“Where is Jack?”

“He went out to the store. He’ll be right back. He went out to-day and played and sang all by himself, and he brought back eighty-seven cents, though he wasn’t gone more than two hours. Wasn’t that just perfectly splendid?”

“It was very good. But did he leave you all alone? I told him not to do that.”

“Oh, he has been here so close. I wanted him to go, for we have not been earning any money. I was all right by myself.”

“And you were not lonesome?”

“Well—not much. You see, I was thinking of you.”

“Of me?”

“Yes; and of Elsie you told me about. Oh, I have pictured her in my mind. She must be a good girl, Frank.”

“She is one of the sweetest, dearest girls in the whole, wide world!”

There was a flitting shadow on Nellie’s face, but it was gone in a moment.