s cousin was there," Tess said, with confidence.
"Sadie went to see her--and she had jelly and oranges and farina
puddings and all kinds of nice things to eat. Sadie knows, because she
let her lick the tumblers and dishes. Besides, we're not going to be
patients there," Tess declared. "We're only calling on Mrs. Eland."

"I hope she has some of that nice farina pudding for tea," sighed Dot.
"I'm fond of that."

"Don't be a little gobbler, Dot, if she gives us anything good," said
Tess, with her most elder-sisterly air. "Remember, we promised Ruth to
be little ladies."

"But goodness!" gasped Dot, "that doesn't mean that we can's eat _at
all_, does it? I'm dreadful hungry. I always am after school and you
know Mrs. MacCall lets us have a bite. If being a _lady_ means going
_hungry_, I don't want to be one--so there, Tess Kenway!"

This frank statement, and Dot's vehemence, might have caused some
friction between the sisters (for of course Tess felt her importance,
being the older, and having been particularly charged by Ruth to look
after her sister) had they not met Neale O'Neil coming from the clothing
store on High Street. He had a big bundle under his arm.

"Oh, I know what you've got, Neale!" cried Tess. "Those are your new
clothes."

"You're a good little guesser, Tess Kenway," laughed the boy. "And it's
a Jim-dandy suit. Ought to be. It cost me eight dollars of my hard
earned lucre."

"What's that?" demanded Dot, hearing something new.

"Lucre is wealth. But eight dollars isn't much wealth, is it?" responded
Neale, and passed on, leaving the two little girls at the steps of the
main entrance to the hospital.

There was no time now for discussing what Mrs. MacCall called "pros and
cons," for the hall door was opened and a girl in a blue uniform and
white cap beckoned the two little visitors up the steps.

"You are the two children Mrs. Eland is expecting, aren't you?" she
asked.

"Oh, yes," said Tess, politely. "We have a 'pointment with her."

"That's right," laughed the nurse. "She's waiting for you in her room.
And the tea smells good."

"Is--is there farina pudding?" asked Dot, hesitatingly. "Did you smell
that, too?"

Tess tugged at the smaller girl's coat and scowled at her reprovingly;
but the pretty nurse only laughed. "I shouldn't be surprised if it were
farina pudding, little girl," she said.

And it was! Dot had two plates of it, besides her pretty cup of cambric
tea. But Tess talked