nd
little things like that. Margaret is coming now. I'll leave you with
her. Try to find out why she is unhappy. Pulaski is nearly worried to
death about it, and so am I."

Margaret Gaither came in as sedately as an old woman. She was very fond
of Nan, and greeted her accordingly. Whatever her trouble was, it had
made no attack on her health. She had a fine color, and her eyes were
bright; but there was the little frown between her eyebrows that had
attracted the attention of Gabriel, and it gave her a troubled look.

"If you'll tell me something nice and pleasant," she said to Nan, "I'll
be under many obligations to you. Tell me something funny, or if you
don't know anything funny, tell me something horrible--anything for a
change. I saw Cephas downtown; that child has been trying for days to
tell me of his adventures, and I have been dying to hear them. But I
keep out of his way; I am so perverse that I refuse to give myself that
much pleasure. Oh, if you only knew how mean I am, you wouldn't sit
there smiling. I hear that the dear boys are having a good deal of
trouble. Well, it serves them right; they had no business to be boys.
They should have been girls; then they would have been perfectly happy
all the time. Don't you think so, sweet child?"

Nan regarded her friend with astonishment. She had never heard her talk
in such a strain before. "Why, what is the matter with you, Margaret?
You know that girls can be as unhappy as boys; yes, and a thousand times
more so."

"Oh, I'll never believe it! never!" cried Margaret. "Why, do you mean to
tell me that any girl can be unhappy? You'll have to prove it, Nan;
you'll have to give the name, and furnish dates, and then you'll have to
give the reason. Do you mean to insinuate that you intend to offer
yourself as the horrible example? Fie on you, Nan! You're in love, and
you mistake that state for unhappiness. Why, that is the height of
bliss. Look at me! I'm in love, and see how happy I am!"

"I know one thing," said Nan, and her voice was low and subdued, "if you
go on like that, you'll frighten me away. Do you want to make your best
friends miserable?"

"Why, certainly," replied Margaret. "What are friends for? I should
dislike very much to have a friend that I couldn't make miserable. But
if you think you are going to run away, come up to my room and we'll
lock ourselves in, and then I know you can't get away."

"Now, what is the matter?" Nan insisted, when they