ad you are here,"
she sighed. "I feel lots more faith growing. I shall soon be
very--is it faithful I ought to say?"

"Well, not exactly in the sense you mean, though really it ought to
be that faithful means full of faith; as it is it means trustworthy
and devoted to the performance of duties and things. I think the old
meaning when one wanted to say that a person was full of faith was
faithful, but the original sense of many words has been lost."

"When shall I begin with the typewriter?" asked Marian, changing the
subject.

"We can begin this afternoon. I have unpacked and oiled it, so it is
all ready to use."

"How soon do you think I can send a letter to papa?"

"If you are industrious and painstaking I should say you could do it
in a week."

"Oh, that's not long, and he will get it long before Christmas,
won't he?"

"Yes, indeed! I should think in ten days or two weeks at the
furthest."

"I should like to send him something for Christmas. I never did send
him anything. Don't you think it would be nice to do it?"

"I think it would be awfully nice."

Marian gave her teacher's arm a gentle shake and put her finger to
her lip.

Miss Dorothy looked at her a little puzzled, then she understood.
"Oh, I said awfully, didn't I? Thank you, dearie, for reminding me.
What should you like to send your father?"

"I don't know. I'll have to think. You'll help me to think, won't
you?"

"Indeed I will, if you want me to. I should think almost anything
you could send would please him, for, after all, it is the thought
that counts, not the thing itself."

"Oh, but I do think things count, and--Miss Dorothy, you won't tell
if I ask him not to send me money."

"Not money? I think that it's rather a nice thing to have, for then
you can buy whatever you like."

"You couldn't if you were I."

"Why not?"

"Because. You won't say anything about it to the grans?" Marian's
voice dropped to a whisper. "When papa sends me money it always goes
to the missions; it is my sacrifice, Grandma says. As long as I
don't have the money really in my hands, it doesn't so much matter,
but it would matter if I had to go without butter or perhaps sweet
things, like dessert or cake for a whole month. That is what would
happen if I said I would rather have the money myself than let the
missionaries have it. Oh, I suppose it is all right," she added
quickly, "and no doubt I am a hardened sinner, but I would like a
real Christmas gif