s
to beckon her in.

She was quickly in, regardless of her gait. In a moment from the time
the tempting vision appeared she was cuddling it in her arms, glibly
talking the nonsense that it loved to hear, and kissing and petting it
to her heart's content. She was so absorbed that she did not hear Mr.
John come in; and he was close by her when she looked up and saw his
face--not the genial, welcoming look she had been in the habit of
meeting since he became her friend, but one of grave disapproval.

"I am ashamed of you, Mollie," he said. "Boys of your age don't pet
babies in that way."

Mollie dropped it--she hardly knew whether on the floor or the
stove--and flew. When she got home, she ran into the little back room
that used to be her play-room. She was all ready for a good cry, and
she closed the door. Then she thought, what if Mr. John were to see
her crying like a girl-baby!--and she marched to the window, and
through the dimness in her eyes tried to see something cheering. Her
nature was very social, and her need of companionship great at that
moment; so she turned to the friend who had been brother, sister and
child to her through most of her little girlhood--her big doll Helena,
who sat in a chair in the corner beholding her agitation with fixed,
compassionless gaze.

"Come here, you dear," said Mollie, folding her tenderly in her arms
and finding comfort in the contact of her cold china cheek. She had
loved her so long that she had given her a soul; and to Mollie's heart
the doll was as fit for loving as if she had had breath and speech.
She did not play with her any longer, but Helena was still her dear
old friend--an almost human confidant and crony.

As she held her closely, suddenly she thought of Mr. John. If he had
objected to the petting of babies, what would he say to dolls? She
gave her a frantic kiss, put her away, and turned her back on her
to reflect; for she did not mean to shirk the most disagreeable
reflections in the new line of duty she had chosen to follow.

If it had really been a human friend whose destinies Mollie
considered, she could not have been more serious; and if it had been
a human friend whom she at last decided must be put far from her, she
could hardly have suffered severer heart-pangs. But she would have no
compromising with inclination in this matter. She would be brave and
strong, as it became her mother's son to be. So to the lowest depths
of the deepest trunk in the g