ut what am I to
be preachin' work an' practicin' play? Off with ye an' hender me no
more!"

So to the tune of a vigorous rub-a-dub-dub, Glory vanished from her good
friend's sight, though the hearts of both would have ached could they
have foreseen how long delayed would be their next meeting.

Comforted and now wholly hopeful that her determined search would have a
speedy, happy ending, Take-a-Stitch hurried back to the littlest house
whose narrow door stood open to its widest, yet she paused on the
threshold, amazed, incredulous, not daring to enter and scarcely daring
to breathe, lest she disturb the wonderful vision which confronted her.

For the desolate home was no longer desolate. There was one within who
seemed to fill its dim interior with a radiance and beauty beyond
anything the child of the Lane had ever dreamed. Meg's words and wish
returned to her and, clasping her hands, she cried in rapture, "Oh! it's
come! My Guardian Angel!"

CHAPTER VIII

With Bonny as Guide

Glory was truthful and loving, and her grandfather had taught her to be
clean, honest, and industrious, but, beyond this, she had had little
training. She knew that Meg-Laundress and Posy Jane both firmly believed
in "Guardian Angels" who hovered about human beings to protect and
prosper them. She had inferred that these "Angels" were very beautiful
but had never asked if they were ever visible or, if so, what form they
took.

Glory felt now that she would never need to ask about the "Angels" for
the small creature before her answered all these unspoken inquiries; a
mite of a thing, in silken white, with glistening golden curls and the
roundest, loveliest of big blue eyes, who sat on the floor smiling and
gurgling in an unknown language, yet gravely regarding Bo'sn who, firm
upon his haunches, as gravely regarded this astonishing intruder. The
tiny visitor was so unlike any crony captain or ragged newsboy that the
dog was perplexed, yet as evidently pleased, for his eyes were shining,
his mouth "laughing" and his stump of a tail doing its utmost to wag. As
Glory appeared in the doorway, he cast one welcoming glance over his
shoulder, then with the same intensity, returned to his contemplation of
the child.

After all, it was not an "Angel" from a spiritual world, but a
wonderfully fair and winning little human being. From whence she had
come and why, she was too young to explain and Glory was too delighted
to care. Here she was