he was doing a pair of covers
for large ottomans, and then meant to go at the back and seat for a
daintily carved reception-chair. There were some nice schoolmates who
lived up above Mrs. Craven's; but they seldom came down to First Street.
And as the little girl never complained, no one seemed to notice that
she grew pale and thin, until one day Mrs. Underhill exclaimed:--

"Mercy me! What is the matter with that child! She looks like a ghost."

"She never does have red cheeks except when she is excited," said her
father. "But she has fallen away."

"Too hard study and too much staying in the house," said Doctor Joe.

"But I _must_ study one week more," declared the little girl. "I'm going
to have a beautiful French exercise,"--they didn't always adapt their
adjectives to the fine shades of meaning,--"and I'm at the head in
history. I want to get in the senior grade. I feel well, only tired, and
my head aches sometimes."

Doctor Joe examined her pulse and nodded.

"I'll give you the week," he said; but her heart went up to her throat.
What if he had _not_ given her the week!

They all came off with flying colours. Charles's Latin was the finest;
but he had been studying it several years. Jim's essay won him much
praise. And the little girl achieved her heart's desire. She was in the
second grade of the seniors, and would graduate in two years.

They had hardly decided what to do with her; but one day Mrs. Odell came
down with Polly, who had cheeks like roses and was fat as a seal, her
mother said.

"You just let her come up and stay awhile with us, and drink buttermilk,
and run out of doors and play in the hay. She's lived in the city long
enough for a country girl, and she wants a change to freshen up her
blood. She's fairly blue, she's so white."

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," rejoined Mr. Underhill. "We could drive
up every few days and see her."

Mrs. Underhill looked up much interested.

Margaret was engrossed with her baby, and then she went out driving
every day, though they did talk of going away for a week the last of the
summer. She was very fond of having her little sister visit her, and
Hanny enjoyed the talks about books and the delightful people the
Hoffmans were always meeting.

All the Beekman daughters were going to stay awhile at the farm and
discuss the settlement of the estate. The city authorities were to cut
two streets through it in the early autumn. They had a very fair offer
fo