carried both those dear, dear people out of sight.

What did they mean? What had happened to Dotty Dimple, that her own
father and mother did not know her?

She looked down at the skirt of her dress, at her gaiters, at her little
bare hands, to make sure no wicked fairy had changed her. Not that she
suspected any such thing. She understood but too well what her father
and mother meant. They knew her, but had not chosen to recognize her,
because they were displeased.

Dotty's little heart, the swelling of which had net gone down at all
during the night, now ached terribly. She covered her face with her
hands, and groaned aloud.

"Don't," said Mandoline, touched with pity. "They no business to
treat you so."

"O, Lina, don't you talk! You don't know anything about it. You never had
such a father'n mother's they are! And now they won't let me come into
the house!"

This wail of despair would have melted Mrs. Parlin if she could have
heard it. It was only because she thought it necessary to be severe that
she had consented to do as her husband advised, and turn coldly away
from her dear little daughter. Dotty was a loving child, in spite of her
disobedience, and this treatment was almost more than she could bear. She
found no consolation in talking with Lina, for she knew Lina could not
understand her feelings.