"It is true that Marion did seem rather disagreeable at first, and perhaps I didn't try to like him because I was so disappointed that he was not a girl. But now—well, I only hope Chris and Rudolph will know as much as he does when they are his age. So I told Aunt Caroline that the whole trouble had been that I didn't try to understand him at first. Then she smiled, and added, 'Marion is sure that he has learned a great deal from you, especially how to govern his temper. But he says particularly, that no one is to thank him for these things. It is as if you had bought them yourself, for everything in the box is something he heard you admire, when you and he were out together. I believe there's something from every city we have been in. He says the money part doesn't count at all for everything there represents your taste.'
"But I think I shall find some way of thanking him, if not now, sometime when our trip is over, and really, if it hadn't been for Marion, I am sure that I should not have had half as much fun."
A Story for Younger Girls
IRMA AND NAP
By HELEN LEAH REED
Author of "Amy in Acadia," The "Brenda" Books, etc.
Illustrated by Clara E. Atwood. 12mo. $1.25