or a sunbeam.

The two were silent for a minute, Jewel's radiant eyes seeking the
pensive ones of her companion.

"Do you hear?" she asked softly at last.

"What?" he returned.

"It is cousin Eloise's Spring Song."

The doctor's words and looks remained in Jewel's mind after she reached
home that day. She mused concerning him while she was taking off Anna
Belle's hat and jacket up in her own room.

"I don't suppose you could understand much what he meant, dearie," she
said, her face very sober from stress of thought, "but I did. If I'd
been as big as mother I could have helped him; but I knew I was too
little, and when people don't understand, mother says it is so easy to
make mistakes in what you say to them."

Anna Belle's silence gave assent, and her sweet expression was always
a solace to Jewel, who kissed the hard roses in her cheeks repeatedly
before she sat her in the big chair by the window and went down to
lunch. Anna Belle's forced abstemiousness had ceased to afflict her.
At the lunch table she gave a vivacious account of the morning's
diversions, and for once Mrs. Evringham listened to what she said,
a curious expression on her face. This lady had expected to endure
annoyance with this child on her grandfather's account; but for unkind
fate to cause Jewel to be a hindrance and a marplot in the case of Dr.
Ballard was adding insult to injury.

The child, suddenly catching the expression of Mrs. Evringham's eyes as
they rested upon her, was startled, and ceased talking.

"Aunt Madge does love me," she declared mentally. "God's children love
one another every minute, every minute."

"So Mr. Reeves told you where you can go to church," said Eloise,
replying to Jewel's last bit of information.

"Yes, and"--the little girl was going on eagerly to suggest that her
cousin accompany her, when suddenly Dr. Ballard's eyes seemed looking at
her and repeating their protest.

She stopped, and ate for a time in silence. Mrs. Forbes paid little
attention to what was being said. She moved about perfunctorily, with an
air of preoccupation. She had a more serious trouble now than the care
and intrusion of the belongings of Lawrence and Harry Evringham, a worry
that for days and nights had not ceased to gnaw at her heart, first as a
suspicion and afterward as a certainty.

When luncheon was over, Eloise in leaving the dining-room, put her arm
around Jewel's shoulders, and together they strolled through the h