u going to the picnic with Bert to-morrow afternoon?" said
the child.

"No, Jinny, I don't see how I can. Mother's so sick."

"Well, I told Bert I was willing to take care of mamma; and he said he'd
buy me a new doll if I would. I guess he wants you to go awful."

"Oh-h dear! Oh-h dear!" droned the sufferer on the piazza.

"Well, I can't," said Emmy. "I wish you'd run and ask mother if she
wants anything."

"She don't; she's been going on that way all the afternoon." But Jinny
granted the request after the easy-going manner of her age; she turned
on her heel and sent a shout at her mother--"Say, mamma! you want
anything?"

Mrs. Darter shook her head. The din of woe swelled in volume.

"I s'pose she wants you to read to her; she says I don't read with
expression," said the little girl. "But we're all read out; you put off
the washing to read the end of _A Romance of Two Worlds_, and we've got
to wait until No. 9 comes in! Albert said he'd sent for a whooping big
pile of books from Davenport; you can get 'em at the dry-goods stores
for five cents a book. And Mrs. Conner'll bring them up, won't she, when
she comes? She's got to go for her boarder." Emmy nodded. Mrs. Darter
groaned more softly, a sign that she was distracted by something from
her own griefs of mind or body. Jinny chattered on. "Miss Ann Bigelow
told me Mrs. Conner's going to have a girl from the University of
Chicago for a boarder this time, but she's only coming for a week. Sibyl
Edmunds knows her well. And, Emmy, she takes pictures, and she's going
to bring her camera."

"Emmy! _Emmy!_ there comes Mrs. Conner!" screamed her mother.

Her words were accompanied by the vision of a white horse and an ancient
phaeton (which had been newly washed for the occasion) just beyond the
lilac-bushes at the gate. Mrs. Conner's comely presence filled the
better part of the seat, but the eyes of all the Darters traveled at
once to the slim girl in gray covert-cloth who sat beside her. The girl
looked like hundreds of rather pretty American girls, with gray eyes and
brown hair and dimples in their cheeks. She was pretty as youth and
cheerfulness and dainty clothes are always pretty, but Emmy's gaze dwelt
on her with reverence. "That's a camera she's holding--in that box," she
said in a low tone to Jinny, "she's the girl that got the scholarship."
Emmy sighed.

Mrs. Conner had stopped the horse. She responded to Emmy's greeting by
presenting her to the girl in