*

"Do you think it ended well, Kristy?" asked her mother as she finished
the story.

"Well," said Kristy hesitating, "I suppose it was a good thing for her
to find out that her mother was right,--but wasn't it horrid for her
to lose all those beautiful things!"

"It was a costly lesson," said Mrs. Crawford; "but I think it was much
needed--she was a willful girl."

Just at that moment the door opened and Uncle Tom entered.

"Well," he said, "how did Kristy get through the rainy day that
spoiled her picnic?"

"In the usual way," answered Mrs. Crawford.

"Levying on everybody for stories?" asked Uncle Tom.

"Yes," said Kristy; "and I've had the loveliest ones"--

"Kristy," said Uncle Tom, "I want to give you a birthday present, but
knowing your preference for stories, I did not venture to offer you
anything else. So, happening to hear a specially interesting one
to-day, I have persuaded the relater to come and tell it to you."

Mrs. Crawford looked up in surprise. "Tom," she said doubtingly, "what
new pranks are you up to now? You're almost as young as Kristy
herself."

Uncle Tom tried to look very meek, but there was a twinkle in his eye
which did not look meek at all.

"Please, sister mine," he began, "our niece Katherine--otherwise
Kate--has just got back from San Francisco, or what is left of it. She
went through the earthquake and the fire, lost all her goods and
chattels, and found a baby, which she has brought home. She is in the
hall waiting to be received."

Before the last words were spoken Mrs. Crawford had risen and hurried
into the hall, where, sure enough, the refugee from San Francisco, a
girl about fourteen years old, sat smiling, with a pretty little girl
of perhaps two years in her lap.

"Uncle Tom wanted me to make my visit to you to-night," she said,
after she had been warmly welcomed and taken into the sitting-room,
"as a present to Kristy, who is as fond of stories as ever, I hear."

"Indeed she is!" said Mrs. Crawford, "and in this case we shall all
be very much interested to hear your adventures. It must have been a
fearful experience."

"It was," said Kate; "but now that it is over I think that I, at
least, have gained more than I lost, because I found this baby--though
what I shall do with her I don't know yet. Of course I have tried my
best to find her parents, for, if living, they must be nearly crazy
about her."

"Surely they must," said Mrs. Crawford; "she is a darl