,
promptly; then she turned her black eyes on Biddy with a queer, sharp
look, and said, "Needn't ask no more queshshuns--sha'n't answer."

After a little more talk, in which Katy insisted that she didn't think
she could stay in a home, though she was willin' to try, 'cause she
liked to see insides of houses, they started off together.

The Raynors lived in a larger and more beautiful house than the
Kennedys, and a well-behaved maid showed the children into a room which
was so dark that Biddy and Katy could hardly see anything at first.
Biddy felt Katy twitch at her hand as if she would dart off and rush out
into the merry sunlight again. All the way up stairs Katy had been
making droll faces at the maid, who went on before them, and mimicking
her walk in the funniest manner. Biddy had not seemed to notice, though
she had found it hard not to laugh right out at Katy's mischief. Now
Biddy held fast to the little hand that wriggled in hers, and as their
eyes grew used to the dimness, they saw a large bed with folds of lace
hanging around, but drawn away at the sides, and in this bed lay the
whitest little girl they had ever seen, with soft eyes looking at them
kindly, and close to them was a tall, handsome lady. But what ailed
Biddy?

She looked at the white-faced child in the bed, and she looked at the
lady. A flush came in Biddy's cheek, and her eyes opened so wide they
were almost as round as marbles. It was the most puzzled little face
Mrs. Raynor had ever seen.

"I expected you, and I'm very glad to see you," said she.

In an instant Biddy turned and threw her arms around Katy, who stared,
and looked as if she would "cut," as she called it when she ran away.

"Oh, Katy! Katy!" said Biddy, with a queer little quick shake in her
voice, "it's the hospital lady, and the hospital little girl that gave
me the flowers!" Jenny Raynor's eyes were getting to be as round as
Biddy's had been. "Oh, don't you remember the little bit of a girl that
was run over, and lay in the hospital on Christmas-day, ever and ever so
long ago?" cried Biddy.

Biddy stopped, as had always been her way when feeling became very
strong. Mrs. Raynor made her sit down by the bed, and then put out her
hand to Katy, who stood so still in the centre of the room. All the
bright color had gone out of Katy's cheeks, so that her black eyes
looked darker than ever. She staid just where she was, she put her hands
down in her apron pockets, raising her sm