One day when Cissy was about four years old an event occurred in her
life that seemed for a time to endanger the intimacy between the little
girl and her four-footed friend, and caused Moses considerable anxiety.
It was a rainy morning and she could not play under the trees as usual,
so she took her little chair and climbed up to the window to see if the
trees were lonesome without her. Something unusual going on in the
house next door attracted her attention, and her disappointment was
soon forgotten. No one had lived in the house since the little girl
could remember. Now the long closed doors and windows were thrown wide
open, and men were running up and down the steps. She was puzzled to
know what it could all mean, and kept her little face close to the
window, and was so unmindful of Moses that he felt quite neglected and
lonely.

The following morning was warm and bright, and the little princess and
her attendant were playing under the trees again. Moses was so
delighted in having won the sole attention of his little mistress and
played so many droll pranks that Cissy shouted with laughter. In the
midst of her merriment she chanced to look up, and saw through the
paling a pair of eyes as bright as her own, dancing with fun and
evidently enjoying Moses' frolic quite as much as the little girl
herself. The bright eyes belonged to a little boy about Cissy's age,
whose name was Jamie, and who had moved into the house that had
interested her so much the day before.

Now our little princess in her winning way claimed the allegiance of
all that came within her circle, and so confidently ran over to the
fence to make the acquaintance of her new subject. Jamie was quite
willing to be one of her servitors, and although they were separated by
the high palings they visited through the openings all the morning, and