Katy used to brush Mrs. Spenser's hair, and 
 wash her face with the corner of a towel. 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS. 103 
 
 / 
 
 I think her visits were a comfort to the poor 
 lady, who was very ill and lonely. Sometimes, 
 when she felt pretty well, she would tell Katy 
 stories about the time when she was a little girl 
 and lived at home with her father and mother. 
 But she never spoke of Mr. Spenser, and Katy 
 never saw him except once, when she was so 
 frightened that for several days she dared not go 
 near the house. At last Cecy reported that she 
 had seen him go off in the stage with his carpet- 
 bag, so Katy ventured in again. Mrs. Spenser 
 cried when she saw her. 
 
 "I thought you were never coming any more," 
 she said. 
 
 Katy was touched and flattered at having been 
 missed, and after that she never lost a day. She 
 always carried the prettiest flowers she could find, 
 and if any one gave her a specially nice peach or 
 a bunch of grapes, she saved it for Mrs. Spenser. 
 
 Aunt Izzie was much worried at all this. But 
 Dr. Carr would not interfere. He said it was a 
 case where grown people could do nothing, and 
 if Katy was a comfort to the poor lady he was 
 glad. Katy was glad too, and the visits did her 
 
104 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 as much good as they did Mrs. Spenser, for the 
 intense pity she felt for the sick woman made her 
 gentle and patient as she had never been before. 
 
 One day she stopped, as usual, on her way 
 home from school. She tried the side-door — it 
 was locked ; the back-door, it was locked too. 
 All the blinds were shut tight. This was very 
 puzzling. 
 
 As she stood in the yard a woman put her head 
 out of the window of the next house. " It's no 
 use knocking," she said, '* all the folks have gone 
 away." 
 
 " Gone away where ? " asked Katy. 
 
 '* Nobody knows," said the woman; 'Hhe gen- 
 tleman came back in the middle of the night, and 
 this morning, before light, he had a wagon at the 
 door, and just put in the trunks and the sick lady, 
 and drove off. There's been more than one 
 a-knocking besides you, since then. But Mr. 
 Pudgett, he's got the key, and nobody can get in 
 without goin' to him." 
 
 It was too true. Mrs. Spenser was gone, and 
 Katy never saw her again. In a few days it came 
 out that Mr. Spenser was a very bad man, and 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS. 105 
 
 had been making false money — counterfeiting ^ as 
 grown people call it. The police were searching 
 for him to put him in jail, and that was the reason 
 he had come back in such a hurry aud carried ofl 
 his poor sick wife. Aunt Izzie cried with morti- 
 fication, when she heard this. She said she 
 thought it was a disgrace that Katy should have 
 been visiting in a counterfeiter's family. But Dr. 
 Carr only laughed. He told Aunt Izzie that he 
 didn't think that kind of crime was catching, and 
 as for Mrs. Spenser, she was much to be pitied. But 
 Aunt Izzie could not get over her vexation, and 
 every now and then, when she was vexed, she 
 would refer to the affair, though this all happened 
 so long ago that most people had forgotten all 
 about it, and Philly and John had stopped playing 
 at "Putting Mr. Spenser in Jail," which for a 
 long time was one of their favorite games. 
 
 Katy always felt badly when Aunt Izzie spoke 
 unkindly of her poor sick friend. She had tears 
 in her eyes now, as she walked to the gate, and 
 looked so very sober, that Imogen Clark, wha 
 Btood there waiting, clasped her hands and said : 
 
 ** Ah, I see ! Your aristocratic Aunt refuses." 
 
106 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Imogen*8 real name was Elizabeth. She was 
 rather a pretty girl, with a screwed-up, sentimen- 
 tal mouth, shiny brown hair, and a little round 
 curl on each of her cheeks. These curls must 
 have been fastened on with glue or tin tacks, one 
 would think, for thej'' never moved, however 
 much she laughed or shook her head. Imogen 
 was a bright girl, naturally, butshe had read so 
 many novels that her brain was cOTftpletely turned. 
 It was partly this which made her so attractive to 
 Katy, who adored stories, and thought Imogen 
 was a real heroine of romance. 
 
 "Oh no, she doesn't," she replied, hardly able 
 to keep from laughing, at the idea of Aunt Izzie's 
 being called an " aristocratic relative" — " she says 
 she shall be my hap — " But here Katy's con- 
 science gave a prick, and the sentence ended in 
 " um, um, um — " " So you'll come, won't you, 
 darling ? I am so glad ! " 
 
 '' And 1 1 " said Imogen, turning up her eyes 
 theatrically. 
 
 From this time on till the end of the week, the 
 children talked of nothing but Imogen's visit, and 
 the nice time they were going to have. Before 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS* 107 
 
 breakfast on Saturday morning, Katy and Clover 
 were at work building a beautiful bower of aspar- 
 agus boughs under the trees. All the playthings 
 were set out in order. Debby baked them some 
 cinnamon cakes, the kitten had a pink ribbon tied 
 round her neck, and the dolls, including "Pikery,'' 
 were arrayed in their best clothes. 
 
 About half-past ten Imogen arrived. She was 
 dressed in a light-blue barege, with low neck and 
 short sleeves, and wore coral beads m her hair, 
 white satin slippers, and a pair of yellow gloves. 
 The gloves and slippers were quite dirty, and the 
 barege was old and darned ; but the general effect 
 was so very gorgeous, that the children, who were 
 dressed for play, in gingham frocks and white 
 aprons, were quite dazzled at the appearance of 
 their guest. 
 
 '* Oh, Imogen, you look just like a young lady 
 in a story 1 " said simple Katy ; whereupon Imogen 
 tossed her head and rustled her skirts about more 
 than ever. 
 
 Somehow, with these fine clothes, Imogen 
 seemed to have put on a fine manner, quite differ- 
 ent from the one she used every day. You kno\^ 
 
108 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 some people always do, when they go out visiting. 
 You would almost have supposed that this was a 
 different Imogen, who was kept in a box most of 
 the time, and taken out for Sundays and grand 
 occasions. She swam about, and diddled, and 
 lisped, and looked at herself in the glass, and was 
 generally grown-up and airy. When Aunt Izzie 
 spoke to her, she fluttered and behaved so queerly, 
 that Clover almost laughed ; and even Katy, who 
 could see nothing wrong in people she loved, wa? 
 glad to carrj'- her away to the play-room. 
 
 *' Come out to the bower," she said, putting hei 
 arm round the blue barege waist. 
 
 " A bower I " cried Imogen. " How sweet ! " But 
 when they reached the asparagus boughs her face 
 fell. "Why it hasn't any roof, or pinnacles, or 
 any fountain ! " she said. 
 
 "Why no, of course not," said Clover, staring; 
 "we made it ourselves," 
 
 " Oh ! " said Imogen. She was evidently dis- 
 appointed. Katy and Clover felt mortified ; but 
 as their visitor did not care for the bower, they 
 tried to think of something else. 
 
 " Let us go to the Loft," they said. 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS. 109 
 
 So they all crossed the yard together. Imogeo 
 picked her way daintily in the white satin slip- 
 pers, but when she saw the spiked post, she gave 
 a scream. 
 
 '* Oh, not up there, darling, not up there 1 " she 
 cried ; '* never, never 1 " 
 
 *^ Oh, do try I It's just as easy as can be,'' plead- 
 ed Katy, going up and down half a dozen times 
 in succession to show how easy it was. But Imo- 
 gen wouldn't be persuaded. 
 
 "Do not ask me," she said affectedly ; '^my 
 nerves would never stand such a thing I And 
 beside — my dress ! " 
 
 "What made you wear it?" said Philly, who 
 was a plain-spoken child, and given to questions. 
 While John whispered to Dorry, " That's a real 
 stupid girl. Let's go off somewhere and play by 
 ourselves." 
 
 So, one by one, the small fry crept away, leav- 
 ing Katy and Clover to entertain the visitor by 
 themselves. They tried dolls, but Imogen did 
 not care for dolls. Then they proposed to sit 
 down in the shade, and cap verses, a game they 
 all liked. But Imogen said that though she 
 
110 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 adored poetry, she never could remember anv. 
 So it ended in their going to the orchard, where 
 Imogen ate a great many phims and early apples, 
 and really seemed to enjoy herself. But when 
 she could eat no more, a dreadful dulness fell 
 over the party. At last Imogen said : 
 
 "Don't you ever sit in the drawing -room?** 
 
 " The what ? '' asked Clover. 
 
 "The drawing-room," repeated Imogen. 
 
 " Oh, she means the parlor ! " cried Katy. " No, 
 we don't sit there except when Aunt Izzie has 
 company to tea. It is all dark and poky, you 
 know. Beside, it's so much pleasanter to be out- 
 doors. Don't you think so ? " 
 
 "Yes, sometimes," replied Imogen, doubtfully ; 
 " but I think it would be pleasant to go in and sit 
 there for a while, now. My head aches dread- 
 fully, being out here in this horrid sun." 
 
 Katy was at her wit's end to know what to do. 
 They scarcely ever went into the parlor, which 
 Aunt Izzie regarded as a sort of sacred place. 
 She kept cotton petticoats over all the chairs for 
 fear of dust, and never opened the blinds for fear 
 of flies. The idea of children with dusty boots 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS. Ill 
 
 going in there to sit I On the other hand, Katy'a 
 natural politeness made it hard to refuse a visitor 
 anything she asked for And beside, it was dread- 
 ful to think that Imogen might go away and report 
 "'Katy Carr isn't allowed to sit in the best room, 
 even when she has company I " With a quak- 
 ing heart she led the way to the parlor. She 
 dared not open the blinds, so the room looked 
 very dark. She could just see Imogen's figure as 
 she sat on the sofa, and Clover twirling uneasily 
 about on the piano-stool. All the time she kept 
 listening to hear if Aunt Izzie were not coming, 
 and altogether the parlor was a dismal place to 
 her ; not half so pleasant as the asparagus bower, 
 where they felt perfectly safe. 
 
 But Imogen, who, for the first time, seemed 
 comfortable, began to talk. Her talk was about 
 herself. Such stories she told about the things 
 which had happened to her I All the young 
 ladies in The Ledger put together, never had 
 stranger adventures. Gradually, Katy and Clo- 
 ver got so interested that they left their seats and 
 crouched down close to the sofa, listening with 
 ox)en mouths to these stories. Katy forgot to listei; 
 
112 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 for Aunt Izzie. The parlor door swung open, but 
 she did not notice it. She did not even hear the 
 front door shut, when Papa came home to dinner. 
 
 Dr. Carr, stopping in the nail to glance over 
 his newspaper, heard the high-pitched voice run- 
 ning on in the parlor. At first he hardly listened ; 
 then these words caught his ear : 
 
 '' Oh, it was lovely, girls, perfectly delicious 1 
 I suppose I did look well, for I was all in white, 
 with my hair let down, and just one rose, you 
 know, here on top. And he leaned over me, and 
 said in a low, deep tone, ' Lady, I am a Brigand, 
 but I feel the enchanting power of beauty. You 
 are free I ' " 
 
 Dr. Carr pushed the door open a little farther. 
 Nothing was to be seen but some indistinct figures, 
 but he heard Katy's voice in an eager tone : 
 
 "Oh, do go on. What happened next? " 
 
 ''Who on earth have the children got in the 
 parlor?" he asked Aunt Izzie, whom he found in 
 the dining-room. 
 
 ''The parlor!'* cried Miss Izzie, wrathfuUy, 
 "why, what are they there for?" Then going to 
 the door, she called out, " Children, what are you 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS. 113 
 
 doing lu the parlor? Come out right away. I 
 thought you were playing out-doors." 
 
 "Imogen had a head-ache," faltered Katy. The 
 three girls came out into the hall; Clover and 
 Katy looking scared, and even the Enchanter of 
 the Brigand quite crest-fallen. 
 
 "Oh," said Aunt Izzie, grimly, "I am sorry to 
 hear that. Probably you are bilious. Would 
 you like some camphor or anything?" 
 
 "No, thank you," replied Imogen, meekly. 
 But afterwards she whispered to Katy : 
 
 "Your aunt isn't very nice, I think. She's 
 just like Jackima, that horrid old woman I told 
 you about, who lived in the Brigand's Cave and 
 did the cooking." 
 
 " I don't think you're a bit polite to tell me so,^ 
 retorted Katy, very angry at this speech. 
 
 **0h, never mind, dear, don't take it to heart I " 
 replied Imogen, sweetly. " We can't help havmg 
 relations that ain't nice, you know." 
 
 The visit was evidently not a success. Papa 
 
 was very civil to Imogen at dinner, but he watched 
 
 her closely, and Katy saw a comical twinkle in 
 
 his eye, which she did not like. Papa had very 
 
 8 
 
114 . WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 droll eyes. They saw everything, and sometimes 
 they seemed to talk almost as distinctly as his 
 tongue.- Katy began to feel low-spirited. She 
 confessed afterward that she should never have 
 got through the afternoon if she hadn't run up 
 stairs two or three times, and comforted herself 
 by reading a little in "Rosamond." 
 
 " Aren't you glad she's gone ? " whispered Clo- 
 ver, as they stood at the gate together watching 
 Imogen walk down the street. 
 
 " Oh, Clover 1 how can you?" said Katy. But 
 she gave Clover a great hug, and I think in her 
 heart she was glad. 
 
 "Katy," said Papa, next day, "you came into 
 the room then, exactly like your new friend Miss 
 Clark." 
 
 "How? I don't know what you mean," 
 answered Katy, blushing deeply. 
 
 " /Sb," said Dr. Carr ; and he got up, raising his 
 shoulders and squaring his elbows, and took a 
 few mincing steps across the room. Katy couldn't 
 help laughing, it was so funny, and so like Imo-* 
 gen. Then Papa sat down again and drew hei 
 close to him. 
 
INTIMATE FRIENDS. 115 
 
 ''My dear,'* he said, ''you're an affectionate 
 child, and I'm glad of it. But there is such a 
 thing as throwing away one's affection. I didn't 
 fancy that little girl at all yesterday. What 
 makes you like her s^ 'T^uch ? " 
 
 " I didn't like her so mu^J*^ yesterday," admit- 
 ted Katy, reluctantly. " She *> ^ great deal nicer 
 than that at school, sometimes." 
 
 " I'm glad to hear it," said her father. " For 1 
 should be sorry to think that you really admired 
 such silly manners. And what was that nonsense 
 I heard her telling you about Brigands ? " 
 
 '' It really hap — " began Katy. — Then she 
 caught Papa's eye, and bit her lip, for he looked 
 very quizzical. " Well," she went on, laughing, 
 " I suppose it didn't really all happen ; — but it was 
 ever so funny. Papa, even, if it was a make-up. 
 And Imogen's just as good-natured as can be. 
 All the girls like her." 
 
 " Make-ups are all very well," said Papa, " as 
 long as people don't try to make you believe they 
 are true. When they do that, it seems to me it 
 comes too near the edge of falsehood to be very 
 Bafe or pleasant. If I were you, Katy, I'd be a 
 
116 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 little shy of swearing eternal friendship for Miss 
 Clark. She may be good-natured, as you say, but 
 I think two or three years hence she won't seem 
 so nice to you as she does now. Give me a kiss, 
 Chick, and run away, for there's Alexander with 
 the buggy.** 
 
CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 COUSIN HELEN'S VISIT. 
 
 LITTLE knot of the school-girls were 
 walking home together one afternoon 
 in July. As they neared Dr. Carr's 
 gate, Maria Fiske exclaimed, at the sight of a pretty 
 bunch of flowers lying in the middle of the side- 
 walk : 
 
 '' Oh my 1 " she cried, " see what somebody's 
 dropped ! Fm going to have it." She stooped 
 to pick it up. But, just as her fingers touched 
 the stems, the nosegay, as if bewitched, began to 
 move. Maria made a bewildered clutch. The 
 nosegay moved faster, and at last vanished under 
 the gate, while a giggle sounded from the other 
 side of the hedge. 
 
 ''Did you see that?" shrieked Maria; "those 
 flowers ran away of themselves." 
 
 " Nonsense," said Katy, " it's those absurd chil 
 (117) 
 
118 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 dren.^ Then, opening the gate, she called; 
 *'Johnl Dorryl come out and show yourselves. 
 But nobody replied, and no one could be seen. 
 The nosegay lay on the path, however, and pick- 
 ing it up, Katy exhibited to the girls a long end 
 of black thread, tied to the stems. 
 
 " That's a very favorite trick of Johnny's," she 
 said ; "she and Dorry are always tying up flowers, 
 and putting them out on the walk to tease people. 
 Here, Maria, take 'em if you like. Though I 
 don't think John's taste in bouquets is very 
 good." 
 
 • " Isn't it splendid to have vacation come ? " said 
 one of the bigger girls. "What are you all go- 
 ing to do? We're going to the sea-side." 
 
 " Pa says he'll take Susie and me to Niagara," 
 said Maria. 
 
 "I'm going to make my aunt a visit," said 
 Alice Blair. " She lives in a real lovely place in 
 the country, and there's a pond there ; and Tom 
 (that's my cousin) says he'll teach me to row. 
 What are you going to do, Katy ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ; play round and have splen- 
 lid times," replied Katy, throwing her bag of 
 
COUSIN HELEN'S VISIT. 119 
 
 books into the air, and catching it again. But the 
 other girls looked as if they didn't think this 
 good fun at all, and as if they were sorry for her ; 
 and Katy felt suddenly that her vacation wasn't 
 going to be so pleasant as that of the rest. 
 
 ''I wish Papa would take us somewhere," shi 
 8aid to Clover, as they walked up the gravel path 
 *' All the other girls' Papas do." 
 
 "He's too busy," replied Clover. "Beside, i 
 don't think any of the rest of the girls have half 
 such good times as we. Ellen Robbins says she'd 
 give a million of dollars for such nice brothers 
 and sisters as ours to play with. And, you 
 know, Maria and Susie have awful times at home, 
 though they do go to places. Mrs. Fiske is 
 so particular. She always says ' Don't,' and they 
 haven't got any yard to their house, or anything. 
 I wouldn't change." 
 
 "Nor I," said Katy, cheering up at these words 
 of wisdom. " Oh, isn't it lovely to think there 
 won't be any school to-morrow? Vacations are 
 just splendid ! " and she gave her bag another 
 toss. It fell to the ground with a crash. 
 
120 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 *' There, youVe cracked your slate," said 
 Clover. 
 
 "No matter, I sha'n't want it again for eight 
 weeks," replied Katy, comfortably, as they ran up 
 the steps. 
 
 They burst open the front door and raced 
 up stairs, crying "Hurrah I hurrah! vacation's 
 begun. Aunt Izzie, vacation's begun I " Then 
 they stopped short, for lo ! the upper hall 
 was all in confusion. Sounds of beating and 
 dusting came from the spare room. Tables 
 and chairs were standing about ; and a cot-bed, 
 which seemed to be taking a walk all by itself, 
 had stopped short at the head of the stairs, and 
 barred the way. 
 
 "Why, how queer I" said Katy, trying to get 
 by. "What can be going to happen? Oh, there's 
 Aunt Izzie 1 Aunt Izzie, who's coming? What 
 are you moving the things out of the Blue-room 
 for?" 
 
 "Oh, gracious! is that you?" replied Aunt 
 Izzie, who looked very hot and flurried. "Now, 
 children, it's no use for you to stand there asking 
 questions ; I haven't got time to answer them* 
 
COUSIN HELEN'S VISIT. 121 
 
 Let the bedstead alone, Katy, you'll push it into 
 the wall. There, I told you so ! " as Katy gave 
 an impatient shove, ^'you've made a bad mark on 
 the paper. What a troublesome child you are I 
 Go right down stairs, both of you, and don't 
 come up this way again till after tea. I've just 
 as much as I can possibly attend to till then." 
 
 " Just tell us what's going to happen, and we 
 will," cried the children. 
 
 "Your Cousin Helen is coming to visit us," said 
 Miss Izzie, curtly, and disappeared into the Blue- 
 room. 
 
 This was news indeed. Katy and Clover ran 
 down stairs in great excitement, and after consult- 
 ing a little, retired to the Loft to talk it over in 
 peace and quiet. Cousin Helen coming ! It 
 seemed as strange as if Queen Victoria, gold 
 crown and all, had invited herself to tea. Or as 
 if some character out of a book, Robinson Crusoe, 
 say, or "Amy Herbert," had driven up with a 
 trunk and announced the intention of spending a 
 week. For to the imaginations of the children, 
 Cousin Helen was as interesting and unreal as 
 anybody in the Fairy Tales : Cinderella, or 
 
^ 122 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Blue-Beard, or dear Eed Riding-Hood herself. 
 Only there was a sort of mixture of Sunday- 
 school book in their idea of her, for Cousin Heleu 
 was very, very good. 
 
 None of them had ever seen her. Philly said 
 he was sure she hadn't any legs, because she never 
 went away from home, and lay on a sofa all the 
 time. But the rest knew that this was because 
 Cousin Helen was ill. Papa always went to visit 
 her twice a year, and he liked to talk to the chiJ 
 dren about her, and tell how sweet and patient 
 she was, and what a pretty room she lived in. 
 Katy and Clover had " played Cousin Helen " so 
 long, that now they were frightened as well as 
 glad at the idea of seeing the real one. 
 
 " Do you suppose she will want us to say hymns 
 to her all the time ? " asked Clover 
 
 " Not all the time," replied Katy, '' because you 
 know she '11 get tired, and have to take naps in the 
 afternoons. And then, of course, she reads the 
 Bible a great deal. Oh dear, how quiet we shall 
 have to be 1 I wonder how long she's going to 
 stay?" 
 
COUSIN Helen's visrT. 123 
 
 ''What do you suppose she looks like?" went 
 on Clover, 
 
 ''Something like 'Lucy,* in Mrs. Sherwood, i 
 puess, with blue eyes, and curls, and a long, 
 etmight nose. And she'll keep her hands clasped 
 so all the time, and wear 'frilled wrappers,' and 
 lie on the sofa perfectly still, and never smile, 
 but just look patient. We'll have to take off our 
 boots in the hall. Clover, and go up stairs in 
 stocking feet, so as not to make a noise, all the 
 time she stays." 
 
 "Won't it be funny I " giggled Clover, her sober 
 little face growing bright at the idea of this vari-^ 
 ation on the hymns. 
 
 The time seemed very long till the next after- 
 noon, when Cousin Helen was expected. Aunt 
 Izzie, who was in a great excitement, gave the chil- 
 dren many orders about their behavior. They were 
 to do this and that, and not to do the other. Dorry , 
 at last, announced that he wished Cousin Helen 
 would just stay at home. Clover and Elsie, who 
 had been thinking pretty much the same thing in 
 private, were glad to hear that she was on her 
 
124 WHAT KATY BID. 
 
 war to a Water Cure, and would stay only foui 
 days. 
 
 Five o'clock came. They all sat on the steps 
 waiting for the carriage. At last it drove up. 
 Papa was on the box. He motioned the children 
 to stand back. Then he helped out a nice-look- 
 ing young woman, who. Aunt Izzie told them, 
 was Cousin Helen's nurse, and then, very care- 
 fully, lifted Cousin Helen in his arms and brought 
 her in. 
 
 " Oh, there are the chicks I" were the first words 
 the children heard, in such a gay, pleasant voice. 
 **Do set me down somewhere, uncle. I want to 
 see them so much ! " 
 
 So Papa put Cousin Helen on the hall sofa. 
 The nurse fetched a pillow, and when she was 
 made comfortable. Dr. Carr called to the little 
 ones. 
 
