YOURS WITH ALL MY HEART 



that something of boyish hope and faith 

 came back to his shadowed life. 



I heard the Widow Draper telling all this 

 sad, strange story to mamma one day, when 

 she came for some work she could take home 

 to do. Mamma ransacked her attic, and 

 grandma's too, for bright-colored woolens 

 for Mrs. Draper to braid into old-fashioned 

 rugs, for she knew how to make such pretty 

 ones, and mamma said it was kinder to let 

 her feel that she was earning a living. All 

 the neighbors, somehow, got the mania for 

 Widow Draper's hand-braided rugs too, and 

 Robbie delivered them from house to house, 

 after his regular day's work was done. 



Gyp and I would sit at the Widow Dra- 

 per's feet, and listen intently while she 

 spoke of her sorrow and loss, and when she 

 called Sissy's name poor little Gyp would 

 put his forepaws on her knee, and look into 

 her tearful face and whine. 



And despite all their subsequent good for- 

 tune, poor little Gyp could never forget. I 

 saw him stealing away through the wood, 

 many a day, going to watch where his little 

 love was sleeping, for he felt sure she would 

 wake some day! 

 56 



