"Now, whatever is it, darlin'?" wondered her mother,
sympathetically, but without concern. "You've not got a pain, have
you, dear?"

"She wants to help the Children of Mary!" said her father, tenderly.
"She wants to do as much as Tessie does!"

"Oh, but, Dad, she CAN'T!" fretted Teresa. "She's not a Child of
Mary! She oughtn't to want to tag that way. Now all the other girls'
sisters will tag!"

"They haven't got sisters!" said Alanna, red-cheeked of a sudden.

"Why, Mary Alanna Costello, they have too! Jean has, and Stella has,
and Grace has her little cousins!" protested Teresa, triumphantly.

"Never mind, baby," said Mrs. Costello, hurriedly. "Mother'll find
you something to do. There now! How'd you like to have a raffle book
on something,--a chair or a piller? And you could get all the names
yourself, and keep the money in a little bag--"

"Oh, my! I wish I could!" said Jim, artfully. "Think of the last
night, when the drawing comes! You'll have the fun of looking up the
winning number in your book, and calling it out, in the hall."

"Would I, Dad?" said Alanna, softly, but with dawning interest.

"And then, from the pulpit, when the returns are all in,"
contributed Dan, warmly, "Father Crowley will read out your name,--