is world long enough to become a polished little creature,
with all his points of beauty brought out; but not long enough to be
suspicious and to make a wild scramble when he saw the children coming.

Faith's trained eyes fell first upon the tiny, dark object, sunning himself
happily in all his baby innocence, and blinking at the lovely green world
surrounding his shallow stone. Her heart beat fast and she said to herself,
"Oh, I _know_ it's a common one!" She tiptoed swiftly nearer. It was not a
common one. It was a prince! It _was_ a prince!

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry, as, holding her skirt-bag of
turtles with one hand, she lightly tiptoed forward, and, falling on her
knees in front of the stone, gathered up the prince, just as he saw her
and pushed with his tiny feet to slip off the rock into the brook.

"Oh, oh, _oh_!" was all she could say as she sat there, swaying herself
back and forth, and holding the baby to her flushed cheek.

"What is it? What?" cried Ernest, jumping across the brook to her side. She
smiled at him and Gladys without a word, and held up her prize, showing the
pretty red under shell, while the baby, very much astonished to find
himself turned over in mid air, drew himself into his house.

"Oh, the cunning, _cunning_ thing!" cried Gladys, her eyes flashing
radiantly. "I'm so glad we found him!"

Gladys, like a good many beside herself, became fired with enthusiasm to
possess whatever she saw to be precious in the sight of others. Yesterday,
had she seen the baby prince in some store she would not have thought of
asking her mother to buy it for her; but to-day it had been captured, a
little wild creature for which Faith had been searching and hoping during
two summers; and poor Gladys had been so busy all her life wondering what
people were going to get for her, and wondering whether she should like it
very well when she had it, that now, instead of rejoicing that Faith had
such a pleasure, she began to feel a hot unrest and dissatisfaction in her
breast.

"He is a little beauty," she said, and then looked at her cousin and waited
for her to present to her guest the baby turtle.

"Why didn't I see it first?" she thought, her heart beating fast, for Faith
showed no sign of giving up her treasure. "Do you suppose we could find
another?" she asked aloud, making her wistfulness very apparent as they
again took up the march toward home.

"Well, I guess not," laughed Ernest. "Two