But Josiah looked up with haggard eyes that saw nothing, and could only repeat the sentence which he had been whispering to himself, "It's God's own punishment--God's own punishment--there are things--I can't tell you--" The doctor came to him at last and, after he was quieter, the two sisters went away, carrying their precious burden with them. "Wasn't there a girl's name which means bitterness?" asked Miss Cordelia, suddenly stopping. "Yes," said Miss Patty. "That's what 'Mary' means." The two sisters looked at each other earnestly--looked at each other and nodded. "We'll call her 'Mary' then," said Miss Cordelia. And that is how my heroine got her name. CHAPTER IV I wish I had time to tell you in the fulness of detail how those two spinsters brought up Mary, but there is so much else to put before you that I dare not dally here. Still, I am going to find time to say that all the love and affection which Miss Cordelia and Miss Patty had ever woven into their fancies were now showered down upon Mary--falling softly and sweetly like petals from two full-blown roses when stirred by a breeze from the south. When she was a baby, Mary's nose had an upward tilt. One morning after Miss Cordelia had bathed her (which would have reminded you of a function at the court of the Grand Monarque, with its Towel Holder, Soap Holder, Temperature Taker and all and sundry) she suddenly sent the two maids and the nurse away and, casting dignity to the winds, she lifted Mary in a transport of love which wouldn't be denied any longer, and pretended to bite the end of the poor babe's nose off. "Oh, I know it's candy," she said, mumbling away and hugging the blessed child. "It's even got powdered sugar on it--" "That's talcum powder," said Miss Patty, watching with a jealous eye. "Powdered sugar, yes," persisted Miss Cordelia, mumbling on. "I know. And I know why her nose turns up at the end, too. That naughty Miss Patty washed it with yellow soap one night when I wasn't looking--" "I never, never did!" protested Miss Patty, all indignation in a moment. "Washed it with yellow soap, yes," still persisted Miss Cordelia, "and made it shine like a star. And that night, when Mary lay in her bed, the moon looked through the window and saw that little star twinkling there, and the moon said 'Little star! Little star! What are you doing there in Mary's bed? You come up here in the sky and twinkle where you belong!' And all night long, Mary's little nose tried to get up to the moon, and that's why it turns up at the end--" And then in one grand finale of cannibalistic transport, Miss Cordelia concluded, "Oh, I could eat her up!" But it was Miss Patty's turn then, because although Cordelia bathed the child, it was the younger sister's part to dress her. So Miss Patty put her arms out with an authority which wouldn't take "No" for an answer, and if you had been in the next room, you would then have heard--