y set to work
again. Betty came up about seven o'clock with the crape and the bonnet,
the plaitings of which--for it was a reeved bonnet--she had smoothed
with a small Italian iron, and restored wonderfully. Then she sat down
and sewed with Miss Bessy at the frock, whilst Mrs. Fairchild trimmed
the bonnet.

At eight o'clock the work was got on so finely that Bessy cried out:

"Another half-hour, if they will but stay away, and it will be done;
and oh, how I do thank you, dear Mrs. Fairchild, and dear Betty! I will
really try in future to do better; I never wished to do better as I do
now."

"There is an early moon, miss," said Betty; "I should not wonder if
they stayed till it was up."

It struck nine, and they were not come; another five minutes and the
work was finished. Bessy jumped up from the foot of the bed and kissed
Mrs. Fairchild first, and then Betty; and then came a bustle to put
everything away.

Mrs. Fairchild showed Bessy how to lay aside her bonnet in the bandbox,
and her frock in a drawer, with a clean handkerchief over each. The
tippet, which was the only one thing which had escaped mischief, for
the plain reason that it had not been worn on the Sunday with the
frock, was laid in the same drawer; and then the needles and silk and
cotton were collected, and the bits and shreds picked up, and the room
restored to order as if nothing wonderful had happened.

The last thing Mrs. Fairchild did in that room was to take up the
gloves and give them to Betty, to see what could be done with them the
next day, and then she, with the happy young girl, put on shawls and
walked on the gravel before the house, for it was still hot.

"Well, we have had a happy, happy evening, dear Mrs. Fairchild," said
Bessy; "I never thought I should love you so much."

The party did not come home till ten o'clock; they had had such an
evening as Lucy and Emily had never known before; but they had often
thought of poor Bessy, and wished for her many times, and their mother
too. Mrs. Goodriche had also been uneasy about Bessy. How surprised,
then, they were to see her looking so cheerful, and Mrs. Fairchild also
seeming to be equally happy.

"I will tell you all about it when we get to our room, aunt," whispered
Bessy; "but I do not deserve such kindness. Mrs. Fairchild says I had
better not speak about it now."

They had had tea and a handsome supper; so when they had talked the
evening over, and Mr. Fairchild had read a