WlXXIXCr HER WAI 



11 



caresses quite as clemonstraTively. and 

 erring and laughing over 'Cindy's little 

 girl" in the same breath. 



Miss Betty was greatly disgusted. Cu- 

 riously, it gave her a feeling akin to 

 jealousy to see the way in which the little 

 girl's heart seemed to instantly warm to- 

 ward the gTandmother she had never seen 

 before. And this feeling was followed by 

 one of anger, as she noted the manner in 

 which the old lady seemed to at once as- 

 sume a sort of ownership of the child. 

 It did not occur to her that it was the 

 ownership which love makes possible be- 

 tween human hearts, and that, if she so 

 willed, she might own just as large a 

 share in Mary's affection as that which 

 was given over at sight to this grand- 

 mother, whose heart was big enough to 

 lo\e all its kin, with room for more. Love 

 is bought by love, and we can not expect 

 it unless we are willing to pay the price 

 of it. I do not suppose that Miss Betty 

 thought she eared to be loved by ]\Iary. 

 She would probably have denied it indig- 

 nantly had any one hinted such a thing 

 to her, but the feeling that the sight of 

 the little girl in her grandmothers arms 

 aroused in her proved that her nature 

 had something in it common to all of us, 

 and that this long repressed craving for 

 such food as the heart must feed on if it 

 would gTow and thrive was not quite dead 

 within her. It had seemed to be dead, but 

 it was beginning to show feeble signs of 

 life again, greatly to Miss Betty's surprise. 



"Why sh'd I care how much they make 

 of each other ?'* she asked herself, angrilv. 

 '•If folks will make fools o" themselves. I 

 can't help it. I aim't to blame for it.'' 

 But she could not drive away that uncom- 

 fortably jealous feeling by any such argu- 

 ments as these. 



Mrs. Graham tried her best to thaw out 

 Miss Betty, but she had to give it up as 

 a bad job. All the old lady's good nature 

 was wasted on her. She contrived on one 

 excuse and another to keep away from the 

 visitor as much as possible, but Mary 

 got the benefit of her grandmother's com- 



pany by the means, and she enjoyed it as 

 a liungry, starving child enjoys sitting 

 down to a table which is spread with 

 tempting food. 



Of course. Miss Betty could not keep 

 entirely away from Mrs. Graham without 

 making her absence appear to be a deliber- 

 ate and intentional vslight, and she had no 

 reasonable excuse for this, for Mrs. Gra- 

 ham certainly made a brave effort to 

 conciliate her, knowing that if trouble 

 were to grow out of her visit it would be 

 very likely to react upon Mary. Therefore, 

 whenever the two women came together 

 one acted as if keeping guard over herself 

 in order to not give offense, and the other 

 seemed to be on the lookout for something 

 to take offense at. More than once in the 

 forced conversations which took place be- 

 tween them ^liss Betty indulged in re- 

 marks intended to express the opinion she 

 had of ••shif'less" persons in general, mean- 

 ing, of course, the Grahams in particular, 

 but Mrs. Graham saw fit to pass them 

 over as not worth noticing, and this nettled 

 the other to such an extent that some of 

 her flings became very pointed before the 

 visit came to an end. She was ''just ach- 

 ing,'" she told herself more than once, ''to 

 let that oF woman know what she thought 

 o' the hull Graham tribe, *^ and she re- 

 sented the skilful way in which her at- 

 tempts were parried, for it made her feel 

 that she Avas vanquished by taking an 

 unfair advantage of her. In a war of 

 words she could have held her own, and 

 no doubt have come off with flying colors, 

 but when a good nature fights against 

 sharp words the latter prove clumsy 

 weapons, and the one who handles them 

 finds defeat. It was so in Miss Betty's 

 case, as I have said, and she so smarted 

 under the treatment accorded her at the 

 hands of her opponent that she resolved 

 to free her mind before the visit came to 

 an end, in spite of laughing, jolly, good 

 nature. Therefore, on the last day of 

 Mrs. Graham's stay, she was on the alert 

 for an opportunity to carry out her design, 

 and by and by it came. 



