this morning.'

'This afternoon, then?'

'This afternoon there will be the Maypole,' said Sister Agatha.

'What's a Maypole?' asked Mary.

'I knew you would say that,' said Sister Agatha; 'but I am afraid you
must wait until you see it.'

'Where's Evangeline?' cried Mary presently. 'I wish she could have
breakfast with us!'

'The idea of such a thing,' was the answer. 'Evangeline has a great deal
to do and a lot of friends to entertain.'

'Does the prince live here?' asked Mary.

'He lives next door,' said Sister Agatha; 'only next door is a quarter
of a mile away.'

'How funny!' exclaimed Mary.

'And some day,' said Sister Agatha, 'he will go to live a long way off,
and Evangeline will go with him--that will be very soon now.'

'Will she take me?' asked Mary, looking a little anxious.

'No,' said Sister Agatha quietly; 'I don't think she will want either of
us, dear.'

'Shall I stay here?' asked Mary.

'No, you certainly can't stay here.'

'Then what shall I do?' cried Mary, putting out her lower lip, and
looking as if she were going to cry.

Sister Agatha passed her right hand over the little girl's brown hair,
and stared rather sadly into her face: 'I am sure I don't know what will
happen,' she answered. 'But come, we will put on our clothes and go into
the garden.'

When once they were out of the house, there were a great many things to
see. There were the chickens to begin with, dozens of them, and they all
came round Mary cackling so loudly that she could hardly hear herself
speak. Then she went into a field where there were a lot of sheep with
tiny frisking lambs, and into another field where six brown calves stood
close together by the gate, and would not move to let Sister Agatha pass
through. On the way home they went into a house built of glass. It felt
very hot, and there were ever so many bunches of grapes hanging from the
roof. And in the afternoon there was the Maypole. Mary stood in front of
the house a little way from Evangeline and the prince and the other
people, but they all seemed to be laughing and talking too much to look
at Mary.

She felt disappointed that Evangeline took no notice of her, and she
held Sister Agatha's hand more tightly. It was true that Sister Agatha
was not quite so pretty as Evangeline nor so young, and she always wore
the same dress, but still she was very nice for all that. Mary had
always felt she belonged to Evangeline, because it was Evangeline wh