“Why not make the doll a fine dress and mantle?” suggested Mrs. Carleton.  “Come up to my room and I will help you,” and Sylvia agreed smilingly.

Mrs. Carleton had a roll of crimson silk in her work-bag and before supper time the new doll was dressed and ready for Estralla.

“This is for you, Estralla,” Sylvia said, when Estralla came up to her room, as she often did in the late afternoon.

“Fer me, Missy!  He, he, I knows w’en you’s jokin’; but ’tis a fine lady doll,” responded the little girl, wishing with all her heart that the beautiful doll in the gorgeous silken dress which Sylvia was holding toward her might really be hers.

“Take it, Estralla!  It is for you.  Truly it is,” and Sylvia’s tone was so serious that Estralla came slowly forward and took the doll.

For a moment the two little girls stood looking at each other in silence, Sylvia smiling, hut Estralla with a surprised, half-anxious expression.

“Don’t be afraid of it.  Can’t you have a doll of your own?” said Sylvia.

“Mebbe I can,” replied Estralla, and then two big tears ran down her black cheeks.

“I’se got so much now, Missy Sylvia, dat I dunno as ’tis safe fer me to hev a doll,” she whispered; but in a moment she was all smiles, and ran off to show her new treasure to her mother.

The pictures and the lockets proved all that Sylvia had hoped, and on New Year’s day, when Grace came in for her daily visit, Sylvia gave her a small package.

“Please open it, Gracie!” she said, all eagerness to see her friend’s delight.

Mr. Fulton had purchased a slender chain for each locket, and as Grace held up the pretty gift she exclaimed delightedly:  “Oh, Sylvia!  It is lovely, and I’ll always wear it,” and looked at the tiny picture of her friend with smiling satisfaction.

Sylvia had written a letter to Flora, and Grace promised to see that the locket and letter should reach her safely.

Every day Mr. Robert Waite or his brother escorted Mr. Fulton upon any errand of business to which he was obliged to attend.  News had reached Charleston that a steamer with supplies and reinforcements for Major Anderson was on its way, and Mr. Robert Waite declared that the Confederates would never permit it to reach the fort.

Mrs. Carleton was very anxious.  She had not received any message from her husband.

“If I could sail a boat I would go to Fort Sumter myself,” she said one morning as she and Sylvia stood at a window overlooking the harbor.

“I can sail a boat,” responded Sylvia.

Mrs. Carleton turