IILLIE'S VICTORY.

 to show what a useful little girl you are. Besides,
 we must astonish papa and mamma when they come
 home."
 I can't think of that. It is so long," Millie
 answered, with fresh tears.
 "Time passes quicker than you fancy, Millie.
 When the lilacs bloom again, your mother said, she
 trusted to be home."
 Nearly twelve months Oh! I can't live without
 mamma all that while. Why did she go ? "
 "Just think, Millie," said Mrs. La Serre, quietly.
 "Just think of your dear father, weak and alone
 among strangers. Think how he is counting the days
 that must pass before your mamma can reach him.
 You are glad she is gone-glad to be without her-
 that she may take care of papa; aren't you, Millie,
 dear ? Just think a moment."
 Millie sat up, trying to keep back her tears. "Yes,
I am-that is, I mean to be. Please keep me hard
at work, and then I shan't have time to be selfish."
 Come into the kitchen then, dear," Mrs. La
Serre said, with a kiss, "and when the tarts are done
you can practise for an hour; and this afternoon we
will walk into town to meet Uncle John."
 The tarts were soon made, and Millie practised
away at the piano steadily enough. A great lump
rose in her throat when she played "Home, sweet
Home," though somehow she liked the air better than
all her others, and played it over and over till her
eyes were full of tears, and Mrs. La Serre called in
from the entry,-
 My dear child, you are murdering the time in
there. Come and help me shell the peas for Mary."
 Millie shut the piano with a little bang. It seemed
so much more like grieving for her mother to play