," returned the girl.

"Decidedly not," declared her mother with emphasis.

"There is no hope of our catching anything that Jewel has now," went on
Eloise.

Her mother glanced at her suspiciously. "What, for instance?"

"Oh," returned the girl, shrugging her shoulder, "faith, hope, and
charity."

Mrs. Evringham laughed. "Indeed! Is the wind in that quarter? Then with
the Christian Science microbe in the house, there's no telling what may
happen to you. Something more serious than a fever, perhaps." She nodded
knowingly. "This sudden recovery looks very queer to me. I'd keep the
child in bed if I were in authority. Some diseases are so treacherous.
There's walking typhoid fever, for instance. She may have it for all we
know. I shall have a very serious talk with Dr. Ballard when he comes."

An ironical smile flitted over the girl's lips as she drifted toward the
piano. "I judge from the remarks at the table, that the less you say to
Dr. Ballard on the subject of to-day's experiences the better."

"I know it," indignantly. "I'm sure that child must have played some
practical joke on him. I want to get to the bottom of it. What a strange
little monkey she is! How long will father stand it? What did you think,
Eloise, when she swooped upon him so suddenly?"

"I thought of just one sentence," returned the girl. "'Perfect love
casteth out fear.'"

"Why in the world should she love him?" protested Mrs. Evringham.

"She would love us all if we would let her," returned Eloise, the
phrases of "Vogel als Prophete" beginning to ripple softly from beneath
her fingers. "I saw it from the first. I felt it that first evening,
when we behaved toward her like a couple of boors. Any one can see she
has never been snubbed, never neglected. She got out of the lap of love
to come to this icebox. No wonder the change of temperature made her
ill!"

"Why, Eloise, what has come over you? You never used to be disagreeable.
It's a good thing the child is amiable. It's the only thing left for a
plain girl to be."

"No one will ever remember that she is plain," remarked Eloise.

Her mother raised her eyebrows doubtingly. "Perhaps your perceptions are
so keen that you can explain how Jewel managed to telegraph to Chicago
to-day," she said. "It reminded me of Dooley's comments on Christian
Science. Do you remember what he said about 'rejucin' a swellin' over a
long distance tillyphone'?"

"I can't imagine how she managed it," admitted