"If they do, they will tell you it is very naughty not to do what those who are so kind ask you to do. Mothers have to do many things that are not pleasant, and every mother's girl ought to try to please her. Don't you think so?" Phebe shrugged her shoulders, and drawing her hand across her forehead, replied quickly—
"Well, I don't like to scour knives, and I hain't got no mother."
"But I want Willie's mother to be yours, and I think she will be very kind to you, if you are good and try to please her."
A shadow passed over his face, and he was silent for a long time. When he once more aroused himself to actual life it had grown quite dark and the child was nowhere to be seen. He called, but she did not answer. Hurrying down the hill he called again; but the echoes were his only reply. For a moment a sense of relief came over him. He had pondered much how he should introduce his little charge to the family circle in her most attractive light, in order to avoid opposition as much as possible. But she was gone, and he could now go to his home with the expectation of a joyful greeting from all, unless it be save one. Then his great heart spoke.
No, he could not leave her to wander off alone to perish; he must find her. Besides, Willie needed a companion. Poor lonely boy, he was denied the sports of other children, and was left alone with his thoughts and books so much that he was growing morbid and silent. This was pitiful in one so young, and it may be that he needed just such a play-fellow as this to draw him away from himself; and he would find her.
Hurrying on he did not stop until he had reached his own door, and to his great surprise he beheld Phebe in the little sitting room surrounded by the family circle, who seemed to be enjoying their strange guest to the utmost. He stepped quickly back into the deeper shadows and listened. They were evidently trying to find out something of her history, for Willie asked:
"But where did you come from? You can tell us that."
"I came from way down in the ocean, where the pearls grow, that is what my beautiful mother called me Lily-Pearl for."
A hearty laugh succeeded this answer, while Fanny remarked, ironically:
"I should imagine she had sprung out of some dark cavern; but there is not much of the appearance of the pearl family about her."