Inches, John?"

"Yes, and Mamma Marian sends you her love; and there's a present coming by
express for you,--some sort of a book with a hard name. I can scarcely
make it out, the Ru--ru--something of Omar Kay--y--Well, anyway it's a
book, and she hopes you will read Emerson's 'Essay on Friendship' over
before you are married, because it's a helpful utterance, and adjusts the
mind to mutual conditions."

"Worse than 1 Timothy, ii. 11," muttered Clover. "Well, Katy dear, what
next? What _are_ you laughing at?"

"You will never guess, I am sure. This is a letter from Miss Jane! And she
has made me this pincushion!"

The pincushion was of a familiar type, two circles of pasteboard covered
with gray silk, neatly over-handed together, and stuck with a row of
closely fitting pins. Miss Jane's note ran as follows:--

HILLSOVER, April 21.


DEAR KATY,--I hear from Mrs. Nipson that you are to be married
shortly, and I want to say that you have my best wishes for your
future. I think a man ought to be happy who has you for a wife.
I only hope the one you have chosen is worthy of you. Probably
he isn't, but perhaps you won't find it out. Life is a knotty
problem for most of us. May you solve it satisfactorily to
yourself and others! I have nothing to send but my good wishes
and a few pins. They are not an unlucky present, I believe, as