 "Cousin Helen wants to see you," he said. 
 
 "Indeed I do," said the bright voice. "So 
 this is Katy ? Why, what a splendid tall Katy it 
 is I And this is Clover," kissing her ; " and this 
 dear little Elsie. You all look as natural as pos- 
 sible — just as if I had seen you before." And 
 
COUSIN Helen's visit. 125 
 
 she hugged them all round, not as if it was polite 
 to like them because they were relations, but as 
 if ghe had loved them and wanted them all her 
 life. 
 
 There was something in Cousin Helen's face and 
 manner, which made the children at home with her 
 at once. Even Philly , who had backed away with 
 his hands behind him, after staring hard for a 
 minute or two, came up with a sort of rush to get 
 his share of kissing. 
 
 Still, Katy's first feeling was one of disappoint- 
 ment. Cousin Helen was not at all like " Lucy," 
 in Mrs. Sherwood's story. Her nose turned up 
 the least bit in the world. She had brown hair, 
 which didn't curl, a brown skin, and bright eyes, 
 which danced when she laughed or spoke. Her 
 face was thin, but except for that you wouldn't 
 have guessed that she was sick. She didn't fold 
 her hands, and she didn't look patient, but abso- 
 lutely glad and merry. Her dress wasn't a " frilled 
 wrapper," but a sort of loose travelling thing of 
 pretty gray stuff, with a rose-colored bow, and 
 bracelets, and a round hat trimmed with a gray 
 feather. All Katy's dreams about the •* saintly 
 
126 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 mvalid** seemed to take wings and fly away. 
 But the more she watched Cousin Helen the more 
 she seemed to like her, and to feel as if she were 
 nicer than the imaginary person which she and 
 Clover had invented. 
 
 *'She looks just like other people, don't she?'* 
 whispered Cecy, who had come over to have a 
 peep at the new arrival. 
 
 "Y-e-s," replied Katy, doubtfully, ''only a 
 great, great deal prettier. " 
 
 By and by. Papa carried Cousin Helen up 
 stairs. All the children wanted to go too, but he 
 told them she was tired, and must rest. So they 
 went out doors to play till tea-time. 
 
 " Oh, do let me take up the tray," cried Katy 
 at the tea-table, as she watched Aunt Izzie getting 
 ready Cousin Helen's supper. Such a nice sup- 
 per! Cold chicken, and raspberries and cream, 
 and tea in a pretty pink-and- white china cup. 
 And such a snow-white napkin as Aunt Izzie 
 spread over the tray 1 
 
 ''No indeed," said Aunt Izzie; "you'll drop 
 it the first thing." But Katy's eyes begged so 
 
COUSIN Helen's visit. 127 
 
 hard, that Dr. Carr said, *' Yes, let her, Izzie; I 
 like to see the girls useful." 
 
 So Katy, proud of the commission, took the 
 tray and carried it carefully across the hall. 
 There was a bowl of flowers on the table. As she 
 passed, she was struck with a bright idea. She 
 set down the tray, and picking out a rose, laid 
 it on the napkin beside the saucer of crimson 
 raspberries. It looked very pretty, and Katy 
 smiled to herself with pleasure. 
 
 "What are you stopping for?" called Aunt 
 Izzie, from the dining-room. *' Do be careful, 
 Katy, I really think Bridget had better take it." 
 
 "Oh no, nol" protested Katy, "Tm most up 
 already." And she sped up stairs as fast as she 
 could go. Luckless speed 1 She had just reached 
 the door of the Blue-room, when she tripped upon 
 her boot-lace, which, as usual, was dangling, made 
 i misstep, and stumbled. She caught at the 
 door to save herself; the door flew open; and 
 Katy, with the tray, cream, raspberries, rose 
 and all, descended in a confused heap upon the 
 carpet. 
 
128 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 '*I told you sol" exclaimed Aunt Izzie from 
 the bottom of the stairs. 
 
 Katy never forgot how kind Cousin Helen was 
 on this occasion. She was in bed, and was of 
 course a good deal startled at the sudden crash 
 and tumble on her floor. But after one little 
 jump, nothing could have been sweeter than the 
 way in which she comforted poor crest-fallen Katy, 
 and made so merry over the accident, that even 
 Aunt Izzie almost forgot to scold. The broken 
 dishes were piled up and the carpet made clean 
 again, while Aunt Izzie prepared another tray just 
 as nice as the first. 
 
 *' Please let Katy bring it up 1 " pleaded Cousin 
 Helen, in her pleasant voice, "I am sure she will 
 be careful this time. And Katy, I want just such 
 another rose on the napkin. I guess that was 
 your doing — wasn't it ? " 
 
 Katy was careful. — This time all went well. 
 The tray was placed safely on a little table beside 
 the bed, and Katy sat watching Cousin Helen eat 
 her supper with a warm, loving feeling at her 
 heart. I think we are scarcely ever so grateful 
 
COTJSIN HELEN'S VISIT, 129 
 
 fco people as when they help us to get back our 
 own self-esteem. 
 
 Cousin Helen hadn't much appetite, though she 
 declared everything was delicious. Katy could 
 see that she was very tired. 
 
 *'Now," she said, when she had finished, '^if 
 you'll shake up this pillow, so; — and move this 
 other pillow a little, I think I will settle myself to 
 sleep. Thanks — that's just right. Why, Katy 
 dear, you are a born nurse. Now kiss me. Good- 
 night ! To-morrow we will have a nice talk." 
 
 Katy went down stairs very happy. *^ Cousin 
 Helen's perfectly lovely," she told Clover. " And 
 she's got on the most beautiful night-gown, all lace 
 and ruffles. It's just like a night-gown in a book." 
 
 "Isn't it wicked to care about clothes when 
 you're sick ? " questioned Cecy • 
 
 '' I don't believe Cousin Helen could do anything 
 wicked," said Katy. 
 
 "I told Ma that she had on bracelets, and Ma 
 said she feared your cousin was a worldly person," 
 retorted Cecy, primming up her lips. 
 
 Katy and Clover were quite distressed at this 
 
130 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 opinion. They talked about it while they wore 
 undressing. 
 
 '' I mean to ask Cousin Helen to-morrow,'' said 
 Katy. 
 
 Next morning the children got up very early. 
 They were so glad that it was vacation 1 If it 
 hadn't been, they would have been forced to go to 
 school without seeing Cousin Helen, for she didn't 
 wake till late. They grew so impatient of the 
 delay, and went up stairs so often to listen at the 
 door, and see if she were moving, that Aunt 
 Izzie finally had to order them off. Katy rebelled 
 against this order a good deal, but she consoled 
 herself by going into the garden and picking the 
 prettiest flowers she could find, to give to Cousin 
 Helen the moment she should see her. 
 
 When Aunt Izzie let her go up. Cousin Helen 
 was lying on the sofa all dressed for the day in a 
 fresh blue muslin, with blue ribbons, and cunning 
 bronze slippers with rosettes on the toea. The 
 sofa had been wheeled round with its back to the 
 light. There was a cushion with a pretty fluted 
 cover, that Katy had never seen before, and sev 
 eral other things were scattered about, which gave 
 
Covisin Helen was lying on the sofa, all dressed for the daj'. — Page 130. 
 
COUSIN HELEN'S VISIT. 131 
 
 the room quite a different air. All the hpuse was 
 neat, but somehow Aunt Izzie's rooms never were 
 pretty. Children's eyes are quick to perceive such 
 things, and Katy saw at once that the Blue-room 
 had never looked like this. 
 
 Cousin Helen was white and tired, but her eyes 
 and smile were as bright as ever. She was de- 
 lighted with the flowers, which Katy presented 
 rather shyly. 
 
 " Oh, how lovely ! " she said ; " I must put them 
 in water right away. Katy dear, don't you want 
 to bring that little vase on the bureau and set it 
 on this chair beside me ? And please pour a little 
 water into it first." 
 
 '^ What a beauty ! " cried Katy, as she lifted the 
 graceful white cup swung on a gilt stand. '* Is it 
 yours. Cousin Helen?" 
 
 ''Yes, it is my pet vase. It stands on a little 
 table beside me at home, and I fancied that the 
 Water Cure would seem more home-like if I had 
 it with me there, so I brought it along. But why 
 do you look so puzzled, Katy? Does it seem 
 queer that a vase should travel about in a trunk ? " 
 
 ''No," said Katy, slowly, "I was only thinking 
 
132 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 — Cousin Helen, is it worldly to have pretty 
 things when you're sick ? " 
 
 Cousin Helen laughed heartily. 
 
 "What put that idea into your head?" sh^ 
 asked. 
 
 " Cecy said so when I told her about your beau- 
 tiful night-gown." 
 
 Cousin Helen laughed again. 
 
 "Well," she said, "I'll tell you what I think, 
 Katy . Pretty things are no more * worldly ' than 
 ugly ones, except when they spoil us by making us 
 vain, or careless of the comfort of other people. 
 And sickness is such a disagreeable thing in itself, 
 that unless sick people take great pains, they soon 
 grow to be eyesores to themselves and everybody 
 about them. I don't think it is possible for an 
 mvalid to be too particular. And when one haj 
 the back-ache, and the head-ache, and the all-over 
 ache," she added, smiling, "there isn't much dan- 
 ger of growing vain because of a ruffle more o'' 
 less on one's night-gown, or a bit of bright rib 
 bon." 
 
 Then she began to arrange the flowers, toucK 
 
COUSIN HELEN'S VISIT. 133 
 
 ing each separate one gently, and as if she loved 
 it. 
 
 " What a queer noise 1 " she exclaimed, suddenly 
 stopping. 
 
 It was queer — a sort of snuffling and snorting 
 sound, as if a walrus or a sea-horse were prom- 
 enading up and down in the hall. Katy opened 
 the door. Behold! there were John and Dorry, 
 very red in the face from flattening their noses 
 against the key-hole, in a vain attempt to see if 
 Cousin Helen were up and ready to receive com- 
 pany. 
 
 " Oh, let them come in ! " cried Cousin Helen 
 from her sofa. 
 
 So they came in, followed, before long, by 
 Clover and Elsie. Such a merry morning as 
 they had I Cousin Helen proved to possess a per- 
 fect genius for story-telling, and for suggesting 
 games which could be played about her sofa, and 
 did not make more noise than she could bear. 
 Aunt Izzie, dropping in about eleven o'clock, found 
 them having such a good time, that almost before 
 she knew it, she was drawn into the game too. 
 Nobody had evei- heard of such a tLiiig before ^ 
 
134 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 There sat Aunt Izzie on the floor, with three long 
 lamp-lighters stuck in her hair, playing, " I'm a 
 genteel Lady, always genteel," in the joUiest man- 
 ner possible. The children were so enchanted at 
 the spectacle, that they could hardly attend to 
 the game, and were always forgetting how many 
 ^ horns " they had. Clover privately thought that 
 Cousin Helen must be a witch ; and Papa, when he 
 came home at noon, said almost the same thing. 
 
 "What have you been doing to them, Helen?" 
 he inquired, as he opened the door, and saw the 
 merry circle on the carpet. Aunt Izzie's hair 
 was half pulled down, and Philly was rolling 
 over and over in convulsions of laughter. But 
 Cousin Helen said she hadn't done anything, and 
 pretty soon Papa was on the floor too, playing 
 away as fast as the rest. 
 
 ''I must put a stop to this," he cried, when 
 everybody was tired of laughing, and everybody's 
 head was stuck as full of paper quills as a porcu- 
 pine's back. "Cousin Helen will be worn out. 
 Run away, all of you, and don't come near this 
 door again till the clock strikes four. Do you 
 hear, chicks ? Run — run 1 Shoo 1 shoo 1 " 
 
COUSIN HELENAS VISIT. 135 
 
 The children scuttled away like a brood of 
 fowls — all but Katy. ^'Oh, Pa^fe, I'll be so 
 quiet I " she pleaded. " Mightn't I stay just till 
 the dinner-bell rings ? " 
 
 ''Do let her ! " said Cousin Helen, so Papa said 
 Tes." 
 
 Katy sat on the floor holding Cousin Helen's 
 hand, and listening to her talk with Papa. It in- 
 terested her, though it was about things and 
 people she did not know. 
 
 "How is Alex? " asked Dr. Carr, at length. 
 
 "Quite well now," replied Cousin Helen, with 
 one of her brightest looks. "He was run down 
 and tired in the Spring, and we were a little 
 anxious about him, but Emma persuaded him to 
 take a fortnight's vacation, and he came back all 
 right." 
 
 " Do you see them often ? " 
 
 "Almost every day. And little Helen comes 
 every day, you know, for her lessons." 
 
 " Is she as pretty as she used to be ? " 
 
 " Oh yes — prettier, I think. She is a lovely 
 little creature : having her so much with me is one 
 of my greatest treats. Alex tries tc think that she 
 
136 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 looks a little as I used to. But that is a compli-i 
 ment so great, that I dare not appropriate it." 
 
 Dr. Carr stooped and kissed Cousin Helen as 
 if he could not help it. "My dear child," ho 
 said. That was all ; but something in the ton€ 
 made Katy curious. 
 
 "Papa," she said, after dinner, "who is Alex, 
 that you and Cousin Helen were talking about?" 
 
 "Why, Katy? What makes you want to 
 know ? " 
 
 " I can't exactly tell — only Cousin Helen looked 
 so ; — and you kissed her ; — and I thought per- 
 haps it was something interesting." 
 
 " So it is," said Dr. Carr, drawing her on to his 
 knee. "I've a mind to tell you about it, Katy, 
 because you're old enough to see how beautiful it 
 is, and wise enough (I hope) not to chatter or 
 ask questions. Alex is the name of somebody 
 who, long ago, when Cousin Helen was well and 
 strong, she loved, and expected to marry.'* 
 
 " Oh I why didn't she? " cried Katy. 
 
 " She met with a dreadful accident," continued 
 Dr. Carr. "For a long time they thought she 
 would die. Then she grew slowI<^ "i^etter, and the 
 
COUSIN HELEN'S VISIT, 137 
 
 doctors told her that she might live a good many 
 years, but that she would have to lie on her sofa 
 always, and be helpless, and a cripple. 
 
 "Alex felt dreadfully when he heard this. He 
 wanted to marry Cousin Helen just the same, and 
 be her nurse, and take care of her always ; but 
 she would not consent. She broke the engage- 
 ment, and told him that some day she hoped he 
 would love somebody else well enough to marry 
 her. So after a good many years, he did, and now 
 he and his wife live next door to Cousin Helen, and 
 are her dearest friends. Their little girl is named 
 * Helen.' All their plans are talked over with 
 her, and there is nobody in the world they think 
 80 much of." 
 
 "But doesn't it make Cousin Helen feel bad, 
 when she sees them walking about and enjoying 
 themselves, and she can't move?" asked Katy. 
 
 "No," said Dr. Carr, "it doesn't, because 
 Cousin Helen is half an angel already, and loves 
 other people better than herself. I'm very glad 
 she could come here for once. She's an example 
 to lis all, Katy, and I couldn't ask anything better 
 
138 * WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 than to have my little girls take pattern after 
 her." 
 
 **It must be awful to be sick/' soliloquized 
 Katy, after Papa was gone. *' Why, if I had to 
 stay in bed a whole week — I should die^ I know 
 I should.'' 
 
 Poor Katy I It seemed to her, as it does to 
 almost all young people, that there is nothing in 
 the world so easy as to die, the moment things 
 go wrong 1 
 
 This conversation with Papa made Cousin Helen 
 doubly interesting in Katy's eyes. ''It was just 
 like something in a book," to be in the same 
 house with the heroine of a love-story so sad and 
 sweet. 
 
 The play that afternoon was much interrupted, 
 for every few minutes somebody had to run in 
 and see if it wasn't four o'clock. The instant 
 the hour came, all six children galloped up stairs. 
 
 ''I think we'll tell stories this time," said 
 Cousin Helen. 
 
 So they told stories. Cousin Helen's were 
 the best of all. There was one of them about a 
 p»obber, which aont delightful chills creeping down 
 
OOUSm HELEN'S VISIT. 139 
 
 all their backs. All but Philly. He was so ex- 
 cited, that he grew warlike. 
 
 *' I ain't afraid of robbers," he declared, strut- 
 ting up and down. '* When they come, I shall 
 just cut them in two with my sword which 
 Papa gave me. They did come once. I did cut 
 them in two — three, five, eleven of 'em. You'll 
 see 1 " 
 
 But that evening, after the younger children 
 were gone to bed, and Katy and Clover were sit- 
 ting in the Blue-room, a lamentable howling was 
 heard from the nursery. Clover ran to see what 
 was the matter. Behold — there was Phil, sit- 
 ting up in bed, and crying for help. 
 
 *' There's robbers under the bed," he sobbed; 
 ** ever so many robbers." 
 
 *' Why no, Philly ! " said Clover, peeping under 
 the valance to satisfy him ; " there isn't anybody 
 there." 
 
 ''Yes, there is, I tell you," declared Phil, hold- 
 ing her tight. ^ I heard one. They were chetO' 
 ing my india-rubbers,^^ 
 
 ^ Poor little fellow ! " said Cousin Helen, when 
 Clover, having pacified Phil, came back to report. 
 
140 WHAT KATT DUj. 
 
 *^It's a warning against robber stories. But this 
 one ended so well, that I didn't think of anybody's 
 being frightened." 
 
 It was no use, after this, for Aunt Izzie to make 
 rules about going into the Blue-room. She might 
 as well have ordered flies to keep away from a 
 sugar-bowl. By hook or by crook, the children 
 would get up stairs. Whenever Aunt Izzie went 
 in, she was sure to find them there, just as close 
 to Cousin Helen as they could get. And Cousin 
 Helen begged her not to interfere. 
 
 "We have only three or four days to be to- 
 gether," she said. "Let them come as much as 
 they like. It won't hurt me a bit." 
 
 Little Elsie clung with a passionate love to this 
 new friend. Cousin Helen had sharp eyes. She 
 saw the wistful look in Elsie's face at once, and 
 took special pains to be sweet and tender to her. 
 This preference made Katy jealous. She couldn't 
 bear to share her cousin with anybody. 
 
 When the last evening came, and they went up 
 after tea to the Blue-room, Cousin Helen was 
 opening a box which had just come by Ex^ 
 press. 
 
COUSIN HELEN'S VISIT. 141 
 
 **It is a Good-by Box,*' she said. ** All of you 
 must sit down in a row, and when I hide my 
 hands behind me, so, you must choose in turn 
 which you will take." 
 
 So they all chose in turn, ^^ Which hand will 
 you have, the right or the left?" and Cousin 
 Helen, with the air of a wise fairy, brought out 
 from behind her pillow something pretty for each 
 one. First came a vase exactly like her own, 
 which Katy had admired so much. Katy screamed 
 with delight as it was placed in her hands : 
 
 ^ Oh, how lovely 1 how lovely ! " she cried 
 Til keep it as long as I live and breathe." 
 
 "If you do, it'll be the first time you ever kept 
 anything for a week without breaking it," re- 
 marked Aunt Izzie. 
 
 Next came a pretty purple pocket-book for 
 Clover. It was just what she wanted, for she had 
 lost her porte-monnaie. Then a cunning little 
 locket on a bit of velvet ribbon, which Cousin 
 Helen tied round Elsie's neck. 
 
 ''There's a piece of my hair in it," she said. 
 ''Why, Elsie, darling, what's the matter? Don't 
 cry sol" 
 
142 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 ** Oh, you're s-o beautiful, and s-o sweet I ^ 
 sobbed Elsie ; " and you're go-o-ing away." 
 
 Dorry had a box of dominoes, and John a sol- 
 itaire board. For Phil there appeared a book — 
 '' The History of the Robber Cat." 
 
 *' That will remind you of the night when the 
 thieves came and chewed your india-rubbers," 
 said Cousin Helen, with a mischievous smile. 
 They all laughed, Phil loudest of alU 
 
 Nobody was forgotten. There was a note-book 
 for Papa, and a set of ivory tablets for Aunt Izzie* 
 Even Cecy was remembered. Her present was 
 ''The Book of Golden Deeds," with all sorts of 
 stories about boys and girls who had done brave 
 and good things. She was almost too pleased to 
 speak. 
 
 " Oh, thank you. Cousin Helen 1 " she said at 
 last. Cecy wasn't a cousin, but she and the Carr 
 children were in the habit of sharing their aunts 
 and uncles, and relations generally, as they did 
 their other good things. 
 
 Next day came the sad parting. All the little 
 ones stood at the gate, to wave their pocket-hand- 
 kerchiefs as the carriage drove away . When it 
 
COUSBSr HELEN'S VISIT. 143 
 
 was quite out of sight, Katy rushed off to ** weep 
 a little weep," all by herself. 
 
 " Papa said he wished we were all like Cousin 
 Helen," she thought, as she wiped her eyes, "and 
 I mean to try, though I don't suppose if I tried a 
 thousand years I should ever get to be half so 
 good. I'll study, and keep my things in order, 
 and be ever so kind to the little ones. Dear me — 
 if only Aunt Izzie was Cousin Helen, how easy it 
 would be 1 Never mind — I'll think about her all 
 the time, and I'll begin to-morrow.'' 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 rO-MORROW. 
 
 |0-MORKOW I will begin,'* thought 
 Katy, as she dropped asleep that night. 
 How often we all do so I And what a 
 pity it is that when morning comes and to-morrow 
 is to-day, we so frequently wake up feeling quite 
 diflferently ; careless or impatient, and not a bit 
 inclined to do the fine things we planned over- 
 night. 
 
 Sometimes it seems as if there must be wicked 
 little imps in the world, who are kept tied up 
 so long as the sun shines, but who creep into 
 our be<»-rooms when we are asleep, to tease us 
 and ruffle our tempers. Else, why, when we go 
 to rest good-natured and pleasant, should we 
 wake up so cross? Now there was Katy. Her 
 last sleepy thought was an intention to be an 
 angel from that time on, and as much like Cousin 
 (144) 
 
TO-MORROW. 145 
 
 Helen as she could; and when she opened her 
 eyes she was all out of sorts, and as fractious as a 
 bear 1 Old Mary said that she got out of bed on 
 the wrong side. I wonder, by the way, if any- 
 body will ever be wise enough to tell us which 
 side that is, so that we may always choose the 
 other? How comfortable it would be if they 
 could ! 
 
 You know how, if we begin the day in a cross 
 mood, all sorts of unfortunate accidents seem to 
 occur to add to our vexations. The very first 
 thing Katy did this morning was to break her 
 precious vase — the one Cousin Helen had given 
 her. 
 
 It was standing on the bureau with a little 
 cluster of blush-roses in it. The bureau had a 
 swing-glass. While Katy was brushing her 
 hair, the glass tipped a little so that she could not 
 see. At a good-humored moment, this accident 
 wouldn't have troubled her much. But being out 
 of temper to begin with, it made her angry. She 
 gave the glass a violent push. The lower part 
 swung forward, there was a smash, and the first 
 thing Katy knew, the blush-roses lay scattered all 
 
 10 
 
146 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 over the floor, and Cousin Helen's pretty present 
 was ruined. 
 
 Katy just sat down on the carpet and cried aa 
 hard as if she had been Phil himself. Aunt Izzie 
 heard her lamenting, and came in. 
 
