THE SUGAR MOON 43 



*'It is well," said she. *' There is a sunny 

 room for you and Dotty May, and you, my 

 child, will take the place of one who left me 

 years ago — ^you will take her place and abide 

 with me and be my own, to live not only in 

 our home but in our hearts. 



**And now," she added, *'come home with 

 me, out of the rain, for it is growing colder, 

 and there will be a frost to-night." 



*'Ah, if there is a frost," sighed Nani, draw- 

 ing back, ''I may not go." 



^*Then good-bye, little one, for I must leave 

 you." And the mother stooped and kissed 

 her. 



Nani sat down again upon the log, and 

 looked long at the farmhouse as it melted into 

 the evening shade. By-and-by a light spark- 

 led from a window, then another; still Nani 

 sat on the log, gazing wistfully at the happy 

 home. The rain turned to snow, yet she no- 

 ticed not; but at Old Nokomis' call she started 

 up, with a longing backward glance at the old 

 farmhouse now gone to sleep under the hill. 



The sun, smiling through the bare branches, 



