her joy,
he was anxious to see its consummation.

Polly, still dimpling with amusement over Mr. Bean's management of
Aunt Jane, unfolded the sheet. One glance at the closely-written first
page, the smiles vanished, her cheeks went white, and, drooping her
head, she wailed out:--

"Mamma! mamma! Oh, mamma, I want you!"

Mrs. Dudley sprang to comfort her, but the little man was there first.
Gathering Polly tenderly in his arms, he crooned over her like a
mother.

"There! there! my dear! There, dearie! I know! I know! It's hard! I
felt just that way when Susie went. There! cry right on my
shoulder--it'll do you good. There, dearie! Pretty soon I'll tell you
something. There! there!"

The tones were soft and soothing. Mrs. Dudley could barely make out
the words. Soon the sobbing ceased.

"I didn't know the letter was from her," Polly broke out plaintively.
"That's what she used to call me--'Polly Precious'--oh, de-e-ar!"

"There! there! I know! I know! It's hard, awful hard! I know!"

She lay back on his shoulder again, and presently was more calm.

"Now I'm goin' to tell you something," the little man resumed. "After
Susie went, I just couldn't stand it without her--she was all I had.
Her mother'd gone two years before. An' I got to thinkin' 'bout Susie,
an' how she'd always tag me round, from cellar to attic, goin' with me
fur's I'd let her when I went to work, and runnin' to meet me when I
come home. And thinks I, 'S'pose Susie's goin' to stay up in Heaven
away from me? No, sir! She's taggin' me round just the same as ever! I
can't see her, but she's right here!' An' she has been! I couldn't 'a'
stood it no other way! An' Susie couldn't! The good God knows how
much we c'n stand, and he eases things up for us.

"Now, my dear, it's just so with your mother. She loves you more--yis,
more--than you do her, an' do you think she stays away from you? Why,
no, dearie, she's right here, takin' care o' you all the time!"

"Oh! do you really s'pose that?" cried Polly joyously.

"My dear, my dear!" the little man's voice was tense with feeling, "I
don't s'pose--I _know_! Ther' 's nothin' in all God's universe so
strong as love, and so what is there to keep love away from us? For,
of course, our folks don't stop lovin' us. They're just the same, here
or there.

"I don't very often tell people how I feel, for once I got caught. A
woman thought sure I was a spiritu'list, and wanted to bring me a
message from Susie. Bu