 Tm very sorry," she said, picking up the 
 broken glass, "but it's no more than I expected, 
 you're so careless, Katy. Now don't sit there in 
 that foolish way 1 Get up and dress yourself. 
 You'll be late to breakfast." 
 
 ''What's the matter?" asked Papa, noticing 
 Katy's red eyes as she took her seat at the table. 
 
 'Tve broken my vase," said Katy, dolefully. 
 
 " It was extremely careless of you to put it in 
 such a dangerous place," said her aunt. "You 
 might have known that the glass* would swing 
 and knock it oflF." Then, seeing a big tear fall in 
 the middle of Katy's plate, she added: "Really, 
 Katy, you're too big to behave like a baby. Why 
 Dorry would be ashamed to do so. Pray control 
 yourself 1" 
 
 This snub did not improve Katy's temper. She 
 went on with her breakfast in sulky silence. 
 
 " What are you all going to do to-day? " asked 
 
TO-MORROW. 147 
 
 Dr. Carr, hoping to give things a more cheerful 
 turn, 
 
 '^ Swing 1 " cried John and Dorry both togethei . 
 ** Alexander's put us up a splendid one in the 
 wood-shed." 
 
 ^ No you're not," said Aunt Izzie, in a positive 
 tone, "the swing is not to be used till to-mor- 
 row. Remember that, children. Not till to-mor- 
 row. And not then, unless I give you leave." 
 
 This was unwise of Aunt Izzie. She would 
 better have explained farther. The truth was, 
 that Alexander, in putting up the swing, had 
 cracked one of the staples which fastened it to the 
 roof. He meant to get a new one in the course 
 of the day, and, meantime, he had cautioned Miss 
 Carr to let no one use the swing, because it really 
 was not safe. If she had told this to the children, 
 all would have been right ; but Aunt Izzie's theory 
 was, that young people must obey their elders 
 without explanation. 
 
 John, and Elsie, and Dorry, all pouted when 
 they heard this order. Elsie recovered her good- 
 numor first. 
 
 ''I don't care," she said, "'cause I'm go^vg to 
 
148 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 be very busy ; Tve got to write a letter to Cousin 
 Helen about somefing." (Elsie never could quite 
 pronounce the th,) 
 
 '•What?" asked Clover. 
 
 •*0h, someiSng," answered Elsie, wagging hei 
 head mysteriously. "None of the rest of you 
 must know, Cousin Helen said so, it's a secret she 
 and me has got." 
 
 " I don't believe Cousin Helen said so at all," 
 said Katy, crossly. " She wouldn't tell secrets to 
 a silly little girl like you." 
 
 '* Yes she would too," retorted Elsie, angrily. 
 ^ She said I was just as good to trust as if I was 
 ever so big. And she said I was her pet. So 
 there I Katy Carr ! " 
 
 "Stop disputing," said Aunt Izzie. "Katy, 
 your top-drawer is all out of order. I never saw 
 anything look so badly. Go up stairs at once 
 and straighten it, before you do anything else. 
 Children, you must keep in the shade this morn- 
 ing. It's too hot for you to be running about in 
 the sun. Elsie, go into the kitchen and tell 
 Debby I want to speak to her." 
 
 "Yes," said Elsie, in an important tone. "And 
 
TO-MORROW. 149 
 
 afterwards Tm coming back to write my letter to 
 Cousin Helen/' 
 
 Katy went slowly up stairs, dragging one foot 
 after the other. It was a warm, languid day. 
 Her head ached a little, and her eyes smarted and 
 felt heavy from crying so much. Everything 
 seemed dull and hateful. She said to herself, that 
 Aunt Izzie was very unkind to make her work in 
 vacation, and she pulled the top-drawer open with 
 a disgusted groan. 
 
 It must be confessed that Miss Izzie was right. 
 A bureau-drawer could hardly look worse than 
 this one did. It reminded one of the White 
 Knight's recipe for a pudding, which began with 
 blotting-paper, and ended with sealing-wax and 
 gunpowder. All sorts of things were mixed to- 
 gether, as if somebody had put in a long stick, 
 and stirred them well up. There were books and 
 paint-boxes and bits of scribbled paper, and lead- 
 pencils and brushes. Stocking-legs had come un- 
 rolled, and twisted themselves about pocket-hand- 
 kerchiefs, and ends of ribbon, and linen collars. 
 Ruffles, all crushed out of shape, stuck up from 
 under the heavier things, and sundry little paper 
 
150 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 boxes lay empty on top, the treasures they once 
 held having sifted down to the bottom of the 
 drawer, and disappeared beneath the general mass. 
 
 It took much time and patience to bring order 
 out of this confusion. But Katy knew that Aunt 
 Tzzie would be up by and by, and she dared not 
 ^top till all was done. By the time it was 
 finished, she was very tired. Going down stairs, 
 she met Elsie coming up with a slate in her hand, 
 which, as soon as she saw Katy, she put behind 
 her. 
 
 **You mustn't look," she said, *'it's my letter 
 to Cousin Helen. Nobody but me knows the 
 secret. It's all written, and I'm going to send it 
 to the office. See — there's a stamp on it;" and 
 she exhibited a corner of the slate. Sure enough, 
 there was a stamp stuck on the frame. 
 
 "You little goose 1" said Katy, impatiently, 
 ^ you can't send that to the post-office. Here, give 
 me the slate. I'll copy what youVe written on 
 paper, and Papa '11 give you an envelope." 
 
 "No, no," cried Elsie, struggling, "you mustn't I 
 You'll see what I've said, and Cousm Helen sdd 
 I wasn't to tell. It's a secret. I^et go of my 
 
TO-MORROW. 151 
 
 slate, I say I I'll tell Cousin Helen what a mean 
 girl you are, and then she won't love you a bit." 
 
 '*There, then, take your old slate I " said Katy, 
 giving her a vindictive push. Elsie slipped, 
 screamed, caught at the banisters, missed them, 
 and rolling over and over, fell with a thump 
 on the hall floor. 
 
 It wasn't much of a fall, only half-a-dozen steps, 
 but the bump was a hard one, and Elsie roared 
 as if she had been half killed. Aunt Izzie and 
 Mary came rushing to the spot. 
 
 ''Katy — pushed — me," sobbed Elsie. ''She 
 wanted me to tell her my secret, and I wouldn't. 
 She's a bad, naughty girl ! " 
 
 "Well, Katy Carr, I should think you'd be 
 ashamed of yourself," said Aunt Izzie, "wreaking 
 your temper on your poor little sister I I think 
 your Cousin Helen will be surprised when she 
 hears this. There, there, Elsie ! Don't cry any 
 more, dear. Come up stairs with me. I'll put 
 on some arnica, and Katy sha'n't hurt you again.'* 
 
 So they went up stairs. Katy, left below, felt 
 very miserable : repentant, defiant, discontented, 
 and sulky all at once. She knew in her heart that 
 
152 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 she had not meant to hurt Elsie, and was thor 
 oughly ashamed of that push ; but Aunt Izzie'i 
 hint about telling Cousin Helen, had made her too 
 angry to allow of her confessing this to herself or 
 anybody else. 
 
 " I don't care ! " she murmured, choking back hei 
 tears. ''Elsie is a real cry-baby, anyway. And 
 Aunt Izzie always takes her part. Just because I 
 told the little silly not to go and send a great 
 heavy slate to the post-office I " 
 
 She went out by the side-door into the yard. 
 As she passed the shed, the new swing caught her 
 eye. 
 
 ''How exactly like Aunt Izzie," she thought, 
 *' ordering the children not to swing till she gives 
 them leave. I suppose she thinks it's too hot, or 
 something, /sha'n't mind her, anyhow." 
 
 She seated herself in the swing. It was a first 
 rate one, with a broad comfortable seat, and thick 
 new ropes. The seat hung just the right distance 
 from the floor. Alexander was a capital hand at 
 putting up swings, and the wood-shed the nicest 
 possible spot in which to have one. 
 
 It was a big place, with a very high roof. There 
 
TO-MORROW. 153 
 
 was not much wood left in it just now, and the 
 little there was, was piled neatly about the sides of 
 the shed, so as to leave plenty of room. The place 
 felt cool and dark, and the motion of the swing 
 seemed to set the breeze blowing. It waved 
 Katy's hair like a great fan, and made her 
 dreamy and quiet. All sorts of sleepy ideas be- 
 gan to flit through her brain. Swinging to and 
 fro like the pendulum of a great clock, she gradu- 
 ally rose higher and higher, driving herself along 
 by the motion of her body, and striking the floor 
 smartly with her foot, at every sweep. Now she 
 was at the top of the high arched door. Then 
 she could almost touch the cross-beam above it, 
 and through the small square window could see 
 pigeons sitting and pluming themselves on the 
 eaves of the barn, and white clouds blowing over 
 the blue sky. She had never swung so high be- 
 fore. It was like flying, she thought, and she 
 bent and curved more strongly in the seat, trying 
 to send herself yet higher, and graze the roof with 
 her toes. 
 
 Suddenly, at the very highest point of the 
 sweep, there was a sharp noise of cracking. Tb« 
 
154 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 swing gave a violent twist, spun half round, and 
 tossed Katy into the air. She clutched the rope, — 
 felt it dragged from her grasp, — then, down, 
 — down — down — she fell. All grew dark, and 
 she knew no more. 
 
 When she opened her eyes she was lying on the 
 sofa in the dining-room. Clover was kneeling be- 
 side her with a pale, scared face, and Aunt Izzie 
 was dropping something cold and wet on her fore- 
 head. 
 
 ^What's the matter?" said Katy, faintly. 
 
 ^ Oh, she's alive — she's alive 1 " and Clover put 
 her arms round Katy's neck and sobbed. 
 
 *' Hush, dear ! " Aunt Izzie's voice sounded un- 
 usually gentle. *' You've had a bad tumble, Katy. 
 Don't you recollect? " 
 
 '^A tumble? Oh, yes — out of the swing,** 
 said Katy, as it all came slowly back to her. 
 •'Did the rope break, Aunt Izzie? I can't re- 
 member about it." 
 
 "No, Katy, not the rope. The staple drew out 
 of the roof. It was a cracked one, and not safe. 
 Don't you recollect my telling you not to swing 
 |b>-(jAy ? Did you forget ? " 
 
TO-MORROW. 155 
 
 '*No, Aunt Izzie — I didn't forget. I — "" but 
 here Katy broke down. She closed her eyes, 
 and big tears rolled from under the lids. 
 
 " Don't cry," whispered Clover, crying herself, 
 •^please don't. Aunt Izzie isn't going to scold 
 you." But Katy was too weak and shaken not to 
 cry. 
 
 " I think I'd like to go up stairs and lie on the 
 bed," she said. But when she tried to get off the 
 sofa, everything swam before her, and she fell 
 back again on the pillow. 
 
 " Why, I can't stand up ! " she gasped, looking 
 very much frightened. 
 
 ^'I'm afraid you've given yourself a sprain 
 somewhere," said Aunt Izzie, who looked rather 
 frightened herself. ^^ You'd better lie still a 
 while, dear, before you to try to move. Ah, 
 here's the doctor ! well, I am glad." And she 
 went forward to meet him. It wasn't Papa, but 
 Dr. Alsop, who lived quite near them. 
 
 "I am so relieved that you could come," Aunt 
 Izzie said. ''My brother is gone out of town not 
 to return till to-morrow, and one of the little 
 girls has had a bad fall." 
 
156 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Dr. Alsop sat down beside the sofa and counted 
 Katy's pulse. Then he began feeling all ovei 
 her. 
 
 '' Can you move this leg? " he asked, 
 
 Katy gave a feeble kick. 
 
 ^' And this ?'^ 
 
 The kick was a good deal more feeble. 
 
 •* Did that hurt you ? " asked Dr. Alsop, seeing 
 a look of pain on her face. 
 
 " Yes, a little,*' replied Katy, trying hard not 
 to cry. 
 
 **In your back, eh? Was the pain high up 
 or low down ? '' And the doctor punched Katy's 
 Bpine for some minutes, making her squirm un- 
 easily. 
 
 ^ I'm afraid she's done some mischief," he said 
 at last, "but it's impossible to tell yet exactly 
 what. It may be only a twist, or a slight 
 sprain," he added, seeing the look of terror on 
 Katy's face. "You'd better get her up stairs 
 and undress her as soon as you can. Miss Carr. 
 I'll leave a prescription to rub her with." And 
 Dr. Alsop took out a bit of paper and began to 
 write. 
 
TO-MORROW. 157 
 
 •'Oh, must I go to bed?" said Katy. "How 
 long will I have to stay there, doctor?" 
 
 " That depends on how fast you get well," re- 
 plied the doctor; ''not long, I hope. Perhaps 
 only a few days." 
 
 ''A few days ! " repeated Katy, in a despairing 
 tone. 
 
 After the doctor was gone, Aunt Izzie and 
 Debby lifted Katy, and carried her slowly up stairs 
 It was not easy, for every motion hurt her, 
 and the sense of being helpless hurt most of 
 all. She couldn't help crying after she was un- 
 dressed and put into bed. It aU seemed so dread- 
 ful and strange. If only Papa was here, she 
 thought. But Dr. Carr had gone into the coun- 
 try to see somebody who was very sick, and 
 couldn't possibly be back till to-morro^r. 
 
 Such a long, long afternoon as that was ! Aunt 
 Izzie sent up some dinner, but Katy couldn't eat. 
 Her lips were parched and her head ached vio- 
 lently. The sun began to pour in, the room grew 
 warm. Flies buzzed in the window, and tormented 
 her by lighting on her face. Little prickles of 
 pain ran up and down her back. She lay with 
 
158 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 her eyes shut, because it hurt to keep them open, 
 and all sorts of uneasy thoughts went rushing 
 through her mind. 
 
 "Perhaps, if my back is really sprained, I shall 
 have to lie here as much as a week," she said to 
 herself. " Oh dear, dear I I carCt. The vacation 
 is only eight weeks, and I was going to do such 
 lovely things ! How can people be so patient as 
 Cousin Helen .when they have to lie still? Won't 
 she be sorry when she hears I Was it really 
 yesterday that she went away ? It seems a year. 
 If only I hadn't got into that nasty old swing 1 " 
 And then Katy began to imagine how it would 
 have been if she hadvUt^ and how she and Clover 
 had meant to go to Paradise that afternoon. They 
 might have been there under the cool trees now. 
 As these thoughts ran through her mind, her head 
 grew hotter and her position in the bed more un- ' 
 comfortable. 
 
 Suddenly she became conscious that the glaring 
 light from the window was shaded, and that the 
 wind seemed to be blowing freshly over her. She 
 opened her heavy eyes. The blinds were shut, 
 
TO-MORROW. 15d 
 
 and there beside the bed sat little Elsie, fanning 
 her with a palm-leaf fan. 
 
 *'Did I wake you up, Katy?" she asked in a 
 timid voice. 
 
 Katy looked at her with startled, amazed eyes 
 
 ''Don't be frightened," said Elsie, "I won't dis- 
 turb you. Johnny and me are so sorry you're 
 sick," and her little lips trembled. "But we 
 mean to keep real quiet, and never bang the nur- 
 sery door, or make noises on the stairs, till you're 
 all well again. And I've brought you somefing 
 real nice. Some of it's from John, and some from 
 me. It's because you got tumbled out of the 
 swing. See — " and Elsie pointed triumphantly to 
 a chair, which she had pulled up close to the bed, 
 and on which were solemnly set forth : 1st. A 
 pewter tea-set; 2d. A box with a glass lid, on 
 which flowers were painted ; 3d. A jointed doll ; 
 4th. A transparent slate; and lastly, two new 
 lead pencils 1 
 
 ''They're all yours — yours to keep," said gen- 
 erous little Elsie. "You can have Pikery, too, if 
 you want. Only he's pretty big, and I'm afraid 
 
160 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 he'd be lonely without me. Don't you like the 
 fings, Katy ? They're real pretty 1 " 
 
 It seemed to Katy as if the hottest sort of a coal 
 of fire was burning into the top of her head as she 
 looked at the treasures on the chair, and then at 
 Elsie's face all lighted up with affectionate self- 
 sacrifice. She tried to speak, but began to. cry 
 instead, which frightened Elsie very much. 
 
 "Does it hurt you so bad?" she asked, crymg, 
 too, from sympathy. 
 
 "Oh, no! it isn't that,'' sobbed Katy, "but I 
 was so cross to you this morning, Elsie, and 
 pushed you. Oh, please forgive me, please do 1 " 
 
 " Why it's got well I '* said Elsie, surprised. 
 " Aunt Izzie put a fing out of a bottle on it, and 
 the bump all went away. Shall I go and ask her 
 to put some on you too — I will." And she ran 
 toward the door. 
 
 " Oh, no ! " cried Katie, " don't go away, Elsie 
 Come here and kiss me, instead." 
 
 Elsie turned as if doubtful whether this invita- 
 tion could be meant for her. Katy held out her 
 arms. Elsie ran right into them, and the big 
 sister and the little, exchanged an embrace which 
 
TO-MORROW. 161 
 
 seemed to bring their hearts closer together than 
 they had ever been before. 
 
 "You're the most precious little darling," mur- 
 mured Katy, clasping Elsie tight. "IVe been 
 real horrid to you, Elsie. But I'll never be again. 
 You shall play with me and Clover, and Cecy, 
 just as much as you like, and write notes in all 
 the post-offices, and everything else." 
 
 '* Oh, goody ! goody ! " cried Elsie, executing 
 little skips of transport. "How sweet you are, 
 Katy I I mean to love you next best to Cousin 
 Helen and Papa 1 And " — racking her brains for 
 some way of repaying this wonderful kindness — 
 " I'll tell you the secret, if you want me to very 
 much. 1 guess Cousin Helen would let me." 
 
 "No," said Katy; "never mind about the se- 
 cret. I don't want you to tell it to me. Sit down 
 by the bed, and fan me some more instead." 
 
 "No I " persisted Elsie, who, now that she had 
 made up her mind to part with the treasured se- 
 cret, could not bear to be stopped. "Cousin 
 Helen gave me a half-dollar, and told me to give it 
 to Debby, and tell her she was much obliged to 
 her for making her such nice things to eat. And 
 11 
 
162 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 I did. And Debby was real pleased. And 1 
 wrote Cousin Helen a letter, and told her that 
 Debby liked the half-dollar. That's the secret I 
 Isn't it a nice one ? Only you mustn't tell any^ 
 body about it, ever — just as long as you live." 
 
 *'No I " said Katy, smiling faintly, '' I won't." 
 
 All the rest of the afternoon Elsie sat beside 
 the bed with her palm-leaf fan, keeping off the 
 flies, and '* shue "-ing away the other children when 
 they peeped in at the door. " Do you really like 
 to have me here?" she asked, more than once, 
 and smiled, oh, so triumphantly 1 when Katy said 
 *' Yes I " But though Katy said yes, I am afraid it 
 was only half the truth, for the sight of the dear 
 little forgiving girl, whom she had treated un- 
 kindly, gave her more pain than pleasure. 
 
 *' I'll be so good to her when I get well," she 
 thought to herself, tossing uneasily to and fro. 
 
 Aunt Izzie slept in her room that night. Katy 
 ^7as feverish. When morning came, and Dr. Carr 
 returned, he found her in a good deal of pain, hot 
 and restless, with wide-open, anxious eyes. 
 
 ^ Papa I " she cried the first thing, '* must I lie 
 here as much as a week? " 
 
TO-MORROW. 163 
 
 ''My darling, rm afraid you must,** replied 
 her father, who looked worried, and very grave. 
 
 **Dear, dear I** sobbed Katy, ''how can I bear 
 it?'' 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DISMAL DAYS. 
 
 |F aaybody had told Katy , that first after- 
 noon, that at the end of a week she 
 would still be in bed, and in pain, and 
 with no time fixed for getting up, I think it would 
 have almost killed her. She was so restless and 
 eager, that to lie still seemed one of the hardest 
 things in the world. But to lie still and have her 
 back ache all the time, was worse yet. Day after 
 day she asked Papa with quivering lip : " Mayn't 
 I get up and go down stairs this morning ? " And 
 when he shook his head, the lip would quiver 
 more, and tears would come. But if she tried to 
 get up, it hurt her so much, that in spite of her- 
 self she was glad to sink back again on the soft 
 pillows and mattress, which felt so comfortable to 
 her poor bones. 
 
 Then there came a time when Katy didn't even 
 (164) 
 
DISMAL DAYS. 165 
 
 ask to be allowed to get up. A time when shaip, 
 dreadful pain, such as she never imagined before, 
 took hold of her. When days and nights got all 
 confused and tangled up together, and Aunt Izzie 
 never seemed to go to bed. A time when Papa 
 was constantly in her room. When other doctors 
 came and stood over her, and punched and felt her 
 back, and talked to each other in low whispers. 
 It was all like a long, bad dream, from which she 
 couldn't wake up, though she tried ever so hard. 
 Now and then she would rouse a little, and catch 
 the sound of voices, or be aware that Clover or 
 Elsie stood at the door, crying softly; or that 
 Aunt Izzie, in creaking slippers, was going about 
 the room on tiptoe. Then all these things would 
 slip away again, and she would drop oflF into a 
 dark place, where there was nothing but pain, and 
 sleep, which made her forget pain, and so seemed 
 the best thing in the world. 
 
 We will hurry over this time, for it is hard to 
 think of our bright Katy in such a sad plight. 
 By and by the pain grew less, and the sleep 
 quieter. Then, as the pain became easier still, 
 Katy woke up as it were — began to take notice 
 
166 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 of what was going on about her ; to put ques- 
 tions, 
 
 •* How long have I been sick?" she asked one 
 morning. 
 
 ^•It is four weeks, yesterday,'' replied Papa. 
 
 *'Four weeks 1" said Katy. "Why, I didn't 
 know it was so long as that. Was I very sick, 
 Papa?" 
 
 " Very, dear. But you are a great deal bettei 
 now." 
 
 *^How did I hurt me when I tumbled out of 
 the swing? " asked Katy, who was in an unusually 
 wakeful mood. 
 
 " I don't believe I could make you understand, 
 dear." 
 
 ''But try. Papal" 
 
 "Well — did you know that you had a long 
 bone down your back, called a spine ? " 
 
 ''I thought that was a disease," said Katy; 
 ^ Clover said that Cousin Helen had the spine 1 " 
 
 ''No — the spine is a bone. It is made up of a 
 row of smaller bones — or knobs — and in the mid 
 die of it is a sort of rope of nerves called the spinal 
 cord. Nerves, you know, are the things we feel 
 
DISMAL l>AJr8. 167 
 
 with. Well, this spinal cord is rolled up for safe 
 keeping in a soft wrapping, called membrane. 
 When you fell out of the swing, you struck 
 against one of these knobs, and bruised the mem- 
 brane inside, and the nerve inflamed, and gave you 
 a fever in the back. Do you see ? " 
 
 *' A little,'' said Katy, not quite understanding, 
 but too tired to question farther. After she had 
 rested a while, she said : " Is the fever well now, 
 Papa? Can I get up again and go down stairs 
 right away?" 
 
 "Not right away, Fm afraid," said Dr. Carr, 
 trying to speak cheerfully. 
 
 Katy didn't ask any more questions then An- 
 other week passed, and another. The pain was 
 almost gone. It only came back now and then 
 for a few minutes. She could sleep now, and eat, 
 and be raised in bed without feeling giddy. But 
 still the once active limbs hung heavy and lifeless, 
 and she was not able to walk, or even stand 
 alone. 
 
