use of it if you can't drink it?' said Mary. Then she
suddenly began to jump about more excitedly than ever. 'Look! look!' she
cried. 'Look at that funny thing with smoke coming out of it! How fast
it goes! What is that?'

'That is a ship,' Sister Agatha explained. 'It takes people on long
journeys.'

'Where does it take them?' asked Mary.

'To countries a long way off.'

'Farther than we've come to-day?' cried Mary.

'Yes,' said Sister Agatha, 'a great deal farther--to countries where
there are all kinds of wonderful things to be seen.'

'Not more wonderful than there are here,' said Mary.

'No,' answered Sister Agatha; 'they only seem more wonderful because we
are not used to them. Everything is wonderful, you know; only we become
so accustomed to things we see every day that they don't seem wonderful
any longer. Now there's nothing more wonderful than a little girl,
unless it is a big girl.'

'Oh, I think there is!' said Mary. 'I think ships are much more
wonderful, and the sea, and the ponies, and primroses, and Evangeline,
and----'

'And tea!' exclaimed Sister Agatha. 'I am going to ring for it, and
then, when you have had tea, it will be time to go to bed. Now,' she
added, 'we will pull down the blind.'

IX

EVANGELINE GIVES MARY SOME MAGIC COUNTERS

Sister Agatha felt afraid that Mary would be too excited to go to sleep
that night, but as soon as her head touched the pillow she shut her
eyes, although she dreamed of all manner of strange things. When she
awoke the next morning Sister Agatha was already dressed, and as the
blinds had been drawn up, Mary slipped out of bed and limped to the
window.

Although her foot was a great deal better, she still walked as if she
was lame, and she soon grew tired. She limped to the window, and if the
sea had looked beautiful yesterday, it looked far more beautiful with
the morning sun shining on it. When Mary was dressed, Sister Agatha took
her downstairs to a smaller room, with open glass doors instead of
windows, and when she stepped through them she found herself in a lovely
garden. Some men who were digging in it touched their caps to Mary, and
she said--

'Good morning,' and felt that she was quite an important little person.
Then Sister Agatha called her into the room again, and they sat down to
breakfast. 'I wish I could go to the sea,' said Mary.

'So you shall,' answered Sister Agatha, 'but not this morning. I am
going to show you the park