The other girl's face clouded.

"I'll never get over it if I don't!" she said. "It seems to me I
never wanted to go anywhere so much in all my life! But some one's
got to stay with mama."

"I'd go crazy,--not KNOWING!" said Ellen. "Who are you going to
ask?"

"There it is!" said Mary Bell. "Until yesterday I thought, of
course, Gran'ma Scott would come. Then Mary died, and she went up to
Dayne. So I went over and asked Bernie; her baby isn't but three
weeks old, you know, and I thought she might bring it over here.
Mama would love to have it! But late last night Tom came over, and
he said Bernie was so crazy to go, they were going to take the baby
along!"

"You poor thing!" said the sympathetic listener.

"I was nearly crazy!" said Mary Bell, crimping a pink ruffle with
careful finger-tips. "I was working on this when he came, and after
he'd gone I crumpled it all up and cried all over it! Well, I guess
I didn't sleep much, and finally, I got up early, and wrote a letter
to Aunt Matty, in Sacramento, and I ran over to Dinwoodie's with it
this morning, and asked Lew if he was going up there to-day. He said
he was, and he took the note for Aunt Mat. I told her about the
dance, and that every one was going, and asked her to come back with
Lew. He said he'd see her first thing!"