 ^ My legs feel so queer," she said one morning, 
 ** they are just like the Prince's legs which were 
 turned to black marble in the Arabian Nights. 
 
168 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 What do you suppose is the reason, Papa? Won't 
 they feel natural soon ? " 
 
 " Not soon," answered Dr. Carr. Then he said 
 to himself: "Poor child I she had better know 
 the truth." So he went on, aloud, " I am afraid, 
 my darling, that you must make up your mind to 
 stay in bed a long time." 
 
 ''How long?" said Katy, looking frightened; 
 ^ SL month more ? " 
 
 "I can't tell exactly how long," answered hei 
 father. "The doctors think, as I do, that the iu- 
 jury to your spine is one which you will outgrow 
 by and by, because you are so young and strong. 
 But it may take a good while to do it. It may be 
 that you will have to lie here for months, or it 
 may be more. The only cure for such a hurt is 
 time and patience. It is hard, darling" — for 
 Katy began to sob wildly — "but you have Hope 
 to help you along. Think of poor Cousin Helen, 
 bearing all these years without hope ! " 
 
 " Oh, Papa I " gasped Katy, between her sobs, 
 "doesn't it seem dreadful, that just getting into 
 the swing for a few minutes should do so much 
 harm ? Such a little thing as that ! " 
 
DISMAL. DAYS. 169 
 
 ^ Yes, such a little thing 1 " repeated Dr. Carr, 
 Badly. *' And it was only a little thing, too, for 
 getting Aunt Izzie's order about the swing. Just 
 tor the want of the small * horse-shoe nail ' of 
 Obedience, Katy." 
 
 Years afterwards, Katy told somebody that the 
 six longest weeks of her life were those which fol- 
 lowed this conversation with Papa. Now that she 
 knew there was no chance of getting well at once, 
 the days dragged dreadfully. Each seemed duller 
 and dismaller than the day before. She lost heart 
 about herself, and took no interest in anything. 
 Aunt Izzie brought her books, but she didn't want 
 to read, or to sew. Nothing amused her. Clover 
 and Cecy would come to sit with her, but hearing 
 them tell about their plays, and the things they had 
 been doing, made her cry so miserably, that Aunt 
 Izzie wouldn't let them come often. They were 
 very sorry for Katy, but the room was so gloomy, 
 and Katy so cross, that they didn't mind much 
 not being allowed to see her. In those days 
 Katy made Aunt Izzie keep the blinds shut tight, 
 and she lay in the dark, thinking how mis- 
 erable she was, and how wretched all the rest of 
 
170 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 her life was going to be. Everybody was very 
 kind and patient with her, but she was too pel- 
 fishly miserable to notice it. Aunt Izzie ran up 
 and down stairs, and was on her feet all day, try- 
 ing to get something which would please her, but 
 Katy hardly said ''Thank you," and never saw 
 how tired Aunt Izzie looked. So long as she was 
 forced to stay in bed, Katy could not be grateful 
 for anything that was done for her. 
 
 But doleful as the days were, they were not so 
 bad as the nights, when, after Aunt Izzie was 
 asleep, Katy would lie wide awake, and have long, 
 hopeless fits of crying. At these times she would 
 think of all the plans she had made for doing beau- 
 tiful things when she was grown up. "And now 
 I shall never do any of them," she would say to 
 herself, "only just lie here. Papa says I may 
 get well by and by, but I sha'n't, I know I shaVt. 
 And even if I do, I shall have wasted all these 
 years, and the others will grow up and get ahead 
 of me, and I sha'n't be a comfort to them or to any- 
 body else. Oh dear 1 oh dear ! how dreadful it 
 is!" 
 
 The first thing which broke in upon this sad 
 
DISMAL DAYS, 171 
 
 state of affairs, was & letter from Cousin Helen, 
 which Papa brought one morning and handed to 
 Aunt Izzie, 
 
 ** Helen tells me she's going home this week," 
 said Aunt Izzie, from the window, where she had 
 gone to read the letter. ^ Well, I'm sorry, but I 
 think she's quite right not to stop. It's just as 
 she says : one invalid at a time is enough in a 
 house. I'm sure I have my hands full with Katy." 
 
 ''Oh, Aunt Izzie 1" cried Katy, "is Cousin 
 Helen coming this way when she goes home? 
 Oh I do make her stop. If it's just for one day, 
 do ask her 1 I want to see her so much ! I can't tell 
 you how much 1 Won't you ? Please ! Please, 
 dear Papa 1 " 
 
 She was almost crying with eagerness. 
 
 ''Why, yes, darling, if you wish it so much," 
 said Dr. Carr. "It will cost Aunt Izzie some 
 trouble, but she's so kind that I'm sure she'll man- 
 age it if it is to give you so much pleasure. Can't 
 you, Izzie? " And he looked eagerly at his Sister. 
 
 "Of course I will I" said Miss Izzie, heartily. 
 Katy was so glad, that, for the first time in hei 
 
172 WHAT KATr DID. 
 
 life, she threw her arms of her own accord round 
 Aunt Izzie's neck, and kissed her. 
 
 " Thank you, dear Aunty ! " she said. 
 
 Aunt Izzie looked as pleased as could be. She 
 had a warm heart hidden under her fidgety ways 
 — only Katy had never been sick before, to find it 
 out. 
 
 For the next week Katy was feverish with 
 expectation. At last Cousin Helen came. This 
 time Katy was not on the steps to welcome her, 
 but after a little while Papa brought Cousin Helen 
 in his arms, and sat her in a big chair beside the 
 bed. 
 
 "How dark it is 1 " she said, after they had 
 kissed each other and talked for a minute or two ; 
 **I can't see your face at all. Would it hurt 
 your eyes to have a little more light?" 
 
 '* Oh no 1 " answered Katy. " It don't hurt my 
 eyes, only I hate to have the sun come in. It 
 makes me feel worse, somehow." 
 
 " Push the blind open a little bit then, Clover ; " 
 and Clover did so. 
 
 ^ Now I can see," said Cousin Helen. 
 
 It was a forlorn-looking child enough which 
 
DISMAL DATS. 173 
 
 fihe saw lying before her. Katy's face had grown 
 thin, and her eyes had red circles about them 
 from continual crying. Her hair had been 
 brushed twice that morning by Aunt Izzie, but 
 Katy had run her fingers impatiently through it, 
 till it stood out above her head like a frowsy 
 bush. She wore a calico dressing-gown, which, 
 though clean, was particularly ugly in pattern ; 
 and the room, for all its tidiness, had a dismal 
 look, with the chairs set up against the wall, and 
 a row of medicine-bottles on the chimney-piece. 
 
 "Isn't it horrid?" sighed Katy, as Cousin Helen 
 looked around. "Everything's horrid. But I 
 don't mind so much now that you've come. Oh, 
 Cousin Helen, I've had such a dreadful, dreadful 
 timel" 
 
 "I know," said her cousin, pityingly. "I've 
 heard all about it, Katy, and I'm so very sorry 
 for you ! It is a hard trial, my poor darling." 
 
 " But how do you do it ? " cried Katy. " How 
 do you manage to be so sweet and beautiful and 
 patient, when you're feeling badly all the time, 
 and can't do anything, or walk, or stand?"-- 
 her voice was lost in sobs. 
 
174 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Cousin Helen didn't say anything for a little 
 while. She just sat and stroked Katy's hand. 
 
 *' Katy," she said at last, '* has Papa told you 
 that he thinks you are going to get well by and 
 by?'' 
 
 "Yes," replied Katy, "he did say so. But 
 perhaps it won't be for a long, long time. And I 
 wanted to do so many things. And now I can't 
 do anything at all 1 " 
 
 "What sort of things?" 
 
 " Study, and help people, and become famous. 
 And I wanted to teach the children. Mamma said 
 I must take care of them, and I meant to. And 
 now I can't go to school or learn anything myself. 
 And if I ever do get well, the children will be 
 ftlmost grown up, and they won't need me." 
 
 "But why must you wait till you get well?" 
 asked Cousin Helen, smiling. 
 
 " Why, Cousin Helen, what can I do lying here 
 mbed?" 
 
 "A good deal. Shall I tell you, Katy, what it 
 Beems to me that I should say to myself if I were In 
 yo*r place?" 
 
 ' ITes, please 1 " replied Katy, wonderingly. 
 
DISMAL DATS. 175 
 
 «1 
 
 ^I should say this: 'Now, Katy Carr, you 
 T^anted to go to school and learn to be wise and 
 useful, and here's a chance for you. God is going 
 to let you go to His school — where He teaches all 
 sorts of beautiful things to people. Perhaps he 
 will only keep you for one term, or perhaps it 
 may be for three or four; but whichever it is, you 
 must make the very most of the chance, because 
 He gives it to you Himself.' " 
 
 "But what is the school?" asked Katy. "I 
 don't know what you mean." 
 
 ^ It is called The School of Pain," replied Cousin 
 Helen, with her sweetest smile. " And the place 
 where the lessons are to be learned is this room 
 of yours. The rules of the school are pretty hard, 
 but the good scholars, who keep them best, find 
 out after a while how right and kind they are. 
 And the lessons aren't easy, either, but the more 
 you study the more interesting they become." 
 
 ^ What are the lessons ? " asked Katy, getting 
 interested, and beginning to feel as if Cousin 
 Helen were telling her a story. 
 
 ''Well, there's the lesson of Patience. That's 
 one of the hardest studies. You can't learn much 
 
176 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 of it at a time, but every bit you get by heart, 
 makes the next bit easier. And there's the lesson 
 of Cheerfulness. And the lesson of Making the 
 Best of Things." 
 
 "Sometimes there isn't anything to make the 
 best of," remarked Katy, dolefully. 
 
 ''Yes there is, always I Everything in the 
 world has two handles. Didn't you know that? 
 One is a smooth handle. If you take hold of it, 
 the thing comes up lightly and easily, but if you 
 seize the rough handle, it hurts your hand and the 
 thing is hard to lift. Some people always manage 
 to get hold of the wrong handle." 
 
 '' Is Aunt Izzie a ' thing ? ' " asked Katy. Cousin 
 Helen was glad to hear her laugh. 
 
 " Yes — Aunt Izzie is a thing — and she has a 
 nice pleasant handle too, if you just try to find it. 
 And the children are 'things,' also, in one sense. 
 All their handles are difierent. You know human 
 beings aren't made just alike, like red flower-pots. 
 We have to feel and guess before we can make 
 out just how other people go, and how we ought 
 to take hold of them. It is very interesting, I 
 advise you to try it. And while you are trying, 
 
DISMAL DAYS. l77 
 
 you will learn all sorts of things which will help 
 you to help others." 
 
 ''If I only could !" sighed Katy. ''Are there 
 any other studies in the School, Cousin Helen?'* 
 
 "Yes, there's the lesson of Hopefulness. That 
 class has ever so many teachers. The Sun is 
 one. He sits outside the window all day waiting 
 a chance to slip in and get at his pupil. He's a 
 first-rate teacher, too. I wouldn't shut him out, 
 if I were you. 
 
 " Every morning, the first thing when I woke up, 
 I would say to myself: 'I am going to get well, 
 so Papa thinks. Perhaps it may be to-morrow. 
 So, in case this should be the last day of my sick- 
 ness, let me spend it beautifully, and make my 
 sick-room so pleasant that everybody will like to 
 remember it.' 
 
 "Then, there is one more lesson, Katy — the 
 lesson of Neatness. School-rooms must be kept in 
 order, you know. A sick person ought to be 
 as fresh and dainty as a rose." 
 
 " But it is such a fuss," pleaded Katy. " I don't 
 believe you've any idea what a bother it is to 
 always be nice and in order. You nevei w^^e 
 
 12 
 
178 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 careless like me, Cousin Helen; you were born 
 neat/' 
 
 "" Oh, was I? " said her Cousin. '' Well, Katy, 
 we won't dispute that point, but I'll tell you a 
 story, if you like, about a girl I once knew, who 
 wasnH born neat." 
 
 ''Oh, do!" cried Katy, enchanted. Cousin 
 Helen had done her good, already. She looked 
 brighter and less listless than for days. 
 
 *' This girl was quite young," continued Cousin 
 Helen; ''she was strong and active, and liked 
 to run, and climb, and ride, and do all sorts 
 of jolly things. One day something happened — 
 an accident — and they told her that all the rest 
 of her life she had got to lie on her back and suf- 
 fer pain, and never walk any more, or do any of 
 the things she enjoyed most." 
 
 " Just like you and me I " whispered Katy, 
 squeezing Cousin Helen's hand. 
 
 " Something like me ; but not so much like 
 you, because, you know, we hope you are going 
 to get well one of these days. The girl didn't 
 mind it so much when they first told her, for she 
 was so ill that she felt sure she should die. But 
 
DISMAL DATS. 179 
 
 when she got better, and began to think of the 
 long life which lay before her, that was worse 
 than ever the pain had been. She was so 
 wretched, that she didn't care what became of 
 anything, or how anything looked. She had no 
 Aunt Izzie to look after things, so her room soon 
 got into a dreadful state. It was full of dust and 
 confusion, and dirty spoons and phials of physic. 
 She kept the blinds shut, and let her hair tangle 
 every which way, and altogether was a dismal 
 spectacle. 
 
 ''This girl had a dear old father," went on 
 Cousin Helen, " who used to come every day and 
 sit beside her bed. One morning he said to her : 
 
 *' ' My daughter, I'm afraid youVe got to live in 
 this room for a long time. Now there's one thing 
 I want you to do for my sake.' 
 
 "'What is that?' she asked, surprised to hear 
 there was anything left which she could do for 
 anybody. 
 
 " ' I want you to turn out all these physic bot- 
 tles, and make your room pleasant and pretty 
 for me to come and sit in. You see, I shall 
 spend a good deal of my time here 1 Now I don't 
 
180 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 like dust and darkness. I like to see flowers on 
 the table, and sunshine in at the window. Will 
 you do this to please me ? ' 
 
 "* Yes,' said the girl, but she gave a sigh, and I 
 am afraid she felt as if it was going to be a dread- 
 ful trouble. 
 
 "'Then, another thing,' continued her father, 
 'I want you to look pretty. Can't night-gowns 
 and wrappers be trimmed and made becoming just 
 as much as dresses ? A sick woman who isn't neat 
 is a disagreeable object. Do, to please me, send 
 for something pretty, and let me see you looking 
 nice again. I can't bear to have my Helen turn 
 into a slattern.' " 
 
 " Helen 1 " exclaimed Katy, with wide-open 
 eyes, " was it you ? " 
 
 *'Yes," said her cousin, smiling. "It was I, 
 though I didn't mean to let the name slip out so 
 soon. So, after my father was gone away, I sent 
 for a looking-glass. Such a sight, Katy 1 My 
 hair was a perfect mouse's nest, and I had frowned 
 so much that my forehead was all criss-crossed 
 with lines of pain, till it looked like an old 
 woman's.'' 
 
DISMAL DAYS. 181 
 
 Katy stared at Cousin Helen's smooth brow 
 and glossy hair. "I can't believe it," she said; 
 ''your hair never could be rough." 
 
 "Yes it was — worse, a great deal, than yours 
 looks now. But that peep in the glass did me 
 good. I began to think how selfishly I was be- 
 having, and to desire to do better. And after 
 that, when the pain came on, I used to lie and 
 keep my forehead smooth with my fingers, and 
 try not to let my face show what I was enduring. 
 So by and by the wrinkles wore away, and though 
 I am a good deal older now, they have never 
 come back. 
 
 "It was a great deal of trouble at first to have to 
 think and plan to keep my room and myself look- 
 ing nice. But after a while it grew to be a habit, 
 and then it became easy. And the pleasure it 
 gave my dear father repaid for all. He had been 
 proud of his active, healthy girl, but I think she 
 was never such a comfort to him as his sick one, 
 lying there in her bed. My room was his favorite 
 sitting-place, and he spent so much time there, 
 that now the room, and everything in it, makes me 
 think of him.'* 
 
182 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 There were tears in Cousin Helen's eyes as she 
 ceased speaking. But Katy looked bright and 
 eager. It seemed somehow to be a help, as well 
 as a great surprise, that ever there should have 
 been a time when Cousin Helen was less perfect 
 than she was now. 
 
 ^ Do you really think I could do so too ? ^ she 
 asked. 
 
 '' Do what ? Comb your hair ? ** Cousin Helen 
 was smiling now. 
 
 ** Oh no 1 Be nice and sweet and patient, and a 
 comfort to people. You know what I mean." 
 
 **I am sure you can, if you try." 
 
 ** But what would you do first ? " asked Katy ; 
 who, now that her mind had grasped a new idea, 
 was eager to begin. 
 
 ''Well — first I would open the blinds, and 
 make the room look a little less dismal. Are you 
 taking all those medicines in the bottles now ? " 
 
 *' No — only that big one with the blue label." 
 
 " Then you might ask Aunt Izzie to take away 
 the others. And Td get Clover to pick a bunch 
 of fresh flowers every day for your table. By the 
 way, I don't see the little white vase." 
 
DISMAL DAYS. 188 
 
 •*No — it got broken the very day after you 
 Vrent away ; tlie day I fell out of the swing," said 
 Katy, sorrowfully. 
 
 *' Never mind, pet, don't look so doleful. I 
 know the tree those vases grow upon, and you 
 phall have another. Then, after the room is 
 made pleasant, I would have all my lesson-books 
 fetched up, if I were you, and I would study a 
 couple of hours every morning." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Katy, making a wry face at the 
 idea. 
 
 Cousin Helen smiled. "I know," said she, 
 ** it sounds like dull work, learning geography and 
 doing sums up here all by yourself. But I think 
 if you make the effort you'll be glad by and by. 
 You won't lose so much ground, you see — won't 
 slip back quite so far in your education. And 
 then, studying will be like working at a garden, 
 where things don't grow easily. Every flower 
 you raise will be a sort of triumph, and you will 
 value it twice as much as a common flower which 
 has cost no trouble." 
 
 "Well," said Katy, rather forlornly, " I'll try. 
 But it won't be a bit nice studying without any- 
 
184 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 body to study with me. Is their anything else, 
 Cousin Helen?" 
 
 Just then the door creaked, and Elsie timidly 
 put her head into the room. 
 
 " Oh, Elsie, run away I " cried Katy. " Cousin 
 Helen and I are talking. Don't come just now^ 
 
 Katy didn't speak unkindly, but Elsie's fac6 
 fell, and she looked disappointed. She said noth- 
 ing, however, but shut the door and stole away. 
 
 Cousin Helen watched this little scene without 
 speaking. For a few minutes after Elsie was gone, 
 she seemed to be thinking. 
 
 '' Katy," she said at last, ^* you were saying just 
 now, that one of the things you were sorry about 
 was that while you were ill you could be of no 
 use to the children. Do you know, I don't think 
 you have that reason for being sorry." 
 
 *' Why not?" said Katy, astonished. 
 
 "Because you can be of use. It seems to me 
 that you have more of a chance with the children 
 now, than you ever could have had when you were 
 well, and flying about as you used. You might 
 do almost anything you liked with them." 
 
 ''I can't think what you mean," said Katy, sadly. 
 
DISMAL DAYS. 185 
 
 ''Why, Cousin Helen, half the time I don't even 
 know where they are, or what they are doing. 
 And I can't get up and go after them, you know." 
 
 " But you can make your room such a delightful 
 place, that they will want to come to you 1 Don't 
 you see, a sick person has one splendid chance — 
 she is always on hand. Everybody who wants 
 her knows just where to go. If people love her, 
 she gets naturally to be the heart of the house. 
 
 " Once make the little ones feel that your room 
 is the place of all others to come to when they are 
 tired, or happy, or grieved, or sorry about any- 
 thing, and that the Katy who lives there is sure 
 to give them a loving reception — and the battle 
 is won. For you know we never do people good 
 by lecturing ; only by living their lives with them, 
 and helping a little here, and a little there, to make 
 them better. And when one's own life is laid 
 aside for a while, as yours is now, that is the very 
 time to take up other people's lives, as we can't 
 do when we are scurrying and bustling over oui 
 own affairs. But I didn't mean to preach a ser- 
 mon. I'm afraid you're tired." 
 
 "No I'm not, a bit," said Katy, holding Cousin 
 
186 WHAT KATY DID, 
 
 Helen's hand tight in hers; ^you can't think 
 how much better I feel. Oh, Cousin Helen, I 
 will try 1 " 
 
 '* It won't be easy," replied her cousin. ''There 
 will be days when your head aches, and you feel 
 cross and fretted, and don't want to think of any 
 one but yourself. And there'll be other days 
 when Clover and the rest will come in, as Elsie 
 did just now, and you will be doing something 
 else, and will feel as if their coming was a bother. 
 But you must recollect that every time you forget, 
 and are impatient or selfish, you chill them and 
 drive them farther away. They are loving little 
 things, and are so sorry for you now, that nothing 
 you do makes them angry. But by and by they 
 will get used to having you sick, and if you haven't 
 won them as friends, they will grow away from 
 you as they get older. " 
 
 Just then. Dr. Carr came in. 
 
 " Oh, Papa ! you haven't come to take Cousin 
 Helen, have you?" cried Katy. 
 
 "Indeed I have," said her father. "I think 
 the big invalid and the little invalid have talked 
 quite long enough. Cousin Helen looks tired." 
 
DISMAL DAYS. 18T 
 
 For a minute, Katy felt just like crying. But 
 she choked back the tears. " My first lesson in 
 Patience," she said to herself, and managed to 
 give a faint, watery smile as Papa looked at her. 
 
 ^ That's right, dear," whispered Cousin Helen, 
 as she bent forward to kiss her. *' And one last 
 word, Katy. In this school, to which you and I 
 belong, there is one great comfort, and that is 
 that the Teacher is always at hand. He never 
 goes away. If things puzzle us, there He is, 
 close by, ready to explain and make all easy. 
 Try to think of this, darling, and don't be afraid 
 to ask Him for help if the lesson seems too hard.'* 
 
 Katy had a strange dream that night. She 
 thought she was trying to study a lesson out of a 
 book which wouldn't come quite open. She 
 could just see a little bit of what was inside, but 
 it was in a language which she did not under- 
 stand. She tried in vain : not a word could she 
 read ; and yet, for all that, it looked so interest- 
 ing that she longed to go on. 
 
 ** Oh, if somebody would only help me 1 " she 
 eried impatiently. 
 
 Suddenly a hand came over her shoulder an^ 
 
188 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 took hold of the book. It opened at once, and 
 showed the whole page. And then the forefinger 
 of the hand began to point to line after line, and 
 as it moved the words became plain, and Katy 
 could read them easily. She looked up. There, 
 stooping over her, was a great beautiful Face. 
 The eyes met hers. The lips smiled. 
 
 ^ Why didn't you ask me before. Little Scholar ? " 
 said a voice. 
 
 ''Why, it is YoUj just as Cousin Helen told 
 me ! " cried Katy. 
 
 She must have spoken in her sleep, for Aunt 
 Izzie half woke up, and said : 
 
 *' What is it? Do you want anything? " 
 
 The dream broke, and Katy roused, to find her- 
 self in bed, with the first sunbeams struggling in 
 at the window, and Aunt Izzie raised on her 
 elbow, looking at h<r with a sort of sleepy 
 wonder. 
 
