Then, at Miss Bell's request, Lovey Mary told her story, with many sobs and tears, but some smiles in between, over the good times in the Cabbage Patch; and when she had finished, Miss Bell led her over to the sofa and put her arms about her. They had lived under the same roof for fifteen years, and she had never before given her a caress.
"Mary," she said, "you did for Kate what nobody else could have done.
I thank God that it all happened as it did."
"But you'd orter scold me and punish me," said Lovey Mary. "I'd feel better if you did."
Tommy, realizing in some vague way that a love-feast was in progress, and always ready to echo Lovey Mary's sentiments, laid his chubby hand on Miss Bell's knee.
"When my little sled drows up I'm doin' to take you ridin'," he said confidingly.
Miss Bell laughed a hearty laugh, for the first time in many months. The knotty problem which had caused her many sleepless nights had at last found its own solution.
CHAPTER XIV
THE CACTUS BLOOMS
"I tell thee love is nature's second sun,
Causing a spring of virtues where he shines."
It was June again, and once more Lovey Mary stood at an up-stairs window at the home. On the ledge grew a row of bright flowers, brought from Miss Viny's garden, but they were no brighter than the face that smiled across them at the small boy in the playground below. Lovey Mary's sleeves were rolled above her elbows, and a dust-cloth was tied about her head. As she returned to her sweeping she sang joyfully, contentedly: