again some day, when
the storm that has beaten you down has passed over and the sky is clear
and the sun warm. Don't laugh at me, Polly!

"Always yours, whether you laugh or not,

"EDGAR."

"P. S. No. III. I should n't dare add this third postscript if you
were near enough to slay me with the lightning of your eye, but I
simply wish to mention that a wise gardener chooses young, strong
timber for _poles_,--saplings, in fact! _Mr. John Bird is too old for
this purpose_. Well seasoned he is, of course, and suitable as a prop
for a century-plant, but not for a scarlet runner! I like him, you
know, but I 'm sure he 'd crack if you leaned on him; in point of fact,
he 's a little cracked now! E. N."

The ghost of a smile shone on Polly's April face as she folded Edgar's
letter and laid it in its envelope; first came a smile, then a tear,
then a dimple, then a sob, then a wave of bright color.

"Edgar is growing up so fast," she thought, "I shall soon be afraid to
scold him or advise him, and

"'What will poor Robin do then, poor thing?'

"Upon my word, if I caught him misbehaving nowadays, I believe I should
hesitate to remonstrate with him. He will soon be capable of
remonstrating with me, at this rate. He is a goose,--oh, there 's no
shadow of doubt as to that, but he 's an awfully nice goose."

Mrs. Bird's letter ran thus:--

"MY DEAREST POLLYKINS:----We have lived without you just about as long
as we can endure it. The boys have returned to school and college.
Mr. Bird contemplates one more trip to Honolulu, and brother John and I
need some one to coddle and worry over. I have not spoken to you of
your future, because I wished to wait until you opened the subject. It
is too late for you to begin your professional training this year, and
I think you are far too delicate just now to undertake so arduous a
work; however, you are young, and that can wait for a bit. As to the
story-telling in the hospitals and asylums, I wish you could find
courage and strength to go on with that, not for your own sake alone,
but for the sake of others.

"As I have told you before, the money is set aside for that special
purpose, and the work will be carried on by somebody. Of course I can
get a substitute if you refuse, and that substitute may, after a little
time, satisfy the impatient children, who flatten their noses against
the window-panes and long for Mias Pauline every day of their meagre