spread over her face.

"Then you have not given him any promise!" smiling at her red cheeks.

"No, but he seems to think everything will be as he hopes, and is so
pleasant over it that it is a pity to undeceive him. I'll promise not to
allow any love-making, for he knows very well it is useless to become
sentimental with me. Please don't tell my little secrets, not even to
mamma, for she is sure to tell Gussie."

"Do not be afraid to trust me with your little affairs, Dexie," he said,
kissing her cheek. "I am only too glad to be your confidant and adviser. I
am sorry that your mother feels so little inclined to take the same
interest in your affairs; you need her more now than when you were a
child."

Mr. Sherwood watched his daughter with loving eyes as she tripped away from
his side, and he wished for the power to look into the future and see how
matters would end. He sighed as he realized how much depended on her own
judgment; but his daughters must each settle for herself the question that
would make or mar their future lives.

A change took place in the Sherwood household a few weeks later, for Aunt
Jennie was obliged to return to her old home in Vermont, which was such an
unlooked for event to Mrs. Sherwood that it quite upset her. They had all
become so used to looking to Aunt Jennie for everything, that the house
would seem to be without its head if she were gone.

When Dexie told her aunt how the Fremont girls managed the household
expenditure and took the oversight of much of the housekeeping
arrangements, Aunt Jennie replied that she thought her niece quite as
capable as the Fremont girls, and asked Dexie if she could not undertake to
fill her place after she was gone, as she knew Mrs. Sherwood would be glad
to be relieved of the charge. When Dexie broached the matter to her mother,
she found her quite willing to let anyone step into the gap, so Dexie
determined to learn as much as she could while her aunt was present to
advise her.

The little account books were brought out and studied, until Dexie felt
sure she understood what ought to be done, though she doubted her ability
to put the knowledge into practice. But her doubts soon gave way to a
feeling of confidence in herself as, day by day, she mastered new
difficulties.

"I think I will make a wonderful housekeeper, by and by, mamma," Dexie
said, as they were all seated in her mother's room, and Mrs. Sherwood was
regretting Aunt Jennie's approac