loses its power, it is potent for hundreds and hundreds of years, and--"

"Oh, don't tell me any more, or I'll lose my senses. Dear Bessie, what
does magnetic iron ore matter. Bessie, I'm awfully unhappy. Every one is
so unkind to me. Promise you'll be my friend, won't you?"

Bessie looked up, and then she saw something so touching in Kitty's face
that she closed her book with a reluctant sigh, to devote herself the
next moment with all the sympathy she possessed to her companion.

"I am sure you are suffering, Kitty, and I am sorry for you," she said.
"I'll fetch my hat and we'll go out for a little."

"Oh, what a darling you are!" answered Kitty.

A moment or two later the girls were walking across the beautifully-kept
garden; they soon reached a shady path at the further end.

"And now, Kitty," said Bessie, "I mean to lecture you a little."

"Anything in the world you like, darling. I'm quite agreeable. Aunt
Honora and Aunt Bridget lecture me, and so does the dear old dad
sometimes; but I always say when they have finished that it is like
water on a duck's back--it rolls off without making the least bit of
impression, and then they laugh and say that I am the queerest mixture
they ever came across, and that they had best leave me to nature. But
perhaps I'll listen to you, Bessie."

"I wish you would," said Bessie. "I am sure," she added, speaking with
great earnestness, "that you are a very nice girl, Kitty; but at the