CHAPTER X, 
 
 ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINB. 
 
 |HAT are the children all doing to-day ? " 
 said Katy, laying down ''Norway and 
 the Norwegians," which she was read- 
 ing for the fourth time ; "I haven't seen them since 
 breakfast." 
 
 Aunt Izzie, who was sewing on the other side of 
 the room, looked up from her work. 
 
 •'I don't know," she said, ''they're over at 
 Cecy's, or somewhere. They'll be back before 
 long, I guess." 
 
 Her voice sounded a little odd and mysterious, 
 but Katy didn't notice it. 
 
 " I thought of such a nice plan yesterday," she 
 went on. "That was that all of them should hang 
 their stockings up here to-morrow night instead 
 of in the nursery. Then I could see them open 
 their presents, you know. Mayn't they, Avmt 
 Izzie? Tt would be real fun." 
 (189) 
 
190 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 **! don't believe there will be any objection," 
 replied her aunt. She looked as if she were try 
 ing not to laugh. Katy wondered what was the 
 matter with her. 
 
 It was more than two months now since Cousin 
 Helen went away, and Winter had fairly come. 
 Snow was falling out-doors. Katy could see the 
 thick flakes go whirling past the window, but tht 
 sight did not chill her. It only made the room 
 look warmer and more cosy. It was a pleasant 
 room now. There was a bright fire in the grate. 
 Everything was neat and orderly, the air wa& 
 sweet with mignonette, from a little glass of flow- 
 ers which stood on the table, and the Katy who 
 lay in bed, was a very difierent-looking Katy from 
 the forlorn girl of the last chapter. 
 
 Cousin Helen's visit, though it lasted only one 
 day, did great good. Not that Katy grew perfect 
 all at once. None of us do that, even in books 
 But it is everything to be started in the right path. 
 Katy's feet were on it now ; and though she often 
 stumbled and slipped, and often sat down dis- 
 couraged, she kept on pretty steadily, in spite of 
 
ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALEl^flNB. 191 
 
 bad days, which made her say to herself that she 
 was not getting forward at all. 
 
 These bad days, when everything seemed hard, 
 and she herself was cross and fretful, and drove 
 the children out of her room, cost Katy many 
 bitter tears. But after them she would pick her- 
 self up, and try again, and harder. And I think 
 that in spite of drawbacks, the little scholar, on 
 the whole, was learning her lesson pretty well. 
 
 Cousin Helen was a great comfort all this time. 
 She never forgot Katy. Nearly every week some 
 little thing came from her. Sometimes it was a 
 pencil note, written from her sofa. Sometimes 
 it was an interesting book, or a new magazine, or 
 some pretty little thing for the room. The crim- 
 son wrapper which Katy wore was one of hei 
 presents, so were the bright chromos of Autumi? 
 leaves which hung on the wall, the little stand fo?. 
 the books — all sorts of things. Katy loved to 
 look about her as she lay. AU the room seemed 
 full of Cousin Helen and her kindness. 
 
 "I wish I had something pretty to put into 
 everybody's stocking," she went on, wistfully; 
 "but IVe only got the muffatees for Papa, and 
 
192 WHAT KATY DID, 
 
 these reins for Phil." She took them from under 
 her pillow as she spoke — gay worsted affairs, 
 with bells sewed on here and there. She had knit 
 them herself, a very little bit at a time. 
 
 *' There's my pink sash," she said suddenly, *' 1 
 might give that to Clover. I only wore it once^ 
 you know, and I don't think I got any spots on it. 
 Would you please fetch it and let me see, Aunt 
 Izzie? It's in the top drawer." 
 
 Aunt Izzie brought the sash. It proved to be 
 quite fresh, and they both decided that it would 
 do nicely for Clover. 
 
 " You know I sha'n't want sashes for ever so 
 long," said Katy, in rather a sad tone. '*And 
 this is a beauty." 
 
 When she spoke next, her voice was bright 
 again. 
 
 ''I wish I had something real nice for Elsie. 
 Do you know. Aunt Izzie — I think Elsie is the 
 dearest little girl that ever was." 
 
 *' I'm glad you've found it out," said Aunt Izzie, 
 who had always been specially fond of Elsie. 
 
 *' What she wants most of all is a writing-desk," 
 continued Katy. "And Johnny wants a sled. 
 
ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINE. 193 
 
 But, oh dear I those are such big things. And 
 IVe only got two dollars and a quarter." 
 
 Aunt Izzie marched out of the room without 
 saying anything. When she came back she had 
 something folded up in her hand. 
 
 **I didn't know what to give you for Christmas, 
 Katy,'' she said, " because Helen sends you such 
 a lot of things that there don't seem to be any- 
 thing you haven't already. So I thought I'd give 
 you this, and let you choose for yourself. But if 
 you've set your heart on getting presents for the 
 children, perhaps you'd rather have it now." So 
 saying. Aunt Izzie laid on the bed a crisp, new 
 five-dollar bill I 
 
 ''How good you are I " cried Katy, flushed with 
 pleasure. And indeed Aunt Izzie did seem to 
 have grown wonderfully good of late. Perhaps 
 Katy had got hold of her smooth handle 1 
 
 Being now in possession of seven dollars and a 
 quarter, Katy could afford to be gorgeously gen- 
 erous. She gave Aunt Izzie an exact description 
 of the desk she wanted. 
 
 "It's no matter about it's being very big," said 
 Katy, "but it must have a blue velvet lininof, and 
 \9 
 
194 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 an iukstand, with a silver top. And please buy 
 some little sheets of paper and envelopes, and a 
 pen-handle ; the prettiest you can find. Oh I and 
 there must be a lock and key. Don't forget that. 
 Aunt Izzie.'* 
 
 '*No, Iwon't. What else?" 
 
 "I'd like the sled to be green," went on Katy, 
 "and to have a nice name. Sky-Scraper would 
 be nice, if there was one. Johnny saw a sled once 
 called Sky-Scraper, and she said it was splendid. 
 And if there's money enough left. Aunty, won't 
 you buy me a real nice book for Dorry, and 
 another for Cecy, and a silver thimble for Mary? 
 Her old one is full of holes. Oh ! and some 
 candy. And something for Debby and Bridget — 
 some little thing, you know. I think that's all I " 
 
 Was ever seven dollars and a quarter expected 
 to do so much? Aunt Izzie must have been a 
 witch, indeed, to make it hold out. But she did, 
 and next day all the precious bundles came home. 
 How Katy enjoyed untying the strings 1 
 
 Everything was exactly right. 
 
 *' There wasn't any Sky-Scraper," said Aunt 
 Izzie, "^ so I got * Snow-Skimmer * instead." 
 
8T. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINE, 195 
 
 ^'It's beautiful, and I like it just as well," said 
 Katy contentedly, 
 
 " Oh, hide them, hide them I '* she cried with 
 sudden terror, "somebody's coming." But the 
 somebody was only Papa, who put his head into 
 the room as Aunt Izzie, laden with bundles, 
 scuttled across the hall. 
 
 Katy was glad to catch him alone. She had a 
 little private secret to talk over with him. It was 
 about Aunt Izzie, for whom she, as yet, had no 
 present. 
 
 *'I thought perhaps you'd get me a book like 
 that one of Cousin Helen's, which Aunt Izzie 
 liked so much," she said. *^I don't recollect the 
 name exactly. It was something about a Shadow. 
 But I've spent all my money." 
 
 ''Never mind about that," said Dr. Carr. 
 ''We'll make that right. 'The Shadow of the 
 Cross' — was that it?" I'll buy if this after- 
 
 " Oh, thank you. Papa 1 And please get a brown 
 cover, if you can, because Cousin Helen's was 
 brown. And you won't let Aunt Izzie know, wiU 
 you? Be careful, Papa 1 " 
 
196 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 **ril swallow the book rirst, brown cover and 
 all," said Papa, making a funny face. He was 
 pleased to see Katy so interested about anything 
 again. 
 
 These delightful secrets took up so much of 
 her thoughts, that Katy scarcely found time to 
 wonder at the absence of the children, who gen- 
 erally haunted her room, but who for three days 
 back had hardly been seen. However, after sup- 
 per they all came up in a body, looking very 
 merry, and as if they had been having a good time 
 somewhere. 
 
 " You don't know what weVe been doing," began 
 Philly. 
 
 "Hush, Phil ! " said Clover, in a warning voice. 
 Then she divided the stockings which she held 
 in her hand. And everybody proceeded to hang 
 them up. 
 
 Dorry hung his on one side of the fireplace, 
 and John hers exactly opposite. Clover and Phil 
 suspended theirs side by side, on two handles of 
 the bureau. 
 
 "Fm going to put mine here, close to Katy, so 
 
ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINE. I9T 
 
 that she can see it the first fing in the morning," 
 said Elsie, pinning hers to the bed-post. 
 
 Then they all sat down round the fire to write 
 their wishes on bits of paper, and see whether 
 they would burn, or fly up the chimney. If they 
 did the latter, it was a sign that Santa Glaus had 
 them safe, and would bring the thhigs wished for. 
 John wished for a sled and a doll's tea-set, and 
 the continuation of the Swiss Family Robinson. 
 Dorry's list ran thus : 
 "A plum-cake, 
 A new Bibel, 
 Harry and Lucy, 
 A Kellidescope, 
 
 Everything else Santa Glaus likes.** 
 When they had written these lists they threw 
 them into the fire. The fire gave a flicker just 
 then, and the papers vanished. Nobody saw ex- 
 actly how. John thought they flew up chimney, 
 but Dorry said they didn't. 
 
 Phil dropped his piece in very solemnly. It 
 flamed for a minute, then sank into ashes. 
 
 •'There, you won't get it, whatever it wasl** 
 said Dorry. " What did you write, Phil ? '* 
 
198 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 •^Nofing/ said Phil, **only just Philly Carr,'' 
 
 Tlie children shouted. 
 
 **! wrote *a writing-desk' on mine," remarked 
 Elsie, sorrowfully, "But it all burned up." 
 
 Katy chuckled when she heard this. 
 
 And now Clover produced her list. She read 
 aloud : 
 
 ^''Strive and Thrive,' 
 A pair of kid gloves, 
 A muff, 
 
 A good temper I " 
 Then she dropped it into the fire. Behold, it 
 flew straight up chimney. 
 
 ^ How queer 1 " said Katy ; '* none of the rest of 
 them did that." 
 
 The truth was, that Clover, who was a canny 
 little mortal, had slipped across the room and 
 opened the door just before putting her wishes in. 
 This, of course, made a draft, and sent the paper 
 right upward. 
 
 Pretty soon Aunt Izzie came in and swept them 
 all off to bed. 
 
 ^* I know how it will be in the morning," she 
 said, "you'll all be up and racing about as soon 
 
ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINE. 199 
 
 as it is light. So you must get your sleep now, if 
 ever." 
 
 After they had gone, Katy recollected that no- 
 body had offered to hang a stocking up for her. 
 She felt a little hurt when she thought of it. " But 
 I suppose they forgot," she said to herself. 
 
 A little later Papa and Aunt Izzie came in, and 
 they filled the stockings. It was great fun. Each 
 was brought to Katy, as she lay in bed, that she 
 might arrange it as she liked. 
 
 The toes were stuffed with candy and oranges. 
 Then came the parcels, all shapes and sizes, tied 
 in white paper, with ribbons, and labelled. 
 
 *" What's that?" asked Dr. Carr, as Aunt Izzie 
 rammed a long, narrow package into Clover's 
 stocking. 
 
 " A nail-brush," answered Aunt Izzie ; " Clover 
 needed a new one." 
 
 How Papa and Katy laughed 1 "I don't believe 
 Santa Claus ever had such a thing before," said Dr. 
 Carr. 
 
 ''He's a very dirty old gentleman, then," ob- 
 Berved Aunt Izzie, grimly. 
 
 The desk and sled were too big to go into any 
 
200 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 stocking, so they were wrapped in paper and hung 
 beneath the other things. It was ten o'clock be- 
 fore all was done, and Papa and Aunt Izzie went 
 away. Katy lay a long time watching the queer 
 shapes of the stocking-legs as they dangled in the 
 firelight. Then she fell asleep. 
 
 It seemed only a minute, before something 
 touched her and woke her up. Behold, it was 
 day-time, and there was Philly in his night-gown, 
 climbng up on the bed to kiss her ! The rest of 
 the children, half dressed, were dancing about 
 with their stockings in their hands. 
 
 " Merry Christmas ! Merry Christmas ! " they 
 cried. "Oh, Katy, such beautiful, beautifnl 
 things 1 " 
 
 ''Oh I" shrieked Elsie, who at that moment ^ 
 spied her desk, " Santa Claus did bring it, after 
 all ! Why, its got ' from Katy ' written on it 1 
 Oh, Katy, it's so sweet, and I'm so happy I " and 
 Elsie hugged Katy, and sobbed for pleasure. 
 
 But what was that strange thing beside the bed ? 
 Katy stared, and rubbed her eyes. It certainly 
 had not been there when she went to sleep. Hot* 
 had it come ? 
 
ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINE. 201 
 
 It was a little evergreen tree planted in a red 
 flower-pot. The pot had stripes of gilt paper 
 stuck on it, and gilt stars and crosses, which 
 made it look very gay. The boughs of the tree 
 were hung with oranges, and nuts, and shiny red 
 apples, and pop-corn balls, and strings of bright 
 berries. There were also a number of little 
 packages tied with blue and crimson ribbon, and 
 altogether the tree looked so pretty, that Katy 
 gave a cry of delighted surprise. 
 
 "It's a Christmas-tree for you, because you're 
 sick, you know 1 " said the children, all trying to 
 hug her at once. 
 
 " We made it ourselves," said Dorry, hopping 
 about on one foot ; *' I pasted the black stars on 
 the pot." 
 
 '* And I popped the corn ! " cried Philly . 
 
 ''Do you like it?" asked Elsie, cuddling close 
 to Katy. ''That's my present — that one tied 
 with a green ribbon. I wish it was nicer 1 Don't 
 you want to open 'em right away ? " 
 
 Of course Katy wanted to. All sorts of 
 things came out of the little bundles. The chil« 
 
202 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 dren had arranged every parcel themselves. No 
 growu person had been allowed to help in the least. 
 
 Elsie's present was a pen-wiper, with a gray 
 flannel kitten on it. Johnnie's, a doll's tea-tray of 
 scarlet tin. 
 
 '^ Isn't it beau-ti-ful? " she said, admiringly. 
 
 Dorry's gift, I regret to say, was a huge red- 
 and-yellow spider, which whirred wildly when 
 waved at the end of its string. 
 
 '* They didn't want me to buy it," said he, " but 
 I did I I thought it would amoose you. Does it 
 amoose you, Katy?" 
 
 "Yes indeed," said Katy, laughing and blinking 
 as Dorry waved the spider to and fro before her 
 eyes. 
 
 " You can play with it when we ain't here and 
 you're all alone, you know," remarked Dorry, 
 highly gratified. 
 
 " But you don't notice what the tree's standing 
 upon," said Clover. 
 
 It was a chair, a very large and curious one, 
 with a long-cushioned back, which ended in a 
 footstool. 
 
 ''That's Papa's present," said Clover; ''see, it 
 
' How perfectly lovely everybody is," said Katy, with grateful tears in her 
 eyes. — Page 203. 
 
ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINE. 203 
 
 tips back so as to be just like a bed. And Papa 
 says he thinks pretty soon you can lie on it, in 
 the window, where you can see us play." 
 
 **Does he really?" said Katy, doubtfully. It 
 still hurt her very much to be touched or moved. 
 
 ^ And see what's tied to the arm of the chair,'* 
 said Elsie. 
 
 It was a little silver bell, with "" Katy " engraved 
 on the handle. 
 
 *" Cousin Helen sent it. It's for you to ring 
 when you want anybody to come," explained 
 Elsie. 
 
 More surprises. To the other arm of the chair 
 was fastened a beautiful book. It was '^The 
 Wide Wide World " — and there was Katy's name 
 written on it, ' from her affectionate Cecy.' On 
 it stood a great parcel of dried cherries from 
 Mrs. Hall. Mrs. Hall had the most delicious dried 
 cherries, the children thought. 
 
 "How perfectly lovely everybody is I" said 
 Katy, with grateful tears in her eyes. 
 
 That was a pleasant Christmas. The children 
 declared it to be the nicest they had ever had. 
 
204 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 And though Katy couldn't quite say that, she en- 
 joyed it too, and was very happy. 
 
 It was several weeks before she was able to use 
 the chair, but when once she became accustomed 
 to it, it proved very comfortable. Aunt Izzie 
 would dress her in the morning, tip the chair back 
 till it was on a level with the bed, and then, very 
 gently and gradually, draw her over on to it. 
 Wheeling across the room was always painful, but 
 sitting in the window and looking out at the 
 clouds, the people going by, and the children 
 playing in the snow, was delightful. How de- 
 lightful nobody knows, excepting those who, like 
 Katy, have lain for six months in bed, without a 
 peep at the outside world. Every day she grew 
 brighter ard more cheerful. 
 
 " How jolly Santa Claus was this year 1 " she 
 happened to say one day, when she was talking 
 with Cecy. ''I wish another Saint would come 
 and pay us a visit. But I don't know any more, 
 except Cousin Helen, and she can't." 
 
 ''There's St. Valentine," suggested Cecy. 
 
 ^ Sure enough. What a bright thought ! " cried 
 Katy, clapping her hands. "Oh, Cecy, let's do 
 
ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINE. 205 
 
 something funny on Valentine's-Day I Such a 
 good idea has just popped into my mind.'* 
 
 So the two girls put their heads together and 
 held a long, mysterious confabulation. What it 
 was about, we shall see farther on. 
 
 Valentine's-Day was the next Friday. When 
 the children came home from school on Thurs- 
 day afternoon, Aunt Izzie met them, and, to their 
 great surprise, told them that Cecy was come to 
 drink tea, and they must all go up stairs and be 
 made nice. 
 
 "But Cecy comes most every day," remarked 
 Dorry, who didn't see the connection between this 
 fact and having his face washed. 
 
 "Yes — but to-night you are to take tea in 
 Katy's room," said Aunt Izzie; "here are the 
 invitations : one for each of you." 
 
 Sure enough, there was a neat little note for 
 each, requesting the pleasure of their company at 
 •* Queen Katharine's Palace," that afternoon, at six- 
 o'clock. 
 
 This put quite a different aspect on the affair. 
 The children scampered up stairs, and pretty soon, 
 all nicely brushed and washed, they were knock- 
 
206 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 ing formally at the door of the '* Palace. ** How 
 fine it sounded ! 
 
 The room looked bright and inviting. Katy, in 
 her chair, sat close to the fire, Cecy was beside her, 
 and there was a round table all set out with a 
 white cloth and mugs of milk and biscuit, and 
 strawberry -jam and doughnuts. In the middle 
 was a loaf of frosted cake. There was something 
 on the icing which looked like pink letters, and 
 Clover, leaning forward, read aloud, " St. Valen- 
 tine.'^ 
 
 *" What's that for ? " asked Dorry. 
 
 "Why, you know this is St. Valentine's-Eve," 
 replied Katy. ^ Debby remembered it, I guess, so 
 she put that on." 
 
 Nothing more was said about St. Valentine just 
 then. But when the last pink letter of his name 
 had been eaten, and the supper had been cleared 
 away, suddenly, as the children sat by the fire, 
 their was a loud rap at the door. 
 
 *'Who can that be?" said Katy; "please see, 
 Clover!" 
 
 So Clover opened the door. There stood Brid- 
 
ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINE. 207 
 
 get, trying very hard not to laugh, and holding a 
 letter in her hand. 
 
 ^ It's a note as has come for you. Miss Clover, *• 
 she said. 
 
 ^For mef^ cried Clover, much amazed. Then 
 she shut the door, and brought the note to the 
 table. 
 
 ''How very funny!" she exclaimed, as she 
 looked at the envelope, which was a green and 
 white one. There was something hard inside. 
 Clover broke the seal. Out tumbled a small 
 green velvet pincushion made in the shape of a 
 clover-leaf, with a tiny stem of wire wound with 
 green silk. Pinned to the cushion was a paper^ 
 with these verses : 
 
 ** Some people lore roses weU, 
 Tulips, gayly dressed, 
 Some loye violets blue and sweet, - 
 I love Clover best. 
 
 ** Though she has a modest air. 
 Though no grace she boast. 
 Though no gardener call her falr» 
 I love Clover most. 
 
208 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 " Butterfly may pass her by. 
 He is but a rover, 
 I'm a faithful, loving Bee — 
 And I stick to Clorer." 
 
 This was the first valentine Cloyer had evei 
 had. She was perfectly enchanted. 
 
 " Oh, who do you suppose sent it? " she cried. 
 
 But before anybody could answer, there came 
 another loud knock at the door, which made them 
 all jump. Behold, Bridget again, with a second 
 letter ! 
 
 "It's for you. Miss Elsie, this time," she said 
 with a grin. 
 
 There was an instant rush from all the children, 
 and the envelope was torn open in the twinkling of 
 an eye. Inside was a little ivory seal with " Elsie ^ 
 on it in old English letters, and these rhymes : 
 
 " I know a little girl, 
 
 She is very dear to me, 
 She is just as sweet as honey 
 When she chooses so to be, 
 And her name begins with £, and ends with S* 
 
ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINE. 209 
 
 ** She has brown hair which curls, 
 And black eyes for to see 
 With, teeth like tiny pearls, 
 And dimples, one, two — three, 
 And her name begins with E, and ends with IS. 
 
 " Her little feet run faster 
 Than other feet can flee. 
 As she brushes quickly past, her 
 Voice hums like a bee. 
 And her name begins with E, and ends with E 
 
 ** Do you ask me why I love her? 
 Then I shall answer thee, 
 Because I can't help loving. 
 She is so sweet to me. 
 This little girl whose name begins and ends with ' E.' " 
 
 •* It's just like a fairy story," said Elsie, whose 
 eyes had grown as big as saucers from surprise, 
 while these verses were being read aloud by Cecy. 
 
 Another knock. This time there was a perfect 
 handful of letters. Everybody had one. Katy, 
 to her great surprise, had two. 
 
 *' Why, what can this be ? " she said. But when 
 she peeped into the second one, she saw Cousin 
 
 14 
 
210 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Helen's handwriting, and she put it Into her 
 pocket, till the valentines should be read. 
 
 Dorry's was opened first. It had the picture 
 of a pie at the top — I ought to explain that 
 Dorry had lately been having a siege with the 
 dentist. 
 
 " Little Jack Horner 
 Sat in his corner, 
 
 Eating his Christmas pie, 
 When a sudden grimace 
 Spread over his face, 
 
 And he began loudly to cry. 
 
 ** His tender Mamma 
 Heard the sound from afar, 
 And hastened to comfort her child ; 
 
 * What aileth my John? * 
 She inquired in a tone 
 
 Which belied her question mild. 
 
 •« * Oh, Mother,' he said, 
 
 * Every tooth in my head 
 
 Jumps and aches and is loose, O my I 
 And it hurts me to eat 
 Anything that is sweet — 
 
 So what t9%ll become of my pie? • 
 
BT. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINE. 211 
 
 ** It were vain to describe 
 How he roared and he cried, 
 
 And howled like a miniature tempest; 
 Suffice it to say, 
 That the very next day 
 
 He had all his teeth pulled by a dentist I " 
 
 This valentine made the children laugh for a 
 long time. 
 
