gg honesty was doomed to utter annihilation
when her grandsire was proved to have defrauded the Government by
making counterfeit money. But this was no time to undeceive the child,
so she said:

"The other bit of news is that Sol Jerrems has traded the bill which he
thought was bad for good money, so you can buy your things any time you
please."

"Then it wasn't counterfeit?"

"I saw it myself. I've lived in the city so long that no one can fool
me with counterfeit money. I can tell it in two looks, Ingua. So I'd
rather have a nice new bill than ten clumsy silver dollars and I made
the trade myself."

"Where'd ye get so much money, Josie?"

"My wages. I don't do much work, but I get paid regularly once a week."

She didn't explain that her father made her a weekly allowance, but
Ingua was satisfied.

"What do you think I orter buy with that money, Josie? I need so many
things that it's hard to tell where to begin and where to leave off."

"Let's make a list, then, and figure it out."

This occupied them some time and proved a very fascinating occupation
to the poor girl, who had never before had so much money to spend at
one time.

"I owe it all to Mary Louise," she said gratefully, as Josie rose to
depart. "It seems like no one can refuse Mary Louise anything. When she
asked me to be more careful in my speech didn't I do better? I slips,
now an' then, but I'ms always tryin'. And she tackled Gran'dad. If you
or me--or I--had asked Gran'dad for that money, Josie, we'd never 'a'
got it in a thousan' years. Why do you s'pose Mary Louise gits into
people the way she does?"

"It's personality, I suppose," answered Josie, thoughtfully. And then,
realizing that Ingua might not understand that remark, she added:
"There's no sham about Mary Louise; she's so simple and sweet that she
wins hearts without any effort. You and I have natures so positive, on
the contrary, that we seem always on the aggressive, and that makes
folks hold aloof from us, or even oppose us."

"I wish I was like Mary Louise," said Ingua with a sigh.

"I don't," declared Josie. "We can't all be alike, you know, and I'd
rather push ahead, and get a few knocks on the way, then have a clear
path and no opposition."

CHAPTER XX
AN UNEXPECTED APPEARANCE

For a week it was very quiet at Cragg's Crossing. The only ripple of
excitement was caused by the purchase of Ingua's new outfit. In this
the child was ably assisted by Mary Louise and Jo