Winning Her Way 



A STORY OF A CHANGE OF HEART 



"BY EBEN E. REX FORD 



CiiAPTEE VIII. — (Continued.) 



BYT for all she was so angry, Miss 

 Betty knew — and the worst of it 

 was she had to admit it to her- 

 self — that what she had listened to 

 was the plain, nnvarnished truth. And 

 the truth is often more unpleasant to 

 hear than anything else can be, because 

 we can not say it is not the truth, and 

 in admitting that we are often obliged 

 to convict ourselves. It was so in her case. 



She went about her work feeling very 

 much like a person who has got the worst 

 of it in a fight of his OAvn making. And 

 it always galled Miss Betty terribly to 

 have anybody get the start of her. 



Mary was ver}', very sorry to have her 

 grandmother go away. Her visit had been 

 like a little bit of heaven to the child, for 

 it had brought into it the love and com- 

 panionship she pined for. But all things 

 earthly have an end, as Miss Betty con- 

 gratulated herself when she saw Mrs. Gra- 

 ham packing her satchel and heard her tell 

 Mary to keep watch for Uncle Si. 



''"Wall, come an' see me," said the old 

 lady, when she took her departure, as she 

 held out a hand which Miss Betty stub- 

 bornly refused to see. "You'll be wel- 

 come to the best we've got. Of course, 

 the Grahamses don't have things like lots 

 o' other folks, but they'll treat ye well, 'n' 

 be glad to see 3^e. An' don't think I hold 

 any gredge over what's b'en said, fer I 

 don't. Mebbe you think it's kind o' shif- 

 less, an' don't show proper sperrit not to," 

 added Mrs. Graham, with one last good- 

 natured laugh, "but that's the Graham 

 way, 'n' it saves lots o' trouble V hard 

 feelin's, I've found out." 



"]\Ir. Slocum's coming," called Mary. 

 "Wall, good by. Mis' Peabody," and 

 with this the woman who had, in the true 

 sense of the word, defeated Miss Betty 



as she had never been defeated before, took 

 her departure. 



"Good riddance," said Miss Betty, as 

 she watched her to the gate. 



As she saw Mary hugging and kissing 

 her grandmother at parting it aroused 

 again in her heart that unreasonable feel- 

 ing of anger and resentment which she 

 could not account for in any satisfactory 

 way. 



"It's a kind of a dog-in-the-manger 

 case, I guess," she thought, grimly. And 

 she was right about it. She was not 

 willing for Mary to love others or for 

 others to love her, and still she would not 

 love the little girl herself or accept love 

 from her. 



Chapter VIII. 



As was to be expected. Miss Betty's 

 temper was anj^thing but pleasant after 

 her experience with Mrs. Graham. 



And Mary, though not at all to blame 

 for what had happened, had to suffer for 

 it. Sone one had to act the part of scape- 

 goat, and there being- no one else at hand, 

 the part naturally fell to the little girl. 

 Miss Betty's cross ways and harsh words 

 were so unlike the pleasant ways and good 

 nature of Mrs. Graham that the contrast 

 made them seem worse than ever to the 

 child. After having had a glimpse of 

 happiness it was hard to turn her back 

 on it and face the dreary life which cir- 

 cumstances obliged her to. 



More than once . Miss Betty caught 

 Mary watching her in a wistful, longing 

 way as she went about the performance 

 of the tasks her aunt allotted to her, and 

 she knew that the child was wondering 

 why it was that she was so harsh and 

 stern with her, and wishing it could be 

 otherwise. That Mary was a good little 

 girl the woman had to admit to herself. 

 Perhaps it was because the child gave her 



