bless the day she
first saw you."

"Ah, but she never would have seen me but for you and Marty. In fact I
don't think I should have taken much interest in her if my attention had
not been attracted to her by Marty's self-denying gift of that doll."

"And I don't believe _I'd_ have taken much interest in her if it hadn't
been for hearing about the poor foreign children at the mission-band,"
said Marty.

"Everything comes around to the mission-band first or last, doesn't it?"
said Cousin Alice, laughing.

"Pretty near everything," replied Marty seriously. "And then there's
Jimmy Torrence," she added presently. "I don't believe I'd have been
willing to have my ulster pieced for his sake if I hadn't been hearing
about those other forlorn children."

She was glad to see Jimmy looking so much brighter and better. Though he
did not know he owed his country visit to her, he remembered the cake
she had given him and the kind words she had more than once spoken to
him, so he often lingered on the stairs to see her as she passed in and
out of Mrs. Scott's room, always greeting her with a bright smile.

One Sunday Mrs. Scott made him and his next older sister as clean and
respectable as possible, and took them to church with her. The result
was, some of the ladies of the church came around to see the Torrences,
fitted the older ones out with decent clothes, and gathered them into
the Sunday-school.

Soon after this, one afternoon Miss Alice came into Mrs. Ashford's
sitting-room, half laughing, and exclaimed as she sank into a chair,
"Oh, Marty, how you and your mission work are getting me into
business!"

"Why, how?" demanded Marty.

"Oh, those Torrences!" said Miss Alice, still laughing.

"What about them? Do tell us," Marty insisted.

"Well, one day as I was going to see Jennie, I saw the two little girls
younger than Jimmy on the stairs, and they did look so cold this kind of
weather in their ragged calico frocks, and not much else on. So I just
went home, got my old blue flannel dress, bought a few yards of cotton
flannel, and took them to Mrs. Torrence to make some comfortable clothes
for those poor children. And, Cousin Helen, will you believe it? I found
the woman didn't know the first thing about cutting and making clothes!"

"That is very strange," said Mrs. Ashford. "How has she been getting
along all this time with such a family?"

"She depends on people giving her things, and on buying cheap ready-made