guring cotton gown had
been discarded for a loose white jacket, which, with its knots of pink
ribbon, was very becoming, and Ruby found herself studying it closely,
and wondering if she could make one like it, and how she would look in
it. Then she noticed the hands, so small and so white, and felt an
irresistible desire to take one of them in her broad palm.

"I do believe I could hold three like them in one of mine," she thought,
and sitting down by Eloise's side, she laid her hand on the one resting
on the arm of the chair.

There was something so friendly and warm and so sympathetic in the
touch that Eloise wanted to cry. With a great effort she kept her tears
back, but could not prevent one or two from standing on her long lashes,
and making her eyes very bright as she answered Ruby's rapid questions
with regard to the accident.

"And I hear Mr. Howard Crompton brought you here himself. That was
something of an honor, as he seldom goes out of his way for any one,"
she said, with a keen look of curiosity in her eyes.

"I never thought of the honor," Eloise replied. "I could think of
nothing but the pain, which was terrible, and now everything is so
dreary and so different from what I hoped. Do you think it will be long
before I can walk?"

"No; oh no," Ruby answered cheerily. "Let me see your foot. It is
swollen badly," she said, as she replaced the old shawl Mrs. Biggs had
thrown across it. "What have you on it? Wormwood and vinegar, I know by
the odor. You should have a rubber band, and nothing else. It is cleaner
and saves trouble. That's what I used, and was well in no time."

"Have you had a sprained ankle, too?" Eloise asked, and Ruby Ann
replied, "Certainly. Nearly every one has at some time in his life. It
is as common as the measles."

"I believe it," Eloise rejoined with a laugh. "So many have called to
see me, and almost every one had had a sprain,--some as many as three;
and each one proposed a different remedy."

"Naturally; but you try the rubber band. I'll bring you one, and
massage your ankle, and have you well very soon."

These were the first hopeful words Eloise had heard, and her heart
warmed towards this great blond woman, who was proving herself a friend,
and who began to tell her of the school and her own experience as
teacher in District No. 5, which, she said, was the largest and most
important district in town, with the oldest scholars both summer and
winter. "There are some unru