"Oh, I can't help liking the place," the child said with charming eagerness. "Mrs. Jarvis has been telling me about the stores and the gardens a dozen times prettier than this, though I don't see how that can be. They don't seem to care much about gardens at home, they have a few posy beds, but you can go out and gather basketsful in the woods, only they are not grand like these. And there are no such beautiful houses. Oh, there are lots of log huts, really, the older ones, and people are not--I don't just know what to call it, but they do not seem to care." "All towns improve after a while. The people in New York think they are much finer than we, and then there is Boston--where the people are starched so stiff with the essence of fine breeding that they can hardly curtsey to one another. I like my town the best, having seen them all." "Oh, how splendid it must be to go about to strange, beautiful places," the child said wistfully, with glowing eyes. "But I have not been to France;" laughingly. "Neither have I. But great-grandfather came from there when he was a young man. And he had been to Paris, but he did not live there. And he and grandmother, whom I never saw, had to fly for their lives because they worshipped God in a different fashion from Royalty. And I can talk quite a good deal in French, but I like English better. It seems to mean more." Miss Wharton laughed at that. They had a very delightful meal and Betty, by a well known society art, brought out the brightness of the little girl, that made her very charming without any overboldness. "Why you have unearthed quite a prize," Miss Wharton said to her host later in the evening. "Has Pittsburg many such girls? If so I am afraid our young men will be running after them. You may command me for any service, only I must have her as my guest now and then." "A thousand thanks. Will you see about her wardrobe to-morrow? There is no need to stint." "I shall be very glad to oblige you. I suppose you do not mean to turn her into a young lady?" "No--o," rather hesitatingly. "Then it shall be simple prettiness." After that Miss Wharton played on the spinet and sang several old songs. Daffodil wished grandad could hear two that were his favorites, and she was quite sure Norry could not have resisted jumping up and dancing at the sound of "The Campbells Are Coming." Mr. Bartram turned over the leaves of the music, while Daffodil snuggled in the corner of the sofa beside her guardian. And when she went to bed her head was full of Norah's fairy stories come true. CHAPTER VIII IN SILK ATTIRE The shopping the next day was something wonderful. Daffodil was quite sure the fairies must have had a hand in it. And such beautiful things, she fairly held her breath over them. "But, madam, when am I to wear these lovely garments? For mother says I grow so fast, and there is no one to take them afterward." Betty Wharton laughed many times at the fascinating simplicity of the child.