AN "OUTSIDER"
"We are wrong always when we think too much
Of what we think or are."—E. B. Browning.
WHEN Jean rose the next morning, she looked out into a bright and sunny world. It was cold and frosty, but the sky was a brilliant blue, and the sun streamed into her window. She felt light of heart, and was so eager to begin her picture, that she unpacked and arranged her paints and easel before breakfast.
At ten o'clock she was in the old nursery, and Sunnie welcomed her with a radiant face.
"I have been thinking about you in the night," she remarked. "I always think of my friends when I can't sleep."
"But don't you sleep all night? I do," said Jean as she bent to kiss the child.
Sunnie shook her head.
"Not when I'm incited by new people. I dream of them. I dreamt that you and Cousin Leslie were holding hands and running away from me, and I was running after you and begging you to come back. I cried, and then I woke up. You know it's very nice, but I do run in my dreams—always. And I did run long, long ago, when I was awake. Mother remembers it quite well, and I do too."
Mrs. Gordon interrupted the child here.
"Now, Sunnie, Miss Desmond is going to set to work. Can you lie still, do you think?"