said Miss Brooks finally. "I am glad I met you,
and hope I have not given you too great a task. Good-morning."

Dorothy smiled and bowed, but her anxiety had promptly written the lines
of care on her fair young face, and even the aged postmaster did not fail
to ask her if anything was wrong at The Cedars when he handed her the
mail.

Among the many letters was one for Tavia, and it bore the Dalton
postmark.

CHAPTER XVII

SPRUCE BOUGHS AND LAUREL WREATHS

Mrs. Brownlie's immense parlors were stripped of all movable furniture in
preparation for the charity entertainment.

Strong linen crash covered the handsome carpets, and the camp stools to be
used on the evening of the performance had already arrived.

That afternoon the Fire Bird brought the evergreens from The Cedars--those
which had been gathered some few days before and had since been stored
carefully in the garage--and an additional supply came from Ferndale, the
result of an enterprising expedition to the woods, under the management of
Miss Agnes Sinclair.

Besides a necessary rehearsal, the evening was to be spent in decorating
for the play. Mrs. White had requested every one to be on hand early, and
now the young folks were arriving.

Little Mary Mahon was the first to come--in accordance with Dorothy's
arrangements, for Mary was to rehearse her part before the others would
get there, and just what her number would be was to be kept secret.

The Brownlie girls, Eva and Edith, understood the remark Dorothy made as
she entered, and so left the parlors entirely at her disposal, even
locking the door from the hall and throwing open the library to
accommodate any one who might come before Mary's "practice" was over.

A recitation had been selected for Mary--one that afforded ample
opportunity for the child's natural talent to act--for she had talent, and
both Mrs. White and Dorothy were delighted with the prospect of what the
queer child would add to the program.

There was something so weird about Mary--if that word might be fitly used
to denote her peculiar characteristics.

She was not deformed, but she surely was deficient physically. She was
thin to emaciation, she had fiery red hair, and Roger always declared "her
eyes and eyebrows were just as red as her hair."

The recitation chosen for her was "Guilty or Not Guilty?" and it seemed to
suit her strangely. Of course, when a child is almost constantly in the
company of aged persons, a