"She's goin' to fix me up a room right next to hers, all white and pink! And she's goin' to get me a beautiful doll house and some new dolls--she says I can pick 'em out myself! And--what do you think!--she said last night she guessed she'd have to get me a pair of ponies and a little carriage just big enough for you and me, and have me learn to drive 'em!" "O-h! won't you be grand!" beamed Polly. And then, while Leonora chattered on, came to her a picture of that afternoon--so far away it seemed!--when she had been folded in Mrs. Jocelyn's arms, to be offered these same pleasures, and which she had refused for love of Dr. Dudley, although the thought of calling him father had never then come to her. How glad she was that she had not mentioned this! She had always had an intuitive feeling that the concern was Mrs. Jocelyn's, to be kept as her secret, and she had therefore been silent. Now Leonora need never know that she was "second choice." Her friend's happy confidences recalled Polly's strolling thoughts. "I don't b'lieve you have any idea how perfectly splendid it makes me feel to think I'm goin' to have that sweet, beautiful Mrs. Jocelyn for my own mother." The last word was little more than a whisper. Leonora's dark eyes were luminous with joy. "Why, of course I know!" responded Polly. "You feel just as I did that day father told me he was going to marry Miss Lucy,--I mean mother,--and I was to be their little girl. Don't you remember? I'd been for a visit to Mrs. Jocelyn's and brought home those presents, and Mary Pender thought I must have had such a good time because I was so full of fun." "I guess I couldn't ever forget!" cried Leonora. "That lovely rose-bud sash you gave me was the prettiest thing I ever had to wear in all my life! And was that really the day you first knew about it?" Polly nodded. "Queer!" Leonora went on. "There we both went to the hospital, you hurted so awful bad nobody s'posed you'd get well, and I so lame that even Dr. Dudley thought I'd never walk straight! And now--my! ain't it queer? We're adopted by the nicest folks, and I don't limp a mite! Just see how good I can walk!" She skipped off gleefully, falling into a slow, regular pace across the room. "That's beautiful!" praised Polly. "And it doesn't hurt you now, does it?" "Not a bit! Oh, it's so splendid that Dr. Dudley cured me!--why, there's David! No, don't go!" as Polly sprang up. "It isn't school time yet." The girls ran to the door, Leonora clutching her friend's arm, as if resolved not to let her escape. "Your mother told me you were here," David began. "She didn't tell you I was goin' to your school, did she?" laughed Leonora. "No! Honest?" "Yes, honest!" they chorused mischievously. "There's something up!" David's head wagged knowingly. "What is it?" He looked from Leonora to Polly, and back again.