she noticed her teacher looking at the bright pink flowers that were so
thickly set on the white ground.

The discovery was one that could not but interest the teacher. Though
short of means herself, that same night she purchased a dress of the
same material for little Nelly, and made arrangements with the merchant
to send it to her in such a way that the donor need never be known.

Very bright and happy looked Mary Gray on Friday morning, as she entered
the school at an early hour. She waited only to place her books in neat
order in her desk, ere she approached the teacher, and whispering in a
voice that laughed in spite of her efforts to make it low and
deferential.

"After this week sister Nelly is coming to school every day, and oh, I
am so glad!"

"That is very good news," replied the teacher kindly. "Nelly is fond of
her books, I see, and I am happy to know that she can have an
opportunity to study them every day."

Then she continued, a little good-natured mischief in her eyes,--"But
can your mother spare you both conveniently?"

"Oh, yes, ma'am, yes ma'am, she can now. Something happened that she
didn't expect, and she is as glad to have us come as we are to do so."
She hesitated a moment, but her young heart was filled to the brim with
joy, and when a child is happy, it is as natural to tell the cause as it
is for a bird to warble when the sun shines. So out of the fullness of
her heart she spoke and told her teacher this little story:--