 Johnnie's envelope held a paper doll named 
 "'Eed Kiding-Hood." These were the verses : 
 
 ** I send you my picture, dear Johnnie, to show 
 That I'm just as alive as you, 
 And that you needn't cry over my fate 
 Any more, as you used to do. 
 
 " The wolf didn't hurt me at all that day, 
 For I kicked and fought and cried, 
 Till he dropped me out of his mouth, and ran 
 Away in the woods to hide. 
 
 *' And Grandma and I have lived ever since 
 In the little brown house so small, 
 And churned fresh butter and made cream chees^Sy 
 Nor seen the wolf at all. 
 
212 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 ** So cry no more for fear I am eaten, 
 The naughty wolf is shot, 
 And if you will come to tea some evening 
 You shall see for yourself I'm not.** 
 
 Johnny was immensely pleased at this, for 
 Red Eiding-Hood was a great favorite of hers. 
 
 Philly had a bit of india-rubber in his letter, 
 which was written with very black ink on a big 
 sheet of foolscap : 
 
 ** I was once a naughty man, 
 And I hid beneath the bed, 
 To steal your india-rubbers, 
 But I chewed them up instead, 
 
 " Then you caUed out, < Who is there? ' 
 I was thrown most in a fit, 
 And I let the india-rubbers faU — 
 All but this little bit 
 
 "'I'm sorry for my naughty ways. 
 And now, to make amends, 
 I send the chewed piece back agam. 
 And beg we may be friends. 
 
 " BOBBEB.** 
 
ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINE. 213 
 
 **Just listen to mine/' said Cecy, who had 
 all along pretended to be as much surprised as 
 anybody, and now behaved as if she could hardly 
 wait till Philly's was finished. Then she read 
 aloud : 
 
 «*T0 OBOT. 
 ** K I were a bird 
 And you were a bird, 
 
 What would we do ? 
 Why you should be little and I would be big, 
 And, side by side on a cherry-tree twig, 
 We'd kiss with our yellow bills, and coo — 
 That's what we'd do I 
 
 " If I were a fish 
 And you were a fish, 
 
 What would we do f 
 We'd frolic, and whisk our little tails. 
 And play all sorts of tricks with the whales. 
 And call on the oysters, and order a ' stew,' 
 That's what we'd do I 
 
 ** If I were a bee 
 And you were a bee. 
 
 What would we do ? 
 We'd find a home in a breezy wood. 
 And store it with honey sweet and good. 
 You should feed me and I would feed you. 
 That's what we'd do I 
 
 *• ViXEirrnra.* 
 
214 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 **I think that's the prettiest of all," said 
 Clover. 
 
 *'I don't," said Elsie. "I think mine is the 
 prettiest. Cecy didn't have any seal in hers, 
 either." And she fondled the little seal, which 
 all this time she had held in her hand. 
 
 '* Katy, you ought to have read yours first, be- 
 cause you are the oldest," said Clover. 
 
 '* Mine isn't much," replied Katy, and she read : 
 
 "The rose is red, the violet blue, 
 Sugar is sweet, and so are you.** 
 
 ^ What a mean valentine ! " cried Elsie, with 
 flashing eyes. "It's a real shame, Katyl You 
 ought to have had the best of all." 
 
 Katy could hardly keep from laughing. The 
 fact was that the verses for the others had taken 
 so long, that no time had been left for writing a 
 valentine to herself. So, thinking it would excite 
 suspicion to have none, she had scribbled this 
 old rhyme at the last moment. 
 
 "It isn't very nice," she said, trying to look as 
 pensive as she could, " but never mind." 
 
ST. KIOHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINB. 215 
 
 ^•It's a shame!" repeated Elsie, petting her 
 very hard to make up for the injustice. 
 
 '* Hasn't it been a funny evening? " said John ; 
 and Dorry replied, ''Yes; we never had such 
 good times before Katy was sick, did we ? " 
 
 Katy heard this with a mingled feeling of pleas- 
 ure and pain. *' I think the children do love me 
 a little more of late," she said to herself. "Put, 
 oh, why couldn't I be good to them when I was 
 well and strong 1 " 
 
 She didn't open Cousin Helen's letter until the 
 rest were all gone to bed. I think somebody 
 must have written and told about the valentine 
 party, for instead of a note there were these verses 
 in Cousin Helen's own clear, pretty hand. It 
 wasn't a valentine, because it was too solemn, as 
 Katy explained to Clover, next day. " But," she 
 added, " it is a great deal beautifuUer than any 
 valentine that ever was written." And Clover 
 thought so too. 
 
 These were the verseg : 
 
216 WHAT KATY DDO. 
 
 "IN SCHOOL. 
 
 •* I used to go to a bright school 
 
 Where Youth and Frolic taught in tomf 
 But idle scholar that I was, 
 
 I liked to play, I would not learn; 
 So the Great Teacher did ordain 
 That I should try the School of Pain* 
 
 •* One of the infant class I am 
 With little, easy lessons, set 
 In a great book ; the higher class 
 
 Have harder ones than I, and yet 
 I find mine hard, and can't restrain 
 My tears while studying thus with Pain* 
 
 *♦ There are two Teachers in the school, 
 One has a gentle voice and low, 
 And smiles upon her scholars, as 
 
 She softly passes to and fro. 
 Her name is Love ; 'tis very plain 
 She shuns the sharper teacher, Pain* 
 
 ** Or so I sometimes think ; and then. 
 At other times, they meet and kiss. 
 And look so strangely like, that I 
 
 Am puzzled to tell how it is, 
 Or whence the change which makes it raia 
 To guess if it be — Love or Pain. 
 
BT. NICHOLAS AND ST. VALENTINB. 217 
 
 " They tell me if I study well, 
 
 And learn my lessons, I shall be 
 Moved upward to that higher class 
 
 Where dear Love teaches constantly | 
 And I work hard, in hopes to gain 
 Beward, and get away from Pain. 
 
 ** Yet Pain is sometimes kind, and helps 
 
 Me on when I am very dull ; 
 I thank him often in my heart; 
 
 But Love is far more beautiful; 
 Under her tender, gentle reign 
 I must learn faster than of Pain. 
 
 •* So I will do my very best, 
 
 Nor chide the clock, nor call it tlowf 
 
 That when the Teacher calls me up 
 To see if I am fit to go, 
 
 I may to Love's high class attaiii» 
 
 ▲nd bid a sweet good-by to Pata*'* 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 A NEW LESSON TO LEARN. 
 
 |T was a long time before the children 
 ceased to talk and laugh over that jolly 
 evening. Dorry declared he wished 
 there could be a Valentine's-Day every week. 
 
 ^ Don't you think St. Valentine would be tired 
 of writing verses ? " asked Katy . But she, too, had 
 enjoyed the frolic, and the bright recollection 
 helped her along through the rest of the long, 
 cold winter. 
 
 Spring opened late that year, but the Sum- 
 mer, when it came, was a warm one. Katy felt 
 the heat very much. She could not change her 
 seat and follow the breeze about from window to 
 window as other people could. The long burn- 
 ing days left her weak and parched. She hung 
 her head, and seemed to wilt like the flowers in 
 the garden-beds. Indeed she was worse off than 
 (218) 
 
A NEW LESSON TO LEARN. 219 
 
 they, for every evening Alexander gave them a 
 watering with the hose, while nobody was able to 
 bring a watering-pot and pour out what she 
 needed — a shower of cold, fresh air. 
 
 It wasn't easy to be good-humored under these 
 circumstances, and one could hardly have blamed 
 Katy if she had sometimes forgotten her resolu- 
 tions and been cross and fretful. - But she didn't 
 — not very often. Now and then bad days came, 
 when she was discouraged and forlorn. But 
 Katy's long year of schooling had taught her self- 
 control, and, as a general thing, her discomforts 
 were borne patiently. She could not help growing 
 pale and thin, however, and Papa saw with concern 
 that, as the summer went on, she became too 
 languid to read, or study, or sew, and just sat 
 hour after hour, with folded hands, gazing wist- 
 fully out of the window. 
 
 He tried the experiment of taking her to drive. 
 But the motion of the carriage, and the being 
 lifted in and out, brought on so much pain, that 
 Katy begged that he would not ask her to go 
 aMin. So there was nothino: to be done but wait 
 for cooler weather. The summer dragged on, 
 
220 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 and all who loved Katy rejoiced when it was 
 ovei. 
 
 When September came, with cool mornings 
 und nights, and fresh breezes, smelling of pine 
 woods and hill-tops, all things seemed to revive, 
 and Katy with them. She began to crochet and 
 to read. After a while she collected her books 
 again, and tried to study as Cousin Helen had 
 advised. But so many idle weeks made it seem 
 harder work than ever. One day she asked Papa 
 to let her take French lessons. 
 
 ^ You see I'm forgetting all I knew," she said, 
 ■•and Clover is going to begin this term, and I 
 don't like that she should get so far ahead of me. 
 Don't you think Mr. Berger would be willing to 
 come here, Papa? He does go to houses some- 
 times." 
 
 ''I think he would if we asked him," said Dr. 
 Carr, pleased to see Katy waking up with some- 
 thing like life again. 
 
 So the arrangement was made. Mr. Berger 
 came twice every week, and sat beside the big 
 chair, correcting Katy's exercises and practising 
 her in the verbs and pronunciation. He was a 
 
A NEW LESSON TO LEABN. 221 
 
 lively little old Freachman, and knew how to 
 make lesson-time pleasant. 
 
 ^ You take more pain than you used, Madem- 
 oiselle," he said one day; "if you go on so, you 
 sail be my best scholar. And if to hurt the back 
 make you study, it would be well that some other 
 of my young ladies shall do the same." 
 
 Katy laughed. But in spite of Mr. Berger 
 and his lessons, and in spite of her endeavors to 
 keep cheerful and busy, this second winter was 
 harder than the first. It is often so with sick 
 people. There is a sort of excitement in being ill 
 which helps along just at the beginning. But aa 
 months go on, and everything grows an old story, 
 and one day follows another day, all just alike 
 and all tiresome, courage is apt to flag and spir- 
 its to grow dull. Spring seemed a long, long 
 way off whenever Katy thought about it. 
 
 "I wish something would happen," she often 
 said to herself. And something was about to 
 happen. But she little guessed what it was going 
 to be. 
 
 ^'KatyT' said Clover, coming in one day in 
 
WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 November, **do you know where the camphoi 
 is? Aunt Izzie has got such a headache." 
 
 '' No," replied Katy, ^ I don't. Or — wait— Clo- 
 ver, it seems to me that Debby came for it the 
 other day. Perhaps if you look in her room 
 you'll find it." 
 
 "How very queer 1 " she soliloquized, when Clo- 
 ver was gone ; " I never knew Aunt Izzie to have 
 a headache before." 
 
 "How is Aunt Izzie?" she asked, when Papa 
 came in at noon. 
 
 " Well, I don't know. She has some fever and 
 a bad pain in her head. I have told her that she 
 had better lie still, and not try to get up this eve- 
 ning. Old Mary will come in to undress you, 
 Katy. You won't mind, will you dear?" 
 
 *'N-o!" said Katy, reluctantly. But she did 
 mind. Aunt Izzie had grown used to her and 
 her ways. Nobody else suited her so well. 
 
 *'It seems so strange to have to explain just 
 how every little thing is to be done," she re- 
 marked to Clover, rather petulantly. 
 
 It seemed stranger yet, when the next day, and 
 the next, and the next after that passed, and still 
 
A NEW LESSON TO LEARN. 223 
 
 no Aunt Izzie came near her. Blessings brighten 
 as they take their flight. Katy began to appreci- 
 ate for the first time how much she had learned to 
 rely on her aunt. She missed her dreadfully. 
 
 '' When is Aunt Izzie going to get well ? ^ she 
 asked her father ; " I want her so much." 
 
 " We all want her/* said Dr. Carr, who looked 
 disturbed and anxious. 
 
 '^Is she very sick?" asked Katy, struck by the 
 expression of his face. 
 
 *' Pretty sick, Tm afraid," he replied. "Tm 
 going to get a regular nurse to take care of her.'* 
 
 Aunt Izzie's attack proved to be typhoid fever, 
 The doctors said that the house must be kept 
 quiet, so John, and Dorry, and Phil were sent 
 over to Mrs. Hall's to stay. Elsie and Clover 
 were to have gone too, but they begged so hard, 
 and made so many promises of good behavior, 
 that finally Papa permitted them to remain. The 
 dear little things stole about the house on tiptoe, 
 as quietly as mice, whispering to each other, and 
 waiting on Katy, who would have been lonely 
 enough without them, for everybody else was ab« 
 fiorbed in Aunt Izzie. 
 
WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 It was a confused, melancholy time. The three 
 girls didn't know much about sickness, but Papa's 
 grave face, and the hushed house, weighed upon 
 their spirits, and they missed the children very 
 much. 
 
 "" Oh dear ! " sighed Elsie. "" How I wish Aunt 
 Izzie would hurry and get well." 
 
 ''We'll be real good to her when she does, won't 
 we ? " said Clover. '' I never mean to leave my 
 rubbers in the hat-stand any more, because she 
 don't like to have me. And I shall pick up the 
 croquet-balls and put them in the box every 
 night." 
 
 "Yes," added Elsie, ** so will I, when she geU 
 well." 
 
 It never occurred to either of them that perhaps 
 Aunt Izzie might not get well. Little people are 
 iapt to feel as if grown folks are so strong and so 
 big, that nothing can possibly happen to them. 
 
 Katy was more anxious. Still she did not 
 fairly realize the danger. So it came like a sud- 
 den and violent shock to her, when, one morning 
 on waking up, she found old Mary crying quietly 
 
A NEW LESSON TO LEARIT. 225 
 
 beside the bed, with her apron at her eyes. Aunt 
 Izzie had died in the night ! 
 
 All their kind, penitent thoughts of her ; their 
 resolutions to please — their plans for obeying her 
 wishes and saving her trouble, were too late ! 
 For the first time, the three girls, sobbing in each 
 other's arms, realized what a good friend Aunt 
 Izzie had been to them. Her worrying ways were 
 all forgotten now. They could only remember 
 the many kind things she had done for them since 
 they were little children. How they wished that 
 they had never teased her, never said sharp words 
 about her to each other 1 But it was no use to 
 wish. 
 
 "What shall we do without Aunt Izzie?" 
 thought Katy, as she cried herself to sleep that 
 night. And the question came into her mind 
 again and again, after the funeral was over and 
 the little ones had come back from Mrs. Hall's, 
 and things began to go on in their usual manner. 
 
 For several days she saw almost nothing of 
 her father. Clover reported that he looke«i very 
 tired, and scarcely said a word, 
 15 
 
226 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 **Did Papa eat any dinner ?** asked Katy, one 
 afternoon. 
 
 '* Not much. He said he wasn't hungry. And 
 Mrs. Jackson's boy came for him before we were 
 through." 
 
 "" Oh dear I " sighed Katy 5, " I do hope he isn't 
 going to be sick. How it rains ! Clovy, I wish 
 you'd run down and get out his slippers and put 
 them by the fire to warm. Oh, and ask Debby 
 to make some cream-toast for tea I Papa likes 
 cream-toast." 
 
 After tea, Dr. Carr came up stairs to sit a while 
 in Katy's room. He often did so, but this was 
 the first time since Aunt Izzie's death. 
 
 Katy studied his face anxiously. It seemed to 
 her that it had grown older of late, and there was 
 a sad look upon it, which made her heart ache. 
 She longed to do something for him, but all she 
 could do was to poke the fire bright, and then to 
 possess herself of his hand, and stroke it gently 
 with both hers. It wasn't much, to be sure, but 
 V think Papa liked it. 
 
 •* What have you been about all day?" he asked. 
 
 ^ Oh, nothing, much," said Katy. " I studied 
 
A NEW LESSON TO LEARN. 227 
 
 my French lesson this morning. And after 
 school, Elsie and John brought in their patch- 
 work, and we had a ' Bee.' That's all." 
 
 'Tve been thinking how we are to manage 
 about the housekeeping," said Dr. Carr. ''Of 
 course we shall have to get somebody to come and 
 take charge. But it isn't easy to find just the right 
 person. Mrs. Hall knows of a woman who might 
 do, but she is out West, just now, and it will be 
 a week or two before we can hear from her. Do 
 you think you can get on as you are for a few 
 days?" 
 
 *' Oh, Papa 1 " cried Katy, in dismay, " must we 
 have anybody ? " 
 
 "Why, how did you suppose we were going to 
 arrange it? Clover is much too young for a 
 housekeeper. And beside, she is at school all 
 day." 
 
 "I don't know — I hadn't thought about it," 
 said Katy, in a perplexed tone. 
 
 But she did think about it — all that evening, 
 and the first thing when she woke in the morning. 
 
 '* Papa," she said, the next time she got him to 
 herself, 'Tve been thinking over what you were 
 
228 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 saying last night, about getting somebody to keep 
 the house, you know. And I wish you wouldn't. 
 I wish you would let me try. Really and truly, 
 I think I could manage." 
 
 "But how?" asked Dr. Carr, much surprised. 
 "I really don't see. If you were well and strong, 
 perhaps — but even then you would be pretty 
 young for such a charge, Katy." 
 
 "I shall be fourteen in two weeks," said Katy, 
 drawing herself up in her chair as straight as she 
 could. "And if I were well. Papa, I should be 
 going to school, you know, and then of course I 
 couldn't. No, I'll tell you my plan. I've been 
 thinking about it all day. Debby and Bridget 
 have been with us so long, that they know all Aunt 
 Izzie's ways, and they're such good women, that 
 all they want is just to be told a little now and 
 then. Now, why couldn't they come up to me 
 when anything is wanted — just as well as to 
 have me go down to them ? Clover and old Mary 
 will keep watch, you know, and see if anything 
 is wrong. And you wouldn't mind if things were 
 a little crooked just at first, would you? be- 
 cause, you know, I should be learning all tha 
 
A NEW LESSON TO LEARN. 229 
 
 time. Do let me try! It will be real nice to 
 have something to think about as I sit up here 
 alone, so much better than having a stranger in 
 the house who doesn't know the children or any- 
 thing. I am sure it will make me happier. Please 
 say * Yes,' Papa, please do ! " 
 
 " It's too much for you, a great deal too much,'* 
 replied Dr. Carr. But it was not easy to resist 
 Katy's '" Please I Please I " and after a while it 
 ended with — 
 
 " Well, darling, you may try, though I am 
 doubtful as to the result of the experiment. 7 
 will tell Mrs. Hall to put off writing to Wisco^ 
 for a month, and we will see. 
 
 *' Poor child, anything to take her thoughts off 
 herself ! " he muttered, as he walked down stairs. 
 " She'll be glad enough to give the thing up by the 
 end of a month." 
 
 But Papa was mistaken. At the end of a 
 month Katy was eager to go on. So he said, 
 ''Very well — she might try it till Spring." 
 
 It was not such hard work as it sounds. Katy 
 had plenty of quiet thinking-time for one thing. 
 The childi-en were at school all day, and feTi 
 
230 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 visitors came to interrupt her, so she could plan 
 out her hours and keep to th^ plans. That is a 
 great help to a housekeeper. 
 
 Then Aunt Izzie's regular, punctual ways was 
 BO well understood by the servants, that the house 
 seemed almost to keep itself. As Katy had said, :^ 
 all Debby and Bridget needed was a little " tell- 
 ing " now and then. 
 
 As soon as breakfast was over, and the dishes 
 were washed and put away, Debby would tie on a 
 clean apron, and come up stairs for orders. At 
 first Katy thought this great fun. But after 
 ordering dinner a good many times, it began to 
 grow tiresome. She never saw the dishes aftei 
 they were cooked ; and, being inexperienced, it 
 seemed impossible to think of things enough to 
 make a variety. 
 
 ''Let me see — there is roast beef — leg of 
 mutton — boiled chicken," she would say, count- 
 ing on her fingers, "roast beef — leg of mutton 
 — boiled chicken. Debby, you might roast the 
 chickens. Dear I — I wish somebody would invent 
 a new animal ! Where all the things to eat are 
 gone to, I can't imagine I ^ 
 
A NEW LESSON TO LEARN, 231 
 
 Then Katy would send for every recipe-book in 
 the house, and pore over them by the hour, till 
 her appetite was as completely gone as if she had 
 swalltjwed twenty dinners. Poor Debby learned 
 to dread these books. She would stand by the 
 door with her pleasant red face drawn up into a 
 pucker, while Katy read aloud some impossible- 
 sounding rule. 
 
 "This looks as if it were delicious, Debby, I 
 wish you'd try it: Take a gallon of oysters, a 
 pint of beef stock, sixteen soda crackers, the 
 juice of two lemons, four cloves, a glass of white 
 wine, a sprig of marjoram, a sprig of thyme, a 
 sprig of bay, a sliced shalott — " 
 
 "Please, Miss Katy, what's them?" 
 
 "Oh, don't you know, Debby? It must be 
 something quite common, for it's in almost all the 
 recipes." 
 
 " No, Miss Katy, I never heard tell of it be- 
 fore. Miss Carr never gave me no shell-outs at 
 all at all 1 " 
 
 "Dear me, how provoking! " Katy would cry, 
 flapping over the leaves of her book ; '* then we 
 must try something else." 
 
232 WHAT KATY DIH. 
 
 Poor Debby I If she hadn't loved Katy so 
 dearly, I think her patience must have given way. 
 But she bore her trials meekly, except for an oc- 
 casional grumble when alone with Bridget. Dr. 
 Carr had to eat a great many queer things in 
 those days. But he didn't mind, and as for the 
 children, they enjoyed it. Dinner-time became 
 quite exciting, when nobody could tell exactly 
 what any dish on the table was made of. Dorry, 
 who was a sort of Dr. Liviuo^stone where stranofe 
 articles of food were concerned, usually made the 
 first experiment, and if he said that it was good, 
 the rest followed suit. 
 
 After a while Katy grew wiser. She ceased 
 teasing Debby to try new things, and the Carr 
 family went back to plain roast and boiled, much 
 to the advantage of all concerned. But then an- 
 other series of experiments began. Katy got 
 hold of a book upon "The Stomach," and was 
 seized with a rage for wholesome food. She en- 
 treated Clover and the other children to give up 
 sugar, and butter, and gravy, and pudding-sauce, 
 and buckwheat cakes, and pies, and almost every- 
 thing else that they particularly liked. Boiled 
 
A NEW LESSON TO LEARN. 233 
 
 rice seemed to her the most sensible dessert, and 
 she kept the family on it until finally John and 
 Dorry started a rebellion, and Dr. Carr was forced 
 to interfere. 
 
 "My dear, you are overdoing it sadly," he said, 
 as Katy opened her book and prepared to explain 
 her views ; " I am glad to have the children eat 
 simple food — but really, boiled rice five times in 
 a week is too much." 
 
 Katy sighed, but submitted. Later, as the 
 Spring came on, she had a fit of over-anxiousness, 
 and was always sending Clover down to ask 
 Debby if her bread was not burning, or if she was 
 sure that the pickles were not fermenting in their 
 jars? She also fidgeted the children about 
 wearing india-rubbers, and keeping on their 
 coats, and behaved altogether as if the cares of 
 the world were on her shoulders. 
 
