"Some draperies for Nellie's room," she said. "You know we two have lived alone together so much, I thought it would seem more like home to her, to us both, if we did the same here. So this cottage is our own special home, just a step from Marie's," pointing to an imposing house a few yards distant, "and I am fitting it up as daintily as I can, especially her room." "Oh, let me help you, Maggie dear!" I said. "It would be such a pleasure to me." She hesitated an instant, with something of the old-time shyness, then said: "That is so like you, dear Mrs. Sprague. I have set my heart on doing Nellie's room entirely myself--there is no hurry about it, you know--but if you really would enjoy it, I shall love to have you help me in the other rooms." "And will you teach me how to weave these delicate hangings?" "Yes, indeed. Shall I give you your first lesson now?" Lifting the dainty thread, she showed me how to toss and wind it through my fingers till it fell away in shining folds. It was very light and fascinating work, and I soon was weaving it almost as rapidly as she did. "Now, I can help Carroll!" was my happy thought, as I saw the shimmering fabric grow beneath my hands. "To-morrow I will go and show him how beautifully we can drape the doors and windows." So in heaven our first thought ever is to give pleasure to others. "You are an apt scholar," said Maggie, laughing happily; "and what a charming hour you have given me!" "What a charming hour you have given me, my dear!" I answered. When we parted it was with the understanding that every little while I was to repeat the visit. When I urged her likewise to come to me, the old-time shyness again appeared, as she said: "Oh, they are all strangers to me, and here we shall be entirely alone. You come to me." So I yielded, as in heaven we never seek to gain reluctant consent for any pleasure, however dear; and many were the happy hours spent with her in the cottage by the lake. CHAPTER XIII. "I take these little lambs," said He And lay them in my breast; Protection they shall find in Me, In Me be ever blest." --[Samuel Stennett.