were all sung and her fingers tired of the zither.

The girls sympathized very heartily with her new trial, and brought
all manner of gifts to cheer her captivity. Merry and Molly made a
gay screen by pasting pictures on the black cambric which covered
the folding frame that stood before her to keep the draughts from
her as she lay on her board. Bright birds and flowers, figures and
animals, covered one side, and on the other they put mottoes, bits
of poetry, anecdotes, and short stories, so that Jill could lie and
look or read without the trouble of holding a book. It was not all
done at once, but grew slowly, and was a source of instruction as
well as amusement to them all, as they read carefully, that they
might make good selections.

But the thing that pleased Jill most was something Jack did, for he
gave up going to school, and stayed at home nearly a fortnight
after he might have gone, all for her sake. The day the doctor said
he might try it if he would be very careful, he was in great spirits,
and limped about, looking up his books, and planning how he
would astonish his mates by the rapidity of his recovery. When he
sat down to rest he remembered Jill, who had been lying quietly
behind the screen, while he talked with his mother, busy putting
fresh covers on the books.

"She is so still, I guess she is asleep," thought Jack, peeping round
the corner.

No, not asleep, but lying with her eyes fixed on the sunny window,
beyond which the bright winter world sparkled after a fresh
snow-fall. The jingle of sleigh-bells could be heard, the laughter of