Winning Her Way 



A STORY OF A CHANGE OF HEART 



BY EBEN E. REX FORD 



Chapter III. — (Coniinued.) 



IDOX'T think slie"ll like it if I lie 

 in bed after daylight/'^ tlionglit the 

 child. "As soon as I find out what 

 she does like, I'm going to do everything 

 I can to suit her.'' She had a strong hope 

 that her aunt might feel in a more amiable 

 mood this morning, bnt her hope was 

 doomed to disappointment. 



John had broitght bad news. One of 

 the best cows on the place was sick and 

 likely to die. This was enottgh to make 

 Miss Betty cross, if she had not been so 

 naturally. The consequence was that 

 Mary could do nothing to suit her. 



"I jest wish to goodness you'd git out o' 

 the way 'n' stay out of it." she declared, 

 at last. "Ef IVe got to have ye 'round, 

 do keep out o' sight as much as possible." 



Mary put on her bonnet and went out 

 into the orchard back of the house, and sat 

 down under a big apple tree whose gnarled 

 branches made a tent of foliage that sug- 

 gested a most delightful place in which 

 to play at housekeeping. But though the 

 thought came to Mary, it had but a mo- 

 mentary interest for her. She felt more 

 sorrowful, more lonesome than ever, it 

 seemed to her, since the morning's disap- 

 pointment. She felt like crying, but it 

 seemed as if even the relief of tears was 

 denied her. Her eyes felt dry and hot. 

 AYhen she thought of her aunt's harshness 

 and cruelty her heart grew hard and full 

 of bitterness and anger. What right had 

 Miss Betty to treat her so ? What oppor- 

 tunity had she given for Mary to prove 

 how helpful she could be ? 



As these thoughts passed through the 

 little girl's mind they stung her to bitter 

 resentment. 



^'1 believe I'm going to hate her," she 



cried.- "1 don't see how I can help it if 

 she keeps on treating me in this way. She 

 don't want me here. If I knew where to 

 go, I'd run away. I wouldn't set foot in 

 her hotise again. She's the crossest old 

 woman I ever saw. I do hate her," and 

 Mary's face took on for a moment some- 

 thing of the hard look which characterized 

 Miss Betty's. 



Presently, however, the remembrance 

 of many things her mother had taught 

 her came back. 



"'Oh, I musn't feel like this !"'she cried, 

 half frightened at the bitterness in her 

 heart, as she realized it fully. '•Dear God. 

 take these thoughts away, and don't let 

 them come back any more. Mother said 

 Aunt Betty might not like me very well 

 at first, but she felt sure I could make her 

 like me after a little, if I went at it right. 

 But that's what I don't know how to do. 

 Show me, dear God. Somehow everybody 

 seems so far away but you." 



There was no mystery abottt prayer to 

 Mary. It was simply following out the 

 teaching of the mother she had lost. She 

 knew, and ]\Iary had all a loving child's 

 confidence in the truth of what that kind 

 mother had taught her. 



"Hello I" 



Mary jumped to her feet, greatly startled 

 by the sound of a voice coming from 

 some one out of sight. She looked about 

 her, but no one was to be seen. "I'm sure 

 some one spoke to me," she thought. "'I 

 couldn't have imagined it." 



Presently there was a chuckle from a 

 fence corner, and directly after a bo}''s 

 face appeared above the rails out of an 

 elder bush. 



"'Did I scare you?" asked the boy. "I 

 didn't mean to, if I did." 



"I wasn't just scared," answered Mar}^ 



