“I said I couldn’t be bad in that lovely place, and I was a cross, ungrateful girl after all they’ve done for Mammy and me.  Poor Jack was hurt the worst, and he was brave, though he did scream.  I wish I could go and tell him so, and hear him say, ‘All right.’  Oh, me, I’ve spoiled the day!”

A great sob choked more words, and Jill was about to have a comfortable cry, when someone entered the other room, and she saw Frank doing something with a long cord and a thing that looked like a tiny drum.  Quiet as a bright-eyed mouse, Jill peeped out wondering what it was, and suspecting mischief, for the boy was laughing to himself as he stretched the cord, and now and then bent over the little object in his hand, touching it with great care.

“May be it’s a torpedo to blow up and scare me; Jack likes to play tricks.  Well, I’ll scream loud when it goes off, so he will be satisfied that I’m dreadfully frightened,” thought Jill, little dreaming what the last surprise of the day was to be.

Presently a voice whispered,—­

“I say!  Are you awake?”

“Yes.”

“Any one there but you?”

“No.”

“Catch this, then.  Hold it to your ear and see what you’ll get.”

The little drum came flying in, and, catching it, Jill, with some hesitation, obeyed Frank’s order.  Judge of her amazement when she caught in broken whispers these touching words:—­

“Sorry I was cross.  Forgive and forget.  Start fair to-morrow.  All right.  Jack.”

Jill was so delighted with this handsome apology, that she could not reply for a moment, then steadied her voice, and answered back in her sweetest tone,—­

“I’m sorry, too.  Never, never, will again.  Feel much better now.  Good-night, you dear old thing.”

Satisfied with the success of his telephone, Frank twitched back the drum and vanished, leaving Jill to lay her cheek upon the hand that wore the little ring and fall asleep, saying to herself, with a farewell glance at the children’s saint, dimly seen in the soft gloom, “I will not forget.  I will be good!”

Chapter VII

Jill’s Mission

The good times began immediately, and very little studying was done that week in spite of the virtuous resolutions made by certain young persons on Christmas Day.  But, dear me, how was it possible to settle down to lessons in the delightful Bird Room, with not only its own charms to distract one, but all the new gifts to enjoy, and a dozen calls a day to occupy one’s time?

“I guess we’d better wait till the others are at school, and just go in for fun this week,” said Jack, who was in great spirits at the prospect of getting up, for the splints were off, and he hoped to be promoted to crutches very soon.

“I shall keep my Speller by me and take a look at it every day, for that is what I’m most backward in.  But I intend to devote myself to you, Jack, and be real kind and useful.  I’ve made a plan to do it, and I mean to carry it out, any way,” answered Jill, who had begun to be a missionary, and felt that this was a field of labor where she could distinguish herself.