"Where did you get the money for that basket of fruit?" "I borrowed it from Aunt Grace." Carol's face was crimson with mortification. "But it'll be a sweet time before Mrs. Harbert gets anything else from me. She promised she wouldn't tell." "Did any of the others know about the fruit?" "Why--not--exactly." "But she thinks it was from the whole family. She thanked me for it." "I--I made her think that," Carol explained. "I want her to think we're the nicest parsonage bunch they've ever had in Mount Mark. Besides, it really was from the family. Aunt Grace loaned me the money and I'll have to borrow it from you to pay her. And Lark did my dusting so I could go on the errand, though she did not know what it was. And I--er--accidentally took one of Connie's ribbons to tie it with. Isn't that a family gift?" "Mr. Scott tells me you are the prime mover in the Junior League now," he continued. "Well, goodness knows our Junior League needs a mover of some sort." "And Mrs. Davies says you are a whole Mercy and Help Department all by yourself." "What I can't understand," said Carol mournfully, "is why folks don't keep their mouths shut. I know that sounds very inelegant, but it expresses my idea perfectly. Can't I have a good time in my own way without the whole church pedaling me from door to door?" The twinkle in her father's eyes deepened. "What do you call it, Carol, 'sowing seeds of kindness'?" "I should say not," came the emphatic retort. "I call it sowing seeds of fun. It's a circus to go around and gloat over folks when they are sick or sorry, or--" "But they tell me you don't gloat. Mrs. Marling says you cried with Jeanie half a day when her dog died." "Oh, that's my way of gloating," said Carol, nothing daunted, but plainly glad to get away without further interrogation. It was a strange thing that of all the parsonage girls, Carol, light-hearted, whimsical, mischievous Carol, was the one most dear to the hearts of her father's people. Not the gentle Prudence, nor charming Fairy, not clever Lark nor conscientious Connie, could rival the "naughty twin" in Mount Mark's affections. And in spite of her odd curt speeches, and her openly-vaunted vanity, Mount Mark insisted she was "good." Certainly she was willing! "Get Carol Starr,--she'll do it," was the commonest phrase in Mount Mark's vocabulary. Whatever was wanted, whatever the sacrifice involved, Carol stood ready to fill the bill. Not for kindness,--oh, dear no,--Carol staunchly disclaimed any such niceness as that. She did it for fun, pure and simple. She said she liked to show off. She insisted that she liked to feel that she was the pivot on which little old Mount Mark turned. But this was only when she was found out. As far as she could she kept her little "seeds of fun" carefully up her sleeve, and it was only when the indiscreet adoration of her friends brought the budding plants to light, that she laughingly declared "it was a circus to go and gloat over folks."