ise made room for her."

"And did she spoil the story?"

"No--not really, but it is nicer to have just the people you like. But
I suppose it is pretty mean to go on having a nice time when somebody
else isn't--even if you don't like them--and not ask them."

Aunt Zelie smiled at this remarkable sentence. "It is easy to be
selfish with our good times," she said; "but don't be discouraged, you
will be more quick to see an opportunity next time. If I am not
mistaken I saw a little girl put away her book to play with her small
sister not so very long ago."

"Do you think that would count?" Bess asked earnestly.

"I certainly do," answered her aunt, pinching the rosy cheek.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE M.KS.

Bess stood at the window, her brows drawn together in a decided frown.
Not that the sunshine was dazzling; quite the contrary. It was what
Aunt Sukey called a drizzle-drazzle day. The air was full of a
penetrating mist that put outdoor amusements out of the question.
Stormy Saturdays were particularly trying, and to-day the rain
interfered with an expedition to which the children had been looking
forward for a week.

"I wish I were a fairy," said Louise, who sat on the floor building a
block house for Carie; "I wouldn't have any rainy days."

"A mighty nice world 't would be, I reckon, if you had the fixin' of
it," Sukey remarked sarcastically.

"Oh, well, perhaps I'd have _some_ rain, but only at night."

"Don't you s'pose the good Lord knows what kind of weather is best for
us a heap better than a no-account fairy?" Sukey continued, seeing an
opportunity for some moral teaching.

"Of course he does, but I shouldn't think one Saturday would make much
difference."

"That ain't for us to say. Folks can't have all they wants in this
world, and they has to be taught it."

"Louise, I see Miss Brown at her window; don't you think it would be
nice to go to see her?" said Bess. "We could wear our waterproofs."

"Yes, indeed; may we, mammy?" asked Louise, jumping up. Though Sukey
professed to be a stern disciplinarian she rarely denied the children
anything, so after a careful survey of the weather she thought they
might go if they would wear their overshoes. Miss Brown saw them as
they came out of the door and raised a big umbrella. "Where can they
be going?" she wondered as they disappeared from her view. A few
minutes later, however, they came in sight again, this time on her
side of the street, and stopp