there's One above who rules it," said the doctor, as he bowed them
out.

"Yes, there's One above who rules it," thought happy Maria, riding home
in the carriage. "If I've asked Him once, I've asked Him five thousand
times, and somehow I knew He'd attend to it after a while."

"O, what did the doctor say to her? What did he do?" cried the children,
the moment their aunt appeared in the parlor.

"He says he can cure her if she will only be patient."

Prudy screamed for joy.

"O, dear! why didn't he cure her right off?" cried Dotty. "We s'posed
she was seeing like everything."

"Why, child, do you expect things are going to be done by steam?" said
Horace, forgetting he had calculated it would take about five minutes.

"Well, if he didn't had no steam, he could 'a' tookened the sidders, and
picked 'em open," sniffed Fly, who had great contempt for slow people.

"Ah, little Hopelover," laughed auntie, "you're like us grown folks all
the world over, scolding about what you don't understand."

* * * * *

A few more days were spent in uninterrupted happiness. Fly declared
"Santa Claus _is_ a darlin'," when she received the King Charles
spaniel, which, by the way, had not been purchased without the full
consent of Horace, who was even willing, for his little sister's sake,
to take him home in the cars.

The youth, in his turn, was made happy by the gift of a silver-mounted
rifle; while Prudy rejoiced in a rosewood writing desk, and Dotty in a
gold pen.

"All's well that ends well." Uncle Augustus was at home, and that in
itself was as good as most fairy stories. Fly had the kindness to "stay
found" for the rest of the visit, and did not even take another cold.
Dotty was unmixed sweetness. Maria came every day with such a beaming
face that it was delightful to see her.

Mrs. Pragoff asked for all their photographs, and gave the Parlins some
Polish mittens to carry home to their mother.

"I s'pose you know," said Dotty, privately to Prudy, "there's not
another girl at my school been to New York, and treated with such
attention; but O, I tell you, I shan't be proud. I shall always love
Tate Penny just the same."

When the day came to separate, it went hard with them all.

"Just as we got to having a good time," said Dotty, her face in a hard
knot.

"But we shall all meet next summer," said Prudy, hopefully.

"I don't want to wait," moaned Fly, going into her pocket-hangfiss--all