-cream.

"What shall I do?" moaned Puppet. Whatever should she do? Puppet must
have coppers, or she could not live.

She sat in a cool, shaded court, close to the busy street; but she
couldn't get away from the heat, and the noise, and the people
sighing, like herself, "O dear, O dear!"

"I'll try once more," said Puppet, tuning her guitar.

She played "Home, Sweet Home," with variations. But all the people who
heard her were suffering, because their homes in the city were rather
hot than sweet. "Home, Sweet Home" could win no pennies from "city
folks" in July.

Then Puppet whistled to her guitar accompaniment a little "Bird
Waltz," and whirled on the pavement in time, till I doubt if she
herself knew whether the guitar had gone mad, and were waltzing about
her, or she were waltzing about the guitar.

A boy came dancing into the court, singing,--

"O, whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad!
O, whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad!"

But he danced out again, without leaving a penny behind him; so it
would have been just as well if he had never come in. Still, he amused
himself for a few minutes, which not many people were able to do in
that hot July midday.

Puppet went from the little court, and wandered on and on. At last she
left the city far away behind her.

And out and away from the city there were green fields.

Puppet had heard of green fields, but she had never seen any face to
face before. As she looked at them, she had a dim remembrance that she
had heard that they were covered with long, waving grass. But all
these fields were close shaven, like the beautiful mouse-colored
horses in the city.

It was pleasant, but not very exciting to a city girl. The city girl
presently grew tired of it.

"There seem to be houses farther along," she said; "I'll go and play
there."

Puppet slung the little guitar about her little neck, and started off
again.

Presently she came to a cottage with a little green yard in front of
it, and in the middle of the little green yard was a great green tree.

Puppet sat down on the grass, leaned against the tree, and felt very
hungry.

A lady was sitting by an open window, sewing. She was sitting so that
Puppet could see only a bit of her left cheek, and her dark hair, just
beginning to turn gray, and her right hand as she brought the needle
up from her work. From what she did see, Puppet thought that she would
give her something to eat, if she could but g