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CHAPTER IX.

"Oh Friendship! flower of fairest hue,
To earthly hands so seldom given;
Thy bloom shall other climes renew,
Thy native soil is Heaven."

"Now Rosa, I am going to show you something that will make you laugh if you will come with me," said Walter to Rosalind one day as he sauntered from school, and met her just ready for a walk. She accompanied him to a shop window where was displayed a comical looking picture, representing fun and mischief, with the inscription, "Mother is gone away."

A merry looking little sprite, with a curly head and dimpled hands, had found the way to her mother's choice drawer containing her costly laces, jewelled fan, and various delicate fabrics, and seated on the floor with a kitten in her lap was creating wild havoc among them, while at a little distance a broken vase with scattered flowers, and an overturned inkstand deliberately pouring its contents over books and embroidery, attested the child's innate love of freedom.

Rosalind looked at it but was far more attracted by another picture, in which the clasped hands and upraised face awakened a sympathetic thrill of emotion.

Concealing his disappointment at the little notice