sms which
amused her companions that she never by any chance gave a simple "Yes"
or "No" in reply to a question. It was always "I am!" "I will!" "I
do!" as the case might be.

"We do!" she replied now, and then hastened to soften the admission by a
coaxing, "But I wouldn't be troubling meself about that, if I were you,
for they don't mind it a bit. I drew a picture of you the other day
with a bubble coming out of your mouth, and `Bow-wow-wow' written on it
like a dog, because you are always barking; but there isn't a bite in
ye, and all the girls say you aren't half as bad as the Mademoiselle who
was here before!"

Well! There are some conditions of mind when we are thankful for the
smallest grain of comfort, and Mademoiselle smiled and flicked the tears
from her eyes.

"They are too kind! I am much obliged; but another time, when I `bark'
as you call it, you will perhaps remember that your teachers are like
yourselves, and 'ave the same feelings. When you come first to school
you have to be comforted because you are 'ome-sick, but we are 'ome-sick
too; and when you get bad news you cry, and are excused your work, but
we must go on the same as before; and if it is difficult to learn your
lessons, it is also difficult to teach! Well, now you may go! You will
remember not to be rude to Mademoiselle again, eh?"

She held out her hand, smiling more brightly this time, and Pixie seized
it eagerly.

"I will! And I hope your father will get well soon. You will see him
at Christmas, and that isn't very long now; only forty-eight days to-
morrow. I mark them off on my calendar."

"No, that is so sad, I shall not see him until summer! He is going to
my brother in Italy, where it is warm and sunny, and it is too far for
me to go there with him. It costs too much money, and the little house
in Paris will be shut up till he returns, so I must stay in England all
through the dark, long winter, when the sun never shines, and I shiver,
shiver, shiver all day and all night! I shall forget what it is like to
be warm before the spring arrives!"

Pixie rubbed the cold hands with a sympathetic touch, but she made no
remark, and presently went from the schoolroom to rejoin her companions
and make the most of the hours which still remained, while Mademoiselle
went wearily on with the task of correction. She forgot all about her
own complaints of cold, but when she retired to bed that night a
delightful surprise was in