 But all these were but the natural mistakes ol 
 a beginner. Katy was too much in earnest not to 
 improve. Montli by month she learned how to 
 manage a little better, and a little better stilL 
 Matters went on more smoothly. Her cares 
 ceased to fret her. Dr. Carr watching the in- 
 
234 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 creasing brightness of her face and manner, felt 
 that the experiment was a success. Nothing more 
 was said about " somebody else," and Katy , sitting 
 up stairs in her big chair, held the threads of the 
 house firmly in her hands. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TWO YEARS AFTERWARD. 
 
 |T was a pleasant morning in early June, 
 A warm wind was rustling the trees, 
 which were covered thickly with half- 
 opened leaves, and looked like fountains of green 
 spray thrown high into the air. Dr. Carr's front 
 door stood wide open. Through the parlor win- 
 dow came the sound of piano practice, and on the 
 steps, under the budding roses, sat a small figure, 
 busily sewing. , 
 
 This was Clover, little Clover still, though more 
 than two years had passed since we saw her last, 
 and she was now over fourteen. Clover was 
 never intended to be tall. Her eyes were as blue 
 and sweet as ever, and her apple-blossom cheeks 
 as pink. But the brown pig-tails were pinned up 
 into a round knot, and the childish face had gained 
 almost a womanly look. Old Mary declared that 
 
236 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Miss Clover was getting quite young-ladyfied, and 
 '^Miss Clover" was quite aware of the fact, and 
 mightily pleased with it. It delighted her to 
 turn up her hair ; and she was very particular 
 about having her dresses made to come below the 
 tops of her boots. She had also left off ruffles, 
 and wore narrow collars instead, and little cuffs 
 with sleeve-buttons to fasten them. These sleeve- 
 buttons, which were a present from Cousin Helen, 
 Clover liked best of all her things. Papa said that 
 he was sure she took them to bed with her, but 
 of course that was only a joke, though she cer- 
 tainly was never seen without them in the day- 
 time. She glanced frequently at these beloved 
 buttons as she sat sewing, and every now and then 
 laid down her work to twist them into a better 
 position, or give them an affectionate pat with her 
 torefinger. 
 
 Pretty soon the side-gate swung open, and 
 Philly came round the corner of the house. He 
 had grown into a big boy. All his pretty baby 
 curls were cut off, and his frocks had given place 
 to jacket and trousers. In his hand he held 
 something. What, Clover could not see. 
 
TWO YEARS AFTERWARD, 237 
 
 ** What's that?" she said, as he reached the 
 steps. 
 
 ^ I'm going up stairs to ask Katy if these are 
 ripe," replied Phil, exhibiting some currauta 
 feinlly streaked with red. 
 
 " Why, of course they're not ripe 1 " said Clover, 
 putting one into her mouth. " Can't you tell by 
 the taste? They're as green as can be." 
 
 **! don't care, if Katy says they're ripe I shall 
 eat 'em," answered Phil, defiantly, marching into 
 the house. 
 
 ''What did Philly want? " asked Elsie, opening 
 the parlor door as Phil went up stairs. 
 
 ''Only to know if the currants are ripe enough 
 to eat." 
 
 "How particular he always is about asking 
 now I " said Elsie ; " he's afraid of another dose of 
 salts." 
 
 "I should think he would be," replied Clover, 
 laughing. " Johnnie says she never was so scared 
 in her life as when Papa called them, and they 
 looked up, and saw him standing there with the 
 bottle in one hand and a spoon in the other 1 " 
 
 " Yes," went on Elsie, " and you know Dorrj 
 
238 WHAT KATT DID, 
 
 held his in his mouth for ever so long, and then 
 went round the corner of the house and spat it 
 out ! Papa said he had a good mind to make hira 
 take another spoonful, but he remembered that 
 after all Dorry had the bad taste a great deal 
 longer than the others, so he didn't. I think it 
 was an awful punishment, don't you ? " 
 
 *' Yes, but it was a good one, for none of them 
 have ever touched the green gooseberries since. 
 Have you got through practising? It doesn't 
 8eem like an hour yet." 
 
 **0h, it isn't — it's only twenty-five minutes. 
 But Katy told me not to sit more than half an 
 hour at a time without getting up and running 
 round to rest. I'm going to walk twice down to 
 the gate, and twice back. I promised her I 
 would." And Elsie set off, clapping her hands 
 briskly before and behind her as she walked. 
 
 '*Why — what is Bridget doing in Papa's room? " 
 she asked, as she came back the second time. 
 ^ She's flapping things out of the window. Are 
 the girls up there? I thought they were cleaning 
 the dining-room." 
 
 ^ They're doing both. Katy said it was such a 
 
TWO TEARS AFTERWARD. 239 
 
 good chance, having Papa away, that she would 
 have both the carpets taken up at once. There 
 isn't going to be any dinner to-da}*-, only just 
 bread and butter, and milk, and cold ham, up in 
 Katy's room, because Debby is helping too, so as 
 to get through and save Papa all the fuss. And 
 see," exhibiting her sewing, ''Katy's making a 
 new cover for Papa's pincushion, and Fm hemming 
 the ruffle to go round it." 
 
 *'How nicely you hem 1 " said Elsie. '*I wish I 
 had something for Papa's room too. There's my 
 washstand mats — but the one for the soap-dish 
 isn't finished. Do you suppose, if Katy would ex- 
 cuse me from the rest of my practising, I could 
 get it done ? Fve a great mind to go and ask 
 her." 
 
 '' There's her bell 1 " said Clover, as a little tinkle 
 sounded up stairs ; ^TU ask her, if you like." 
 
 ''No, let me go. PU see what she wants." But 
 Clover was already half-way across the hall, and 
 the two girls ran up side by side. There was 
 often a little strife between them as to which 
 should answer Katy's bell. Both liked to wait on 
 her so much. 
 
240 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 Katy came to meet them as they entered. Not 
 on her feet : that, alas ! was still only a far-off pos- 
 sibility ; but in a chair with large wheels, with 
 which she was rolling herself across the room. This 
 chair was a great comfort to her. Sitting in it, 
 she could get to her closet and her bureau-drawers, 
 and help herself to what she wanted without 
 troubling anybody. It was only lately that she 
 had been able to use it. Dr. Carr considered her 
 doing so as a hopeful sign, but he had never told 
 Katy this. She had grown accustomed to her in- 
 valid life at last, and was cheerful in it, and he 
 thought it unwise to make her restless, by 
 exciting hopes which might after all end in fresh 
 disappointment. 
 
 She met the girls with a bright smile as they 
 came in , and said : 
 
 *'0h, Clovy, it was you I rang fori I am 
 troubled for fear Bridget will meddle with the 
 things on Papa's table. You know he likes them 
 to be left just so. Will you please go and remind 
 her that she is not to touch them at all? After 
 the carpet is put down, I want you to dust the 
 
TWO YEARS AFTERWARD. 241 
 
 table, so as to be sure that everything is put back 
 in the same place. Will you?" 
 
 " Of course I will 1 " said Clover, who was a 
 born housewife, and dearly loved to act a& Elaty's 
 l)rime minister. 
 
 '' Sha'n't I fetch you the pincushion too, while 
 Tm there?" 
 
 *'0h yes, please do ! I want to measure." 
 
 *^Katy," said Elsie, "those mats of mine are 
 most done, and I would like to finish them and 
 put them on Papa's washstand before he comes 
 back. Mayn't I stop practising now, and bring 
 my crochet up here instead ? " 
 
 " Will there be plenty of time to learn the new 
 exercise before Miss Phillips comes, if you do?" 
 
 "I think so, plenty. She doesn't come till 
 Friday, you know." 
 
 **Well, then it seems to me that you might 
 just as well as not. And Elsie, dear, run into 
 Papa's room first, and bring me the drawer out of 
 his table. I want to put that in order myself." 
 
 Elsie went cheerfully. She laid the drawer 
 across Katy's lap, and Katy began to dust and ar- 
 
 16 
 
242 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 range the contents. Pretty soon Clover joined 
 them. 
 
 ''Here's the cushion," she said. "Now we'll 
 have a nice quiet time all by ourselves, won't we? 
 J like this sort of day, when nobody comes in to 
 interrupt us." 
 
 Somebody tapped at the door, as she spoke. 
 Katy called out, " Come 1 " And in marched a 
 tall, broad-shouldered lad, with a solemn, sensible 
 face, and a little clock carried carefully in both 
 his hands. This was Dorry. He has grown and 
 improved very much since we saw him last, and is 
 turning out clever in several ways. Among tho 
 rest, he has developed a strong turn for mechan- 
 ics. 
 
 '^Here's your clock, Katy," he said. "I've got 
 it fixed so that it strikes all right. Only you 
 must be careful not to hit the striker when you 
 Btart the pendulum." 
 
 " Have you, really ? " said Katy. " Why, Dorry, 
 you're a genius 1 I'm ever so much obliged " 
 
 "It's four minutes to eleven now," went on 
 Dorry. " So it'll strike pretty soon. I guess I'd 
 better stay and hear it, so as to be sure that it 
 
TWO YEARS AFTERWARD. 243 
 
 is right. That is/* he added politely, ** unless 
 you're busy, and would rather not." 
 
 "I'm never too busy to want you, old fellow,** 
 said Katy, stroking his arm. " Here, this drawer 
 is arranged now. Don't you want to carry it into 
 Papa's room and put it back into the table ? Your 
 hands are stronger than Elsie's." 
 
 Dorry looked gratified. When he came back 
 the clock was just beginning to strike. 
 
 '' There 1 " he exclaimed ; "that's splendid, isn't 
 it?" 
 
 But alas 1 the clock did not stop at eleven. It 
 went on — Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, 
 Sixteen I 
 
 " Dear me ! " said Clover, " what does all this 
 mean? It must be day after to-morrow, at least." 
 
 Dorry stared with open mouth at tlie clock, 
 which was still striking as though it would split 
 its sides. Elsie, screaming with laughter, kept 
 count. 
 
 " Thirty, Thirty-one — Oh, Dorry I Thirty-two I 
 Thirty-three ! Thirty-four ! " 
 
 "You've bewitched it, Dorry 1" said Katy, as 
 much entertained as the rest. 
 
244 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Then they all began counting. Dorry seized 
 the clock — shook it, slapped it, turned it upside- 
 down. But still the sharp, vibrating sounds con- 
 tinued, as if the clock, having got its own way for 
 once, meant to go on till it was tired out. At 
 last, at the one-hundred-and-thirtieth stroke, it 
 ■suddenly ceased; and Dorry, with a red, amazed 
 countenance, faced the laughing company. 
 
 *'It's very queer," he said, "but I'm sure it's not 
 because of anything I did. I can fix it, though, 
 if you'll let me try again. May I, Katy ? I'll 
 promise not to hurt it." 
 
 For a moment Katy hesitated. Clover pulled her 
 sleeve, and whispered, " Don't I " Then seeing the 
 mortification on Dorry'sface, she made up her mind. 
 
 "Yes I take it, Dorry. I'm sure you'll be care- 
 ful. ;^ut if I were you, I'd carry it down to Weth- 
 erell's first of all, and talk it over with them. 
 Together you could hit on just the right thing. 
 Don't you think so ? " 
 
 "Perhaps," said Dorry; "yes, I think I will." 
 Then he departed with the clock under his arm, 
 while Clover called after him teasingly, " Lunch 
 at 132 o'clock ; don't forget 1 " 
 
TWO YEARS AFTERWARD. 245 
 
 ^No, I won't 1 " said Dorry. Two years before 
 he would not have borne to be laughed at so good- 
 naturedly. 
 
 ^^How could you let him take your clock 
 again ? " said Clover, as soon as the door was shut. 
 '' He'll spoil it. And you think so much of it." 
 
 ^ I thought he would feel mortified if I didn't 
 let him try," replied Katy, quietly, '* I don't be- 
 lieve he'll hurt it. Wetherell's man likes Dorry, 
 and he'll show him what to do." 
 
 ''You were real good to do it," responded 
 Clover ; " but if it had been mine I don't think I 
 could." 
 
 Just then the door flew open, and Johnnie 
 rushed in, two years taller, but otherwise looking 
 exactly as she used to do. 
 
 *• Oh, Katy 1 " she gasped, "won't you please tell 
 Philly not to wash the chickens in the rain-water 
 tub? He's put in every one of Speckle's, and is 
 just beginning on Dame Durden's. I'm afraid 
 one little yellow one is dead already — " 
 
 ^ Why, he mustn't — of course he mustn't 1 " said 
 Katy ; " what made him think of such a thing? " 
 
246 WHAT KATY I/ID. 
 
 ^ lie says they're dirty, because they've just come 
 
 out of egg-shells I And he insists that the yellow 
 
 * on them is yolk-of-egg. I told him it wasn't, but 
 
 he wouldn't listen to me." And Johnnie wrung 
 
 her hands. 
 
 '* Clover ! " cried Katy, " won't you run down 
 and ask Philly to come up to me ? Speak pleas- 
 antly, you know 1 " 
 
 **I spoke pleasantly — real pleasantly, but it 
 wasn't any use," said Johnnie, on whom the wrongs 
 of the chicks had evidently made a deep impres- 
 sion. 
 
 ^ What a mischief Phil is getting to be ! " said 
 Elsie. '* Papa says his name ought to be Pickle." 
 
 "Pickles turn out very nice sometimes, you 
 know," replied Katy, laughing. 
 
 Pretty soon Philly came up, escorted by Clover. 
 He looked a little defiant, but Katy understood 
 how to manage him. She lifted him into her lap, 
 which, big boy as he was, he liked extremely; 
 and talked to him so affectionately about the poor 
 little shivering chicks, that his heart was quite 
 melted. 
 
TWO YEARS AFTERWARD. 247 
 
 ** I didn't mean to hurt 'em, really and truly," 
 he said, "but they were all dirty and yellow — 
 with egg^ you know, and I thought you'd like me 
 to clean 'em up." 
 
 But that wasn't egg^ Philly — it was dear little 
 clean feathers, like a canary-bird's wings." 
 
 "Was it?" 
 
 "Yes. And now the chickies are as cold and 
 forlorn as you would feel if you tumbled into 
 a pond and nobody gave you any dry clothes. 
 Don't you think you ought to go and warm 
 them?" 
 
 "How?'* 
 
 "Well — in your hands, very gently. And 
 then I would let them run round in the sun." 
 
 " I will 1 " said Philly, getting down from her 
 lap. " Only kiss me first, because I didn't mean 
 to, you know ! " — Philly was very fond of Katy. 
 Miss Petingill said it was wonderful to see how 
 that child let himself be managed. But I think 
 the secret was that Katy didn't "manage," but 
 tried to be always kind and loving, and consider- 
 ate of Phil's feelings. 
 
 Before the echo of Phil's boots had fairly died 
 
WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 away on the stairs, old Mary put her head into 
 the door. There was a distressed expression on 
 her face. 
 
 ^Miss Katy," she said, '^I wish yov!d speak to 
 Alexander about putting the wood-shed in order. 
 I iion't think you know how bad it looks." 
 
 " I don't suppose I do," said Katy, smiling, and 
 then sighing. She had never seen the wood-shed 
 since the day of her fall from the swing. " Never 
 mind, Mary, I'll talk to Alexander about it, and 
 he shall make it all nice." 
 
 Mary trotted down stairs satisfied. But in the 
 course of a few minutes she was up again. 
 
 " There's a man come with a box of soap. Miss 
 Katy, and here's the bill. He says its resated." 
 
 It took Katy a little time to find her purse, and 
 then she wanted her pencil and account-book, and 
 Elsie had to move from her seat at the table. 
 
 *'0h dear!" she said, "I wish people wouldn't 
 keep coming and interrupting us. Who'll be the 
 next, I wonder?" 
 
 She was not left to wonder long. Almost aa 
 Bhe spoke, there was another knock at the door. 
 
TWO YEARS AFTERWARD. 249 
 
 •' Come iu ! " said Katy, rather wearily. The 
 door opened. 
 
 ^ Shall I? " said a voice. There was a rustle of 
 skirts, a clatter of boot-heels, and Imogen Claik 
 swept into the room. Katy could not think who 
 it was, at first. She had not seen Imogen for 
 almost two years. 
 
 '^I found the front door open,'' explained Imo- 
 gen, in her high-pitched voice, " and as nobody 
 seemed to hear when I rang the bell, I ventured 
 to come right up stairs. I hope I'm not inter- 
 rupting anything private ? " 
 
 "Not at all," said Katy, politely. '* Elsie, 
 dear, move up that low chair, please. Do sit 
 down, Imogen ! I'm sorry nobody answered your 
 ring, but the servants are cleaning house to-day, 
 and I suppose they didn't hear." 
 
 So Imogen sat down and began to rattle on in 
 her usual manner, while Elsie, from behind Katy's 
 chair, took a wide-awake survey of her dress. It 
 was of cheap material, but very gorgeously made 
 and trimmed, with flounces and pufis, and Imogen 
 wore a jet necklace and long black ear-rings, 
 which jingled and clicked when she waved he/ 
 
250 WHAT KATY DIP. 
 
 head about. She still had the little round curia 
 stuck on to her cheeks, and Elsie wondered anew 
 what kept them in iheir places. 
 
 By and by the object of Imogen's visit came 
 out. She had called to say good-by. The Clark 
 family were all going back to Jacksonville to live. 
 
 "Did you ever see the Brigand again ?" asked 
 Clover, who had never forgotten that eventful 
 tale told in the parlor. 
 
 " Yes," replied Imogen, "several times. And 
 I get letters from him quite often. He writes 
 beautiful letters. I wish I had one with me, so 
 that I could read you a little bit. You would en- 
 joy it, I know. Let me see — perhaps I have.'' 
 And she put her hand into her pocket. Sure 
 enough there was a letter. Clover couldn't help 
 suspecting that Imogen knew it all the time. 
 
 The Brigand seemed to write a bold, black 
 hand, and his note-paper and envelope was just 
 like anybody's else. But perhaps his band had 
 surprised a pedlar with a box of stationery. 
 
 " Let me see," said Imogen, running her eye 
 down the page. " ' Adored Imogen ' — that 
 wouldn't interest you — hm, hm, hm — ah, here's^ 
 
TWO YEARS AFTERWARD. 251 
 
 BomethingI 'I took dinner at the Rock House 
 on Christmas. It was lonesome without you. I 
 had roast turkey, roast goose, roast beef, mince 
 pie, plum pudding, and nuts and raisins. A 
 pretty good dinner, was it not? But nothing 
 tastes first-rate when friends are away.' " 
 
 Katy and Clover stared, as well they might. 
 Such language from a Brigand 1 
 
 "John Billings has bought a new horse," con- 
 tinued Imogen; "hm, hm, hm — him. I don't 
 think there is anything else you'd care about. Oh 
 yes I just here, at the end, is some poetry : 
 
 ** * Come, little dove, with azure w ing, 
 And brood upon my breast.' 
 
 ^ That's sweet, ain't it? " 
 
 '^ Hasn't he reformed ? " said Clover ; " he wntea 
 as if he had." 
 
 " Reformed 1" cried Imogen, with a toss of the 
 jingling ear-rings. " He was always just as good 
 as he could be ! " 
 
 There was nothing to be said in reply to this. 
 Katy felt her lips twitch, and for fear she should 
 be rude, and laugh out, she began to talk as fast as 
 she could about something else. All the time sLo 
 
252 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 tound herself taking measure of Imogen, and 
 thinking — "Did I ever really like her? Hotv 
 queer ! Oh, what a wise man Papa is ! " 
 
 Imogen stayed half an hour. Then she took 
 her leave. 
 
 "She never asked how you were I " cried Elsie, 
 indignantly; "I noticed, and she didn't — not 
 once." 
 
 "Oh well — I suppose she forgot. We were 
 talking about her, not about me," replied Katy. 
 
 Tho little group settled down again to their 
 work. This time half an hour went by without 
 any more interruptions. Then the door-bell rang, 
 and Bridget, with a disturbed face, came up stairs. 
 
 " Miss Katy," she said, " it's old Mrs. Worrett, 
 and I reckon she's come to spend the day, for 
 she's brought her bag. What ever shall I tell 
 her?" 
 
 Katy looked dismayed. " Oh dear I " she said, 
 ''how unlucky. What can we do? " 
 
 Mrs. Worrett was an old friend of Aunt Izzie's. 
 who lived in the country, about six miles from 
 Burnet, and was in the habit of coming to Dr. 
 Carr's for lunch, on days when shopping or other 
 
TWO YEARS AFTERWARD. 253 
 
 business brought her into town. This did not 
 occur often ; and, as it happened, Katy had never 
 had to entertain her before. 
 
 '' Tell her ye're busy, and can't see her," sug- 
 gested Bridget; "there's no dinner nor nothing, 
 you know." 
 
 The Katy of two years ago would probably have 
 jumped at this idea. But the Katy of to-day was 
 more considerate. 
 
 •'N-o," she said; "I don't like to do that. 
 We must just make the best of it, Bridget. Run 
 down. Clover, dear, that's a good girl I and tell 
 Mrs. Worrett that the dining-room is all in con- 
 fusion, but that we're going to have lunch here, 
 and, after she's rested, I should be glad to have her 
 come up. And, oh, Clovy 1 give her a fan the first 
 thing. She'll be so hot. Bridget, you can bring 
 up the luncheon just the same, only take out some 
 canned peaches, by way of a dessert, and make 
 Mrs. Worrett a cup of tea. She drinks tea al- 
 ways, I believe. 
 
 '* I can't bear to send the poor old lady away 
 when she has come so far," she explained to Elsie, 
 after the others were gone. "Pull the rocking- 
 
254 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 chair a little this way, Elsie. And oh I push all 
 those little chairs back against the wall. Mrs. 
 Worrett broke down in one the last time she was 
 here — don't you recollect ? " 
 
 It took some time to cool Mrs. Worrett off, 
 so nearly twenty minutes passed before a heavy, 
 creaking step on the stairs announced that the 
 guest was on her way up. Elsie began to giggle. 
 Mrs. Worrett always made her giggle. Katy had 
 just time to give her a warning glance before the 
 door opened. 
 
 Mrs. Worrett was the most enormously fat 
 person ever seen. Nobody dared to guess how 
 much she weighed, but she looked as if it might 
 be a thousand pounds. Her face was extremely 
 red. In the coldest weather she appeared hot, 
 and on a mild day she seemed absolutely ready 
 to melt. Her bonnet-strings were flying loose as 
 she came in, and she fanned herself all the way, 
 across the room, which shook as she walked. 
 
 ^ Well, my dear," she said, as she plumped her- 
 self into the rocking-chair, " and how do you do ? " 
 
 **Very well, thank you," replied Katy, think- 
 ing that she never saw Mrs. Worrett look half so 
 
TWO YEARS AFl'ERWARD. 255 
 
 fat before, and wondering how she was to enter- 
 tain her. 
 
 *' And how's your Pa?" inquired Mrs. Worrett. 
 Katy answered politely, and then asked after Mrs. 
 Worrett's own health. 
 
 '^Well, Fm so's to be round,'' was the reply, 
 which had the effect of sending Elsie off into a 
 fit of convulsive laughter behind Katy's chair. 
 
 "I had business at the bank," continued the 
 visitor, '' and I thought while I was about it I'd 
 step up to Miss Petingill's and see if I couldn't 
 get her to come and let out my black silk. It 
 was made quite a piece back, and I seem to have 
 fleshed up since then, for I can't make the hooks 
 and eyes meet at all. But when I got there, she 
 was out, so I'd my walk for nothing. Do you 
 know Where's she's sewing now? " 
 
 "No," said Katy, feeling her chair shake, and 
 keeping her own countenance with difficulty, " she 
 was here for three days last week to make John- 
 nie a school-dress. But I haven't heard anything 
 about her since. Elsie, don't you want to run 
 own stairs and ask Bridget to bring a — a — a 
 
256 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 glass of iced water for Mrs. Worrett? She looks 
 warm after her walk." 
 
