nted of the visit altogether. Still she could not but hope
that Mary would come in the course of the afternoon. The hours of
the afternoon, however, passed tediously away, and the sun began to
decline toward the west; still there was no Mary Bell. The cause of
her detention will now be explained.

When Mary Bell came down to breakfast, on the morning after her
mother's visit to Mary Erskine, her mother told her, as she came
into the room, that she had an invitation for her to go out to Mary
Erskine's that day.

"And may I go?" asked Mary Bell.

"Yes," said her mother, "I think I shall let you go."

"I am _so_ glad!" said Mary Bell, clapping her hands.

"Mary Erskine wishes to have you stay there several days," continued
her mother.

Mary Bell began to look a little sober again. She was not quite sure
that she should be willing to be absent from her mother, for so many
days.

"Could not I come home every night?" said she.

"Why, she wishes," answered Mrs. Bell, "to have you stay there all the
time, day and night, for several days. It is an opportunity for you
to do some good. You could not do Mary Erskine any good by giving her
your money, for she has got plenty of money; nor by carrying her any
thing good to eat, for her house is full of abundance, and she knows
as well how to make good things as any body in town. But you can do
her a great deal of good by going and staying with her, and keeping
her company. Perhaps you can help her a little, in taking care of the
children."

"Well," said Mary Bell, "I should like to go."

So Mrs. Bell dressed Mary neatly, for the walk, gave her a very small
tin pail, with two oranges in it for Mary Erskine's children, and then
sent out word to the hired man, whose name was Joseph, to harness the
horse into the wagon. When the wagon was ready, she directed Joseph to
carry Mary to the corner, and see that she set out upon the right road
there, toward Mary Erskine's house. It was only about half a mile
from the corner to the house, and the road, though crooked, stony, and
rough, was very plain, and Mary Bell had often walked over it alone.

There was, in fact, only one place where there could be any danger
of Mary Bell's losing her way, and that was at a point about midway
between the corner and Mary Erskine's house, where a road branched off
to the right, and led into the woods. There was a large pine-tree at
this point, which Mary Bell remembered well; and she knew that sh