he mirror from
Dicky and plunged into the shivery darkness of the stairs. It was
doubly difficult for her to go down backwards because of her
lameness. But she finally arrived at the bottom and stood there
expectantly. It seemed a long time before anything happened.
Suddenly, she felt something stir back of her. A lighted
jack-o'-lantern came from between the folds of a curtain which hung
from the ceiling. It grinned over her shoulder at her face in the
mirror.

Maida burst into a shriek of laughter and scrambled upstairs. "I'm
going to marry a jack-o'-lantern," she said. "My name's going to be
Mrs. Jack Pumpkin."

"I'm going to marry Laura's sailor-doll," Rosie confessed. "My name
is Mrs. Yankee Doodle."

"I'm going to marry Laura's big doll, Queenie," Arthur admitted.

"And I'm going to marry Harold's Teddy-bear," Dicky said.

After that they blew soap-bubbles and roasted apples and chestnuts,
popped corn and pulled candy at the great fireplace in the playroom.
And at Maida's request, just before they left, Laura danced for
them.

"Will you help me to get on my costume, Maida?" Laura asked.

"Of course," Maida said, wondering.

"I asked you to come down here, Maida," Laura said when the two
little girls were alone, "because I wanted to tell you that I am
sorry for the way I treated you just before I got diphtheria. I told
my mother about it and she said I did those things because I was
coming down sick. She said that people are always fretty and cross
when they're not well. But I don't think it was all that. I guess I
did it on purpose just to be disagreeable. But I hope you will
excuse me."

"Of course I will, Laura," Maida said heartily. "And I hope you will
forgive me for going so long without speaking to you. But you see I
heard," she stopped and hesitated, "things," she ended lamely.

"Oh, I know what you heard. I said those things about you to the
W.M.N.T.'s so that they'd get back to you. I wanted to hurt your
feelings." Laura in her turn stopped and hesitated for an instant.
"I was jealous," she finally confessed in a burst. "But I want you
to understand this, Maida. I didn't believe those horrid things
myself. I always have a feeling inside when people are telling lies
and I didn't have that feeling when you were talking to me. I knew
you were telling the truth. And all the time while I was getting
well, I felt so dreadfully about it that I knew I never would be
happy again unless I told you so