 Elsie, dreadfully ashamed, made a bolt fipom 
 the room, and hid herself in the hall closet to 
 have her laugh out. She came back after a 
 while, with a perfectly straight face. Luncheon 
 was brought up. Mrs. Worrett made a good 
 meal, and seemed to enjoy everything. She was 
 so comfortable that she never stirred till four 
 o'clock 1 Oh, how long that afternoon did seem 
 to the poor girls, sitting there and trying to 
 think of something to say to their vast visitor 1 
 
 At last Mrs. Worrett got out of her chair, and 
 prepared to depart. 
 
 "Well," she said, tying her bonnet-strings, 
 'Tve had a good rest, and feel all the better for 
 it. Ain't some of you young folks coming out to 
 see me one of these days? I'd like to have you, 
 first-rate, if you will. 'Tain't every girl would 
 know how to take care of a fat old woman, and 
 make her feel to home, as you have me, Katy. J 
 wish your aunt could see you all as you are now. 
 She'd be right pleased ; I know that/* 
 
TWO YEARS AFTERWARD. 257 
 
 Somehow, this sentence rang pleasantly in Ka- 
 ty's ears. 
 
 " Ah 1 don't laugh at her," she said later in the 
 evening, when the children, after their tea id the 
 clean, fresh-smelling dining-room, were come up to 
 sit with her, and Cecy , in her pretty pink lawn and 
 white shawl, had dropped in to spend an hour or 
 two ; " she's a real kind old woman, and I don't 
 like to have you. It isn't her fault that she's fat. 
 And Aunt Izzie was fond of her, you know. It 
 is doinor somethinp^ for her when we can show a 
 little attention to one of her friends. I was sorry 
 when she came, but now it's over, I'm glad." 
 
 "It feels so nice when it stops aching," quoted 
 Elsie, mischievously, while Cecy whispered to 
 Clover. 
 
 "Isn't Katy sweet?'' 
 
 " Isn't she ! " replied Clover. " I wish I was half 
 so good. Sometimes I think I shall really be 
 sorry if she ever gets well. She's such a dear old 
 darling to us all, sitting there in her chair, that it 
 wouldn't seem so nice to have her anywhere else. 
 But then, I know it's horrid in me. And I don't 
 17 
 
258 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 believe she'd be different, or grow slam-bang and 
 horrid, like some of the girls, even if she were 
 well." 
 ** Of course she wouldn't I " replied Cecy. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AT LAST. 
 
 |T was about six weeks after this, that 
 one day, Clover and Elsie were busy 
 down stairs, they were startled by 
 the sound of Katy's bell ringing in a sudden 
 and agitated manner. Both ran up two steps 
 at a time, to see what was wanted. 
 
 Katy sat in her chair, looking very much 
 flushed and excited. 
 
 "Oh, girls 1'* she exclaimed, ''what do you 
 think? I stood up I" 
 
 '' What ? " cried Clover and Elsie. 
 *' I really did ! I stood up on my feet 1 by 
 my self 1" 
 
 The others were too much astonished to speak, 
 BO Katy went on explaming. 
 
 "It was all at once, you see. Suddenly, I had 
 the feeling that if I tried I could, and almost 
 before I thought, 1 did try, and there I was, up 
 (259) 
 
260 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 and out of the chair. Only I kept hold of the 
 arm all the time I I don't know how I got back, 
 I was so frightened. Oh, girls 1" — and Katy 
 buried her face in her hands. 
 
 "Do you think I shall ever be able to do it 
 again?" she asked, looking up with wet eyes. 
 
 ^ Why, of course you will 1 " said Clover ; while 
 Elsie danced about, crying out anxiously : '' Be 
 careful ! Do be careful ! " 
 
 Katy tried, but the spring was gone. She 
 could not move out of the chair at all. She be- 
 gan to wonder if she had dreamed the whole 
 thing. 
 
 But next day, when Clover happened to be 
 m the room, she heard a sudden exclamation, and 
 turning, there stood Katy, absolutely on her feet. 
 
 " Papa 1 papa I " shrieked Clover, rushing down 
 stairs. " Dorry, John, Elsie — come 1 Come and 
 see ! " 
 
 Papa was out, but all the rest crowded up at 
 once. This time Katy found no trouble in " doing 
 it again." It seemed as if her will had been 
 asleep ; and now that it had waked up, the limbs 
 recognized its orders and obeyed them. 
 
AT LAST. 261 
 
 When Papa came in, he was as much excited 
 as any of the children. He walked round and 
 round the chair, questioning Katy and making her 
 stand up and sit down. 
 
 "Am I really going to get well?" she asked, 
 almost in a whisper. 
 
 " Yes, my love, I think you are," replied Dr. 
 Carr, seizing Phil and giving him a toss into the 
 air. None of the children had ever before seen 
 Papa behave so like a boy. But pretty soon, 
 noticing Katy's burning cheeks and excited eyes, 
 he calmed himself, sent the others all away, and 
 sat down to soothe and quiet her with gentle 
 words. 
 
 " I think it is coming, my darling," he said, 
 ''but it will take time, and you must have a great 
 deal of patience. After being such a good child 
 all these years, I am sure you won't fail now. 
 Remember, any imprudence will put you back. 
 You must be content to gain a very little at a 
 time. There is no royal road to walking any 
 more than there is to learning. Every baby findai 
 that out.^ 
 
262 WHAT KATr DID. 
 
 ** Oh, Papal '' said Katy, *'it*s no matter if it 
 takes a year — if only I get well at last." 
 
 How happy she was that night — too happy to 
 sleep. Papa noticed the dark circles under her 
 eyes in the morning, and shook his head. 
 
 ''You must be careful," he told her, "or you'll 
 be laid up again. A course of fever would put you 
 back for years." 
 
 Katy knew Papa was right, and she was care- 
 ful, though it was by no means easy to be so with 
 that new life tingling in every limb. Her progress 
 was slow, as Dr. Carr had predicted. At first 
 she only stood on her feet a few seconds, then 
 a minute, then five minutes, holding tightly all 
 the while by the chair. Next she ventured to let 
 go the chair, and stand alone. After that she 
 began to walk a step at a time, pushing a chair 
 before her, as children do when they are learning 
 the use of their feet. Clover and Elsie hovered 
 about her as she moved, like anxious mammas. It 
 was droll, and a little pitiful, to see tall Katy with 
 her feeble, unsteady progress, and the active fig- 
 ures of the little sisters following her protectingly. 
 But Katy did not consider it either droll or pitiful v 
 
AT LAST. 263 
 
 to her it was simply delightful — the most delight- 
 ful thing possible. No baby of a year old was ever 
 prouder of his first steps than she. 
 
 Gradually she grew adventurous, and ventured 
 on a bolder flight. Clover, running up stairs one 
 day to her own room, stood transfixed at the sight 
 of Katy sitting there, flushed, panting, but en- 
 joying the surprise she caused. 
 
 "You see," she explained, in an apologizing 
 tone, ''I was seized with a desire to explore. It 
 is such a time since I saw any room but my own ! 
 But oh dear, how long that hall is 1 I had forgot- 
 ten it could be so long. I shall have to take a 
 good rest before I go back." 
 
 Katy did take a good rest, but she was very 
 tired next day. The experiment, however, did 
 no harm. In the course of two or three weeks, 
 she was able to walk all over the second story. 
 
 This was a great enjoyment. It was like read- 
 mg an interesting book to see all the new things, 
 and the little changes. She was forever wonder- 
 ing over something. 
 
 '' Why Dorry," she would say, "* what a pretty 
 book-shelf 1 When did you get it?** 
 
;S164 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 •^That old thing! Why, IVe had it two years. 
 Didn't I ever tell you about it?" 
 
 "Perhaps you did," Katy would reply, " but you 
 see I never saw it before, so it made no impres- 
 sion." 
 
 By the end of August she was grown so strong, 
 that she began to talk about going down stairs. 
 But Papa said, " Wait." 
 
 "It will tire you much more than w^alking 
 about on a level," he explained, " you had better 
 put it off a little while — till you are quite sure of 
 Your feet." 
 
 * think so too," said Clover; "and beside, I 
 want to have the house all put in order and made 
 nice, before your sharp eyes see it, Mrs. House- 
 keeper. Oh, I'll tell you 1 Such a beautiful idea 
 has come into my head 1 You shall fix a day to 
 come down, Katy, and we'll be all ready for you, 
 and have a " celebration " among ourselves. That 
 would be just lovely 1 How soon may she. Papa? '* 
 "Well — in ten days, I should say, it might 
 be safe." 
 
 " Ten days 1 that will bring it to the seventh 
 of September, won't it? " said Katy. ' Then Papa, 
 
AT LASl. 265 
 
 if I may, ril come down for the first time on the 
 eighth. It was Mamma's birthday, you know,** 
 she added in a lower voice. 
 
 So it was settled. " How delicious ! " cried 
 Clover, skipping about and clapping her hands : 
 ^* I never, never, never did hear of anything s<\ 
 perfectly lovely. Papa, when are you coming 
 down stairs? I want to speak to you dreadfully ,^^ 
 
 " Eight away — rather than have my coat-tails 
 pulled off," answered Dr. Carr, laughing, and they 
 went away together. Katy sat looking out of the 
 window in a peaceful, happy mood. 
 
 «0h!" she thought, ^' can it really be? Is 
 School going to 'let out,' just as Cousin Helen's 
 hymn said ? Am I going to 
 
 * Bid a sweet good-bye to Pain ? * 
 
 But there was Love in the Pain. I see it now. 
 [low good the dear Teacher has been to me I " 
 
 Clover seemed to be very busy all the rest of 
 ihat week. She was " having windows washed," 
 she said, but this explanation hardly accounted for 
 her long absences, and the mysterious exultation 
 on ber face, not to mention certain sounds of ham- 
 
266 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 mering and sawing which came from down stairs. 
 The other children had evidently been warned to 
 eay nothing ; for once or twice Philly broke out 
 with, **0h, Katy 1 " and then hushed himself up, 
 saying, " I most forgot I " Katy grew very curi- 
 Dus. But she saw that the secret, whatever il 
 was, gave immense satisfaction to everybody ex- 
 cept herself; so, though she longed to know, she 
 concluded not to spoil the fun by asking any ques- 
 tions. 
 
 At last it wanted but one day of the important 
 occasion. 
 
 '^ See," said Katy, as Clover came into the 
 room a little before tea-time. ''Miss Petingill 
 has brought home my new dress. I'm going to 
 wear it for the first time to go down stairs in." 
 
 "How pretty 1" said Clover, examining the 
 dress, which was a soft, dove-colored cashmere, 
 trimmed with ribbon of the same shade. "But, 
 Katy, I came up to shut your door. Bridget's 
 going to sweep the hall, and I don't want the dust 
 to fly in, because your room was brushed this 
 morning, you know." 
 
 " What a queer time to sweep a hall 1 " said 
 
AT LAST. 267 
 
 iLaty, wonderingly. " Why don't you make her 
 wait till morning ? " 
 
 " Oh, she can't 1 There are — she has — I mean 
 there will be other things for her to do to-morrow. 
 It's a great deal more convenient that she should 
 do it now. Don't worry, Katy, darling, but 
 just keep your door shut. You will, won't you? 
 Promise me 1 " 
 
 '' Very well," said Katy, more and more amazed, 
 but yielding to Clover's eagerness, " I'll keep it 
 shut." Her curiosity was excited. She took a 
 book and tried to read, but the letters danced up 
 and down before her eyes, and she couldn't help 
 listening. Bridget was making a most ostenta- 
 tious noise with her broom, but through it all, 
 Katy seemed to hear other sounds — feet on the 
 stairs, doors opening and shutting — once, a sti- 
 ned giggle. How queer it all was I 
 
 "Never mind," she said, resolutely stoppmg 
 Her ears, "I shall know all about it to-morrow." 
 
 To-morrow dawned fresh and fair — the very 
 ideal of a September day. 
 
 **KatyI" said Clover, as she came in from 
 the garden with her hands full of flowers, •* that 
 
WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 dress of yours is sweet. You never looked so 
 nice before in your life I " And she stuck a beau- 
 tiful carnation pink under Katy's breast-pin, and 
 fastened another in her hair. 
 
 '' There 1" she said, "now you're adorned. 
 Papa is coming up in a few minutes to take you 
 down." 
 
 Just then Elsie and Johnnie came in. They 
 had on their best frocks. So had Clover. It was 
 evidently a festival-day to all the house. Cecy 
 followed, invited over for the special purpose of 
 seeing Katy walk down stairs. She, too, had on 
 a new frock. 
 
 " How fine we are ! " said Clover, as she remarked 
 this magnificence. " Turn round, Cecy — a panier, 
 I do declare — and a sash I You are getting 
 awfully grown up, Miss Hall." 
 
 ''None of us will ever be so 'grown up' as 
 Katy," said Cecy, laughing. 
 
 And now Papa appeared. Very slowly they all 
 went down stairs, Katy leaning on Papa, witli 
 Dorry on her other side, and the girls behind, 
 while Philly clattered ahead. And there were 
 Debby and Bridget and Alexander, peeping out 
 
AT lAST. 269 
 
 of the kitchen door to watch her, and dear old 
 Mary with her apron at her eyes, crying for joy. 
 
 " Oh, the front door is open I " said Katy, in a 
 delighted tone. " How nice I And what a pretty 
 oil-cloth. That's new since I was here." 
 
 *' Don't stop to look at that I ^^ cried Philly, 
 who seemed in a great hurry about something. 
 "It isn't new. It's been there ever and ever so 
 longl Come into the parlor instead." 
 
 "Yes I" said Papa, "dinner isn't quite ready 
 yet, you'll have time to rest a little after your 
 walk down stairs. You have borne it admirably, 
 Katy. Are you very tired ? " 
 
 " Not a bit I " replied Katy, cheerfully. " I could 
 do it alone, I think. Oh I the bookcase door has 
 been mended ! How nice it looks." 
 
 "Don't wait, oh, don't wait I" repeated Phil, 
 in an agony of impatience. 
 
 So they moved on. Papa opened the parlor 
 door. Katy took one step into the room — then 
 stopped. The color flashed over her face, and 
 she held by the door-knob to support herself. 
 What was it that she saw ? 
 
 Not merely the room itself, with its fresh mus* 
 
270 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 Hn curtains and vases of flowers. Nor even the 
 wide, beautiful window which had been cut to- 
 ward the sun, or the inviting little couch and table 
 which stood there, evidently for her. No, therr 
 was something else 1 The sofa was pulled out 
 and there upon it, supported by pillows, hei 
 bright eyes turned to the door, lay — Cousin 
 Helen 1 When she saw Katy, she held out her 
 arms. 
 
 Clover and Cecy agreed afterward that they 
 never were so frightened in their lives as at this 
 moment ; for Katy, forgetting her weakness, let 
 go of Papa's arm, and absolutely ran toward the 
 sofa. *' Oh, Cousin Helen 1 dear, dear Cousin 
 Helen 1 '' she cried. Then she tumbled down by 
 the sofa somehow, the two pairs of arms and the 
 two faces met, and for a moment or two not a 
 word more was heard from anybody. 
 
 "Isn't it a nice 'prise?" shouted Philly, turning 
 a somerset by way of relieving his feelings, 
 while John and Dorry executed a sort of war- 
 dance round the sofa. 
 
 Phil's voice seemed to break the spell of 8>^eDr»e^ 
 
AT LAST. 271 
 
 and a perfect hubbub of questions and exclama- 
 tions began. 
 
 It appeared that this happy thought of getting 
 Cousin Helen to the " Celebration," was Clover's. 
 She it was who had proposed it to Papa, and 
 made all the arrangements. And, artful puss I 
 she had set Bridget to sweep the hall, on purpose 
 that Katy might not hear the noise of the arrival. 
 
 ** Cousin Helen's going to stay three weeks this 
 time — isn't that nice?" asked Elsie, while Clover 
 anxiously questioned : " Are you sure that you 
 didn't suspect? Not one bit? Not the least tiny, 
 weeny mite ? ** 
 
 "No, indeed — not the least. How could I 
 suspect anything so perfectly delightful ? " And 
 Katy gave Cousin Helen another rapturous kiss. 
 
 Such a short day as that seemed I There was 
 so much to see, to ask about, to talk over, that 
 the hours flew, and evening dropped upon them 
 all like another great surprise. 
 
 Cousin Helen was perhaps the happiest of the 
 party. Beside the pleasure of knowing Katy to 
 be almost well again, she had the additional en- 
 joyment of seeing for herself how many changes 
 
272 WHAT KATT DID. 
 
 for the better had taken place, during the four 
 years, among the little cousins she loved so 
 much. 
 
 It was very interesting to watch them all. Elsie 
 and Dorry seemed to her the most improved of the 
 family. Elsie had quite lost her plaintive look 
 and little injured tone, and was as bright and 
 beaming a maiden of twelve as any one could wish 
 to see. Dorry's moody face had grown open 
 and sensible, and his manners were good-humored 
 and obliging. He was still a sober boy, and not 
 specially quick in catching an idea, but he prom- 
 ised to turn out a valuable man. And to him, as 
 to all the other children, Katy was evidently the 
 centre and the sun. They all revolved about her, 
 and trusted her for everything. Cousin Helen 
 looked on as Phil came in crying, after a hard 
 tumble, and was consoled ; as Johnnie whispered 
 an important secret, and Elsie begged for help in 
 her work. She saw Katy meet them all pleas- 
 antly and sweetly, without a bit of the dictatorial 
 elder-p.ister in her manner, and with none of her 
 old, impetuous tone. And best of all, she saw the 
 change in Katy's own face : the gentle expression 
 
AT LAbr. 273 
 
 of her eyes, the womanly look, the pleasant voice, 
 the politeness, the tact in advising the others, 
 without seeming to advise, 
 
 "Dear Katy," she said a day or two after hei 
 arrival, " this visit is a great pleasure to me — 
 you can't think how great. It is such a contrast 
 to the last I made, when you were so sick, and 
 everybody so sad. Do you remember?" 
 
 "Indeed I do 1 And how good you were, and 
 how you helped me I I shall never forget that." 
 
 ■'I'm glad 1 But what I could do was very little. 
 You have been learning by yourself all this time. 
 And Katy, darling, I want to tell you how pleased 
 I am to see how bravely you have worked your 
 way up. I can perceive it in everything — in 
 Papa, in the children, in yourself. You have 
 won the place, which, you recollect, I once told 
 you an invalid should try to gain, of being to 
 everybody "The Heart of the House." 
 
 " Oh, Cousin Helen, don't I " said Katy, her eyes 
 filling with sudden tears. "I haven't been brave. 
 You can't think how badly I sometimes have be- 
 haved — how cross and ungrateful I am, and how 
 stupid and slow. Every day I see things which 
 
 18 
 
274 WHAT KATY DID. 
 
 ought to be done, and I don't do them. It's too 
 delightful to have you praise me — but you 
 mustn't. I don't deserve it." 
 
 But although she said she didn't deserve it, I 
 think that Katy d^M > 
 
SUSAN OOOLIDGE'S POPULAR BOOKS. 
 
 CLOVER. A Sequel to the Katy Books. By Susan 
 CooLiDGE. With illustrations by Jessie McDermott. Square 
 i6mo. Cloth. Price, $1.25. 
 
 All the children will want to know more about " What Katy Did," 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS. Publishers. Boston. 
 
SUSAN OOOLIDGE'S POPULAR BOOKS. 
 
 These girls were Clover and Elsie Carr. — Page 7. 
 
 WHAT KATY DID NEXT. 
 
 With Illustrations by Jessie McDermott. 
 
 One handsome square i6mo volume, bound in cloth, black 
 and gilt lettered. Price $1.25. 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, Boston. 
 
SUSAN OOOLIDGE'S POPULAE BOOKS. 
 
 Nurse's Lecture. 
 
 or?,oss f^toh:, 
 
 And other Stories, adapted from the Myths of Mother Goose. With 
 44 Illustrations by Ellen Oakford. One volume. Square 
 i6mo. Cloth, black and gold. Price SL25. 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, Boston, 
 
SUSAN COOLIDGE'S POPULAR BOOKS. 
 
 The Cliffs. 
 
 A LITTLE COUNTRY GIRL. 
 
 With Illustrations. 
 
 One volume. Square i6mo. Cloth, black and gold. Price 81.25. 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publtshf.rr, Boston 
 
SUSAN COOLIDGE'S POPULAR BOOKS. 
 
 JUST SIXTEEN. 
 
 With Illustrations. Square i6mo. Cloth. Price, $1.25. 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, Boston. 
 
SUSAN OOOLIDGE'S POPULAE BOOKS. 
 
 Eyebrigfht, who had grown as dear as a daughter to the old lady, was plajring croquet wttj 
 Cheirley. — Page 2a6 
 
 EYEBRICHT. With Illustrations. One handsome, square, i6mo 
 
 volume, bound in cloth. Black and gilt lettered. Price, ^1.25. 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS. Publishers, Boston. 
 
SUSAN COOLIDGE'S NEW BOOK. 
 
 GUERNSEY LILY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 CHILDREN IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 
 
 BY 
 
 SUSAN COOLIDGE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF *' WHAT KATY DID," ETC. 
 
 Profusely illustrated and bound in illuminated clo*>. One small 
 quarto volume. Price $2.00. 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, 
 Boston, 
 
 i 
 
oUSAN COOLIDGE'S POPLLAll BOOKS. 
 
 NANNY'S SUBSTITUTE. 
 Nanny at the Fair, taking orders and carrying trays. — Page 171. 
 
 MISCHIEFS THANKSGIVING, 
 
 AND OTHER STORIES. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ADDIE LEDYARD. 
 
 One handsome square i6mo volume, bound in clofk^ black and gilt 
 lettered. Price $1.25. 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, Boston- 
 
SUSAN COOLIDGE'S POPULAR BOOKS. 
 
 ** Now, K^tv, do, — ah, do, do." — Pack 108. 
 
 WHAT KATY DID AT SCHOOL. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARY A. HALLOCK. 
 
 One handsome square i6mo volume, bound in cloth, black and gilt 
 2eitered. Price, $1.25. 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, Boston 
 
SUSAN COOLIDGE'S POPULAR BOOKS. 
 
 "As there was nobody to see, he just sat down and cried as hard as Dotty 
 herself." 
 
 THE NEW-YEAR'S BARGAIN. 
 
 WITH TWENTY- SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS J 
 
 BY ADDIE LEDYARD. S 
 
 One handsome., square i6mo volume, bound in cloth, black and gilt \ 
 
 lettered. Price, $1.25. ' ' \ 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, i 
 
 •] 
 BostoM.^ 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 :b 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 
 Renewed books arejsubject to immediate recall. 
 
 < 
 
 
 fO 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^w. 
 
 CX3 
 
 UJ 
 
 
 cr: 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 .0 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,.J 
 
 
 
 
 z 
 
 
 z 
 
 
 -» 
 
 
 DEC 16 
 
 REC'O 
 
 -^ Pi\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 LD 21-32m-3,'74 
 (R7057sl0)476 — A-32 
 
 General Library- 
 University of California 
 Berkeley