y, I used to go swimming with
them in the pond. They think of me just like--well--just like a boy, you
know."

"Do you think so? They are nice boys, I think, that is, if they had a
chance to be anything."

"Be anything!" cried Margaret hotly. "Why, Dick's going to be a minister
and--"

"Yes. Dick will do something, though he'll make a funny clergyman. But
Barney, what will he be? Just a miller?"

"Miller or whatever he is, he'll be a man, and that's good enough,"
replied Margaret indignantly.

"Oh, yes, I suppose so. But it's a pity. You know in this pokey little
place no one will ever hear of him. I mean he'll never make any stir."
To Iola there was no crime so deadly as the "unheard of." "And yet," she
went on, "if he had a chance--"

But Margaret could bear this no longer. "What are you talking about?
There are plenty of good men who are never heard of."

"Oh," cried Iola quickly, "I didn't mean--of course your father. Well,
your father is a gentle man. But Barney--"

"Oh, go to bed! Come, get out of my room. Go to bed! I must get to
sleep. Seven o'clock comes mighty quick. Good-night."

"Don't be cross, Margaret. I didn't mean to say anything offensive. And
I want you to love me. I think I want everyone to love me. I can't bear
to have people not love me. But more than anyone else I want you." As
she spoke she turned impulsively toward Margaret and put her arms around
her neck. Margaret relented.

"Of course I love you," she said. "There," kissing her, "good-night. Go
to sleep or you'll lose your beauty."

But Iola clung to her. "Good-night, dear Margaret," she said, her lips
trembling pathetically. "You are the only girl friend I ever had. I
couldn't bear you to forget me or to give up loving me."

"I never forget my friends," cried Margaret gravely. "And I never cease
to love them."

"Oh, Margaret!" said Iola, trembling and clinging fast to her, "don't
turn from me. No matter what comes, don't stop loving me."

"You little goose," cried Margaret, caressing her as if she were a
child, "of course I will always love you. Good-night now." She kissed
Iola tenderly.

"Good-night," said Iola. "You know this is my last night with you for a
long time."

"Not the very last," said Margaret. "We go to the Mill to-morrow night,
you remember, and you come back here with me. Barney is going to have
Ben there for nursing and feeding."

Next day Barney had Ben down to the Mill, and that was the beginning of