CHAPTER II.

THE BONE MAN.


In spite of all Mr. Parlin had said against it, his little daughter was
called by various pet names,--such as Midge, and Ladybird, and
Forget-me-not. Very few were the people who seemed to remember that her
name was Alice.

She had a pair of busy dimples, which were a constant delight to her
sisters.

"They twinkle, twinkle like little stars, only they don't shine," cried
Prudy.

"Why," said Susy, "it's just as if her cheeks were made of water, and
we were skipping pebbles in 'em."

And because of these tiny whirl pools, the child was usually called
Dotty Dimple. From the time she could stand on her own little feet, she
was a queen of a baby, and carried her small head very high. If she
chanced to fall over a chair she seldom shed a tear, but thought the
chair had treated her shamefully, and ought to be shut up in the closet.
She never liked to have any one kiss her little bruises and pity her. It
gave great offence if any one said, "Poor Alice!" She seemed to grow
half a head taller in a minute, and looked as if she would say, "Needn't