iss Pratt meant "OUR
little sister."

"Go home!" said William.

"No'ty, no'ty!" said Miss Pratt, shaking her head. "Me 'fraid oo's a
no'ty, no'ty ickle dirl! All datie!"

Jane advanced. "I wish you'd let me carry Flopit for you," she said.

Giving forth another gentle scream, Miss Pratt hopped prettily backward
from Jane's extended hands. "Oo-oo!" she cried, chidingly. "Mustn't
touch! P'eshus Flopit all soap-water-wash clean. Ickle dirly all
muddy-nassy! Ickle dirly must doe home, det all soap-water-wash clean
like NICE ickle sissa. Evabody will love 'oor ickle sissa den," she
concluded, turning to William. "Tell 'oor ickle sissa MUS' doe home det
soap-water-wash!"

Jane stared at Miss Pratt with fixed solemnity during the delivery of
these admonitions, and it was to be seen that they made an impression
upon her. Her mouth slowly opened, but she spake not. An extraordinary
idea had just begun to make itself at home in her mind. It was an idea
which had been hovering in the neighborhood of that domain ever since
William's comments upon the conversation of Mr. Genesis, in the morning.

"Go home!" repeated William, and then, as Jane stood motionless and
inarticulate, transfixed by her idea, he said, almost brokenly, to his
dainty companion, "I DON'T know what you'll think of my mother! To let
this child--"

Miss Pratt laughed comfortingly as they started on again. "Isn't mamma's
fault, foolish boy Baxter. Ickle dirlies will det datie!"

The profoundly mortified William glanced back over his shoulder,
bestowing upon Jane a look in which bitterness was mingled with
apprehension. But she remained where she was, and did not follow.
That was a little to be thankful for, and he found some additional
consolation in believing that Miss Pratt had not caught the frightful
words, "papa's cane," at the beginning of the interview. He was
encouraged to this belief by her presently taking from his hand the
decoration in question and examining it with tokens of pleasure. "'Oor
pitty walk'-'tick," she called it, with a tact he failed to suspect. And
so he began to float upward again; glamors enveloped him and the earth
fell away.

He was alone in space with Miss Pratt once more.

XVII

JANE'S THEORY

The pale end of sunset was framed in the dining-room windows, and Mr.
and Mrs. Baxter and the rehabilitated Jane were at the table, when
William made his belated return from the afternoon's excursion. Seating
himself, he