tly, and Sally
placed them on a dainty tray which she carried over to the couch.

"Want I should leave you alone, or he'p you break the bread?" asked
Sally, soothingly.

Miss Selina opened her eyes and answered, "If I were sure you had Miss
Ruth's room all ready, and everything else as it should be, I would let
you pour that tea for me; but I suppose you have neglected half your
work to be in here with me."

Sally's broad grin wrinkled the corners of her mouth, as she took the
teapot and poured the fragrant beverage into a Japanese cup. At the same
time her mind seemed to dwell upon a pleasant subject.

"Does you 'member, Miss S'lina, de las' time little Rufie visited us?
Dat's de time she was all full of a plan for havin' some kin' of a
bird's nest at home. I wonder ef she ever did fix it up?"

Miss Selina forgot to find fault for a few moments, as Sally's words
caused her to remember the plan her grand-niece had talked over.

"Seems to me, her mother wrote something in a letter about a Blue Bird
Nest they were going to start. But I haven't the slightest idea what it
is. I should think they would build nests for robins and birds who are
plentiful in our country places. Blue Birds are not very numerous in our
woods."

"T'wan't for real birds--don' you recomember? It was jus' de name dey
was goin' to use fer a li'l 'sociation like!" corrected Sally, as she
held the plate of toast within reach of the invalid's hand.

"No, I don't remember! How should I?--with all this pain forever tying
me into knots!" mumbled Miss Selina, as a toothsome morsel of toast
entered her mouth.

Suddenly, the crunching of wheels on the gravel drive was heard, and
Sally craned her neck to look from the window.

"There goes Abe now," she said.

The same day the Blue Birds of Happy Times Nest, at Oakdale, had become
"Fliers," little Ruth Talmage, the favorite of the Nest, had received an
invitation to spend a week at her Aunt Selina's house, and Abe was now
on his way to the station to meet her.

Aunt Selina was an unpleasant old lady, and few of her relatives cared
to visit her; so, when she had her attacks of rheumatism she generally
had to spend her time on the couch with no one to amuse her. She had
invited Ruth the previous Spring, and had enjoyed the little girl's
visit so much, that she had sent for her now when helpless with another
attack.

Of course, when the telegram came to Ruth's home, asking the little girl
to visit