n in her arm, and that he kept the blood
flowing until she answered "Yes, sir," to his question, "Does your head
hurt you _now_?" She remembered all their faces--how Linnet cried and
sobbed, how Hollis whispered, "I'll get a pitcher, Mousie, if I have to
go to China for it," and how her father knelt by the lounge when he came
home and learned that it had happened and was all over, how he knelt and
thanked God for giving her back to them all out of her great danger. That
night her mother sat by her bedside all night long, and she remembered
saying to her:

"If I had been killed, I should have waked up in Heaven without knowing
that I had died. It would have been like going to Heaven without dying."

V.

TWO PROMISES.

"He who promiseth runs in debt."

Hollis held a mysterious looking package in his hand when he came in the
next day; it was neatly done up in light tissue paper and tied with
yellow cord. It looked round and flat, not one bit like a pitcher, unless
some pitchers a hundred years ago _were_ flat.

Marjorie lay in delicious repose upon the parlor sofa, with the green
blinds half closed, the drowsiness and fragrance of clover in the air
soothed her, rather, quieted her, for she was not given to nervousness;
a feeling of safety enwrapped her, she was _here_ and not very much hurt,
and she was loved and petted to her heart's content. And that is saying a
great deal for Marjorie, for _her_ heart's content was a very large
content. Linnet came in softly once in a while to look at her with
anxious eyes and to ask, "How do you feel now?" Her mother wandered in
and out as if she could rest in nothing but in looking at her, and her
father had given her one of his glad kisses before he went away to the
mowing field. Several village people having heard of the accident through
Hollis and the doctor had stopped at the door to inquire with a
sympathetic modulation of voice if she were any better. But the safe
feeling was the most blessed of all. Towards noon she lay still with her
white kitten cuddled up in her arms, wondering who would come next;
Hollis had not come, nor Miss Prudence, nor the new minister, nor
grandma, nor Josie Grey; she was wishing they would all come to-day when
she heard a quick step on the piazza and a voice calling out to somebody.

"I won't stay five minutes, father."

The next instant the handsome, cheery face was looking in at the parlor
door and the boisterous "vacation" voice w