left the room. Pearl was the first to break the
silence.

"Do you think this is much fun, Peri?" she inquired, looking up with a
puzzled frown.

"No, I don't. I don't understand it. The Fat Woman never gave us a
lesson unless she explained it first."

"Let's not study any more then. It's dreadfully hot in here and the air
smells awful nice comin' through the window. Just like tulips and roses
and several brands of perfume jumbled together. Say, Periwinkle, if you
opened that window ever so little I could just fly right out to that
yellow butterfly that's wiping his feet on Aunt Hetty's flowers."

Pearl's wish was always law to her adoring brother. He set her free, and
as soon as he saw her "flying away," he daringly raised the window still
higher and jumped out quietly himself.

Hand in hand they skipped down the street as noiselessly as snowbirds in
the snowdrift and as gracefully as two windblown leaves. Many people
were walking along the street, all dressed in their best clothes and all
going in one direction. Suddenly Periwinkle clutched his sister's hand.

"Look, Pearl," he exclaimed excitedly, "there's that tall man with the
nice brown eyes, and the tan shoes who looked at Aunt Hetty so funny at
the station yesterday. Should we speak to him?"

"It would be nice of us," Pearl replied, and always accustomed to act on
the impulse, she called, "Howdy do, Mister! Why is everybody going this
way this morning?"

The man, thus addressed, stopped and, looking down on them with one of
those smiles of comradeship that won their hearts at once, replied:

"Why, hello! It's Sunday, you know, and we are all going to church.
Don't you want to come along?"

"Oh, Aunt Hetty wouldn't--she don't like my clothes, you know."

"I think they're real pretty," replied their new-found friend, smiling a
little because of their answer. "Silk aren't they?"

"Yes, trimmed with satin and snow-flake chiffon. I guess we'll go with
you, Mister."

"Good!" There was a ring in his voice that the children could not
understand. To walk to church hand in hand with the niece and nephew of
Hetty Maise would be a novel experience not unattended with some
humor--that appealed to him: to win their love would be the victory he
most desired.

"Won't you tell me your names, please," he whispered as they entered the
church.

"Periwinkle and Pearl Toddles, relatives of Miss Hetty Maise," was the
whispered reply.

Having introduced himself as R