"Thank you, Doctor. I feel very much at home already."
"But——but Gene, if you are my big sister, you ought to say Uncle Frank, not Doctor."
"We must let Gene please herself about that, Mary," laughed the Doctor. "I can easily see how she might wish to have you for her little sister without adopting the whole family."
"W——ell,——but I think she will be sorry if she doesn't adopt you, Uncle. Oh, that reminds me! We need some ribbon and Christmas tags and seals and ever so many things for the presents we are going to make; and Gene says that she will buy them for me this afternoon while I am taking my nap. I am afraid I haven't money enough in my bank to pay for them, Uncle."
The Doctor took a bill from his pocket book.
"This will probably cover the cost of your purchases. When you need more, Gene, let me know."
CHAPTER II.
BUSY DAYS.
Mary was watching at the library window when Gene returned from her shopping trip with her arms filled with packages—long ones, square ones, round ones, flat ones. The little girl's eyes shone with an eager light as she helped to carry them upstairs. She clapped her hands and danced about the room as Gene opened one after another. There were rolls of crepe paper; bolts of narrow ribbon, green, red, and white with tiny sprays of holly; a big sheet of dark green cardboard; another of blotting paper; spools of coarse silk; a package of calendar pads; and a box of outline pictures ready to be colored with paints or crayolas.