HELENA. 115

‘Helena went to her mother, saying, “Mamma, I am sure
this time I didn’t do wrong: I gave Grace to Nancy.”

Her mother kissed her forehead. “ You did right, darling,”
she said. “Grace was your very own, and you had a right to
do as you chose with her, for it was not interfering with the
rights of any one else. You niust only be careful not to play
with naughty children, and must not give away anything
which would cause mamma trouble or expense to replace; that
is all, dearie.”

Helena smiled up in her mother’s face, while the blessed-
ness of giving filled her little heart with peace.

It was a forlorn little figure with a very happy face which
wended her way to a squalid street; but Grace made it seem
less miserable, and poor little Nancy did not mind going
supperless to bed when she could hold Grace in her arms all
night.

The orange she shared the next day with a sick child on
the next floor, and the two sat and whispered over it, with the
doll between them, till rags and poverty vanished away in a
vision of blue skies and flowers, dainty food and eternal play-
time. . :