trough, and the three were making a nettle basket together, and were
very well acquainted already.

"Let the child stay till you come back from fishing, Oostogah," said
the miller.

So Donee staid all the afternoon. Jenny and Betty rolled and shouted,
and could not talk fast enough with delight because they had this new
little girl to play with, and Thad. climbed all the trees, as Jenny
said, to "show off," and Betty tumbled into the trough head over heels
and was taken out dripping.

Donee was very quiet, but it was to her as if the end of the world had
come, all this was so happy and wonderful. She never had had anybody
to play with before.

Then, when Betty was carried in to be dried and dressed, there was,
too, the bright, cheerful room, with a lovely blue carpet on the
floor, and a white spread on the bed with fringe, and red dahlias that
shone in the sun, putting their heads in at the window. Betty's mother
did not scold when she took her wet clothes off, but said some funny
things which made them laugh. She looked at Donee now and then,
standing with her little hands clasped behind her back.

"Does your mother _never_ wash or dress you, Donee?" said Betty.

"She is dead," said Donee.

Betty's mother did not say any more funny things after that. When
she had finished dressing Betty, to the tying of her shoes, she called