Winning Her Way 



A STORY OF A CHANGE OF HEART 

 'BY EE EN E. REXFORD 



Chapter IX 



IT seemed to Mary, grieving over the loss 

 of her little friend, as if a great black 

 cloud had suddenly swallowed up all 

 the sunshine. And what made it seem all 

 the worse was the fact that there had been 

 so little sunshine to lose. Because there 

 had been so little in her life to afford 

 pleasure, she had loved her kitten with a 

 tenfold greater intensity than children 

 give to their little four-footed friends un- 

 der ordinary circumstances. It would have 

 grieved her to part with Spotty under any 

 conditions, but the thought of her tragic 

 fate haunted Mary like a terrible night- 

 mare. As she went about her ta'sks she 

 could think of nothing else. Often she 

 would start and cry out as the thought of 

 what poor Spotty must have suffered came 

 home to her with terrible keeness. 



Miss Betty, remembering the fright she 

 had received from Mary's fainting fit, re- 

 frained from saying or doing anything that 

 might make matters worse. She watched 

 the child sharply, and knew what thoughts 

 were working in her mind, and could not 

 help feeling some guilty shame over what 

 she had done. It did seem like contempt- 

 ibly small, mean conduct, when she 

 thought it over, to vent one's spite on a 

 little child as she had done. And it was 

 a good deal for Miss Betty to admit this 

 to herself, for she had long been accus- 

 tomed to the belief that she never did any- 

 thing to be ashamed of. But never once 

 the thought of saying to Mary that she 

 was sorry for what she had done occurred 

 to her. At that time no system of torture 

 ever invented could have wrung such a 

 confession from her. To think of lier 

 apologizing to any one ! The idea would 

 have seemed as absurd to her as it was 

 unimaginable. 



Mary had been into the orchard after 



some of the windfall apples that were to 

 be found under most of the trees. Miss 

 Betty proposed to save some of them from 

 going to waste by drying them. As she 

 came in through the garden she heard the 

 sound of Miss Betty's voice at the kitchen 

 door. It was pitched at a shrill key, and 

 she was talking rapidly and angrily. Evi- 

 dently something had happened to vex her. 



"I'm glad I'm out of it," thought Mary. 

 "I wonder who she's scolding so?" 



By going to the corner of the wood shed 

 she could see what was taking place. Two 

 men, evidently tramps, stood outside the 

 kitchen door, from whose threshold her 

 aunt was delivering a piece of her mind, 

 emphasizing it well with spirited flourishes 

 of her broomstick. 



"Y'u c'n git right out o' this, 'n' the 

 quicker the better," she said. "I hain't a 

 single thing to give ye. I'd help folks that 

 needed somethin' ef I thought they 

 couldn't keep themselves, but I hain't 

 no pity nor vittels to throw awa.y on folks 

 that's too lazy to work 'n' 'arn their livin'. 

 That's what I have to do, 'n' your're no 

 better'n I be. The idee o' two great, stout- 

 lookin' men like you a-beggin' fer some- 

 thin' to eat ! I'd be ashamed if I was in 

 your places. Go to work, 'n' git an honest 

 livin'. I hope 3^'u won't git a mouthful 0' 

 vittels till y'u git it by good, hard work. 

 Come, now — git out o' this yard. I won't 

 hev ye hangin' 'round here," and she 

 flourished her broomstick threa.teningly. 



One of the men began to say something 

 in a surly tone. But Miss Betty put an 

 end to his remarks by calling out : 

 - "Mary, run over to the south medder 'n' 

 tell John to come right away — tell him to 

 bring the dog." 



"You needn't put yourself to that 

 trouble," said the other tramp, with a 

 coarse laugh. "We can take a liint that 



