"Because," continued Mr. Black, keeping a sharp watch on Bettie's awakening countenance, "you're going. And if _I_ say you're going, you surely are. Now, don't worry about it--the thing's settled. You're going with the others." "Open the windows," pleaded Bettie, her face alight with some of the old-time eagerness. "I want to see how it smells outdoors." "I believe we've done it," breathed Jean. "She looks a lot brighter." And they had. No one had realized how tender, uncomplaining Bettie had dreaded losing her friends. And in her weakened state, both before and after the fever, the trouble had seemed very big. The load had almost crushed sick little Bettie. Now that it was lifted, and it was, for Mr. Black swept everything before him, there was nothing to keep the little girl from getting well with truly gratifying speed. "Bettie," asked Dr. Bennett, the next evening, "are you sure this is your own pulse? If it is, it's behaving properly at last." "She ate every bit of her supper," said Mrs. Tucker, happily, "and she asked, this afternoon, if she owned any shoes. She's really getting well." "I'm hurrying," laughed happy Bettie, "to make up for lost time. Do give me things to make me fat--as fat as Mabel." "She's certainly better," said the satisfied doctor. "By to-morrow we'll have to tie her down to keep her from dancing. She's our own Bettie, at last." THE END * * * * * Transcriber's Notes: Punctuation errors repaired. Varied hyphenation retained. Front page description, "Scovill" changed to "Scovel" (Florence Scovel Shinn) Page 96, "Bennettt" changed to "Bennett" (Mrs. Bennett, rescuing) Page 165, "shruddered" changed to "shuddered" ("Ugh!" shuddered Marjory) Page 214, repeated word "a" removed from text. Original read (like a a lobster's) End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adopting of Rosa Marie, by Carroll Watson Rankin