t down the teacup.

"Well, you'll hear pretty soon now, I guess," she said, with an air of
resignation, "and I've got some nice strong chicken soup on the stove. A
cup of that'll do yez both good by and by."

"Oh, Mrs. Flynn," whispered Betty, drawing close to the kind-hearted
Irish-woman, "I'm so frightened. I don't know why, but I am. You don't
think, do you, that anything dreadful is going to happen?"

"Not a bit of it, darlin'," said Mrs. Flynn reassuringly. "Jack'll be
all right, the little angel, and we'll have him back, and runnin' about
like any one else in just no time at all. Why, I shouldn't wonder if
we'd see him ridin' one of them bicycles on Fifth Avenue next month."

"But people don't always get over operations, you know, Mrs. Flynn,"
said Betty, with a choke in her voice.

"Nonsense," retorted Mrs. Flynn, with an indignant toss of her head.
"Sure, didn't me brother-in-law's first cousin have the two legs of him
took off wid a trolley-car on Lexington Avenue, and ain't he walkin'
around now 'most as good as ever on two cork stumps, as they give him
at the hospital? There ain't nothin' them doctors can't do, barrin'
raisin' the dead."

A ring at the door bell at this moment put an end to the Irish-woman's
hopeful predictions. Betty uttered a little half-frightened cry, and
Mrs. Flynn flew to open the door. Mrs. Randall sprang from her chair,
and was in the hall before Mrs. Flynn had left the kitchen. Next moment,
however, there was a little sigh of disappointment from every one; the
visitor was only Winifred.

"I thought I'd come to see you for a little while," she explained to
Betty, who was trying to smile, and not show the disappointment she
felt. "It's lonely downstairs without mother, and I've done all my
lessons. I've brought Miss Mollie; I thought you might like to have
her."

"I am very glad to have her," said Betty, taking the doll in her arms.
She was not very fond of dolls, but she wanted to show Winifred that she
appreciated her kindness. "Let's go into my room, where we can talk and
not disturb mother."

They were moving away, but Mrs. Randall called them back.

"Stay here, children," she said, and her voice sounded sharp from
anxiety. "I like to hear you talk, and you don't disturb me."

So the two little girls went into the parlor, and sat down side by side
on Jack's sofa, Betty still holding Miss Mollie in her arms. They were
both very silent at first, and Winifred kept casting