good thing,--next best to a good
conscience, I think."

Eyebright's spirits were mounting as rapidly as quicksilver. Bessie
Mather appeared at the gate as she finished her last mouthful, and,
giving Wealthy a great hug, Eyebright ran out to meet her, with a
lightness and gayety of heart which surprised even herself. The blue
sky seemed bluer than ever before, the grass greener, the sunshine was
like yellow gold. Every little thing that happened made her laugh. It
was as though a black cloud had been rolled away from between her and
the light.

"I wonder what makes me so particularly happy to-night," she thought,
as she sat on the steps waiting for papa, after Bessie was gone. "It's
queer that I should, when I've been so naughty--and all."

But it was not queer, though Eyebright felt it so. The world never
looks so fair and bright as to eyes newly washed by tears of sorrow
for faults forgiven; and hearts which are emptied of unkind feelings
grow light at once, as if happiness were the rule of the world and not
the exception.

CHAPTER VI.

CHANGES.

It happens now and then in life that small circumstances link
themselves on to great ones, and in this way become important, when
otherwise they might pass out of mind and be forgotten. Such was the
case with that day's naughtiness. Eyebright remembered it always, and
never without a sharp prick of pain, because of certain things that
followed soon afterward, and of which I must tell you in this chapter.

Miss Fitch's winter term opened on the 15th of September. The boys and
girls were not sorry to begin school, I think. They had "played
themselves out" during the long vacation, and it was rather a pleasant
change now to return to lessons and regular hours. Every thing seemed
new and interesting after three months' absence, the schoolhouse, the
Green, all the cubby-holes and hiding-places, just as shabby
playthings laid aside for a while come out looking quite fresh, and do
not seem like old ones at all. There was the beautiful autumn weather,
beside, making each moment of liberty doubly delightful. Day after
day, week after week, this perfect weather lasted, till it seemed as
though the skies had forgotten the trick of raining, or how to be of
any color except clear, dazzling blue. The wind blew softly and made
lovely little noises in the boughs, but there was a cool edge to its
softness now which added to the satisfaction of breathing it. The
garden beds w