See Frontispiece.
CHAPTER II.
Jessie’s Two Cousins.
The first few days of her cousins’ visit were like a pleasant dream to Jessie. She had so much to say, and so many things to show to her visitors, that they could scarcely help sharing the joy which welled up within her like a crystal stream from a mountain spring. Seeing them so cheerful and happy, Jessie wondered more and more at the question her uncle had asked her about enjoying their visit.
“I don’t see what Uncle Morris meant,” said she to herself one afternoon, while her cousins were on the lawn laughing and playing with Guy, and she was washing her hands by way of preparation for tea. “He looked and sighed,” she went on to say, “as if he thought I should be disappointed in them. But I am not. They are the kindest, merriest cousins in the world. I declare I’ll ask Uncle Morris what he meant, the next time I see him alone.”
That next time came very soon, for as Jessie skipped down stairs, with laughter twinkling in her eyes, and a song tripping from her tongue, she met her uncle in the hall. Running right to him, she seized his arm, peered curiously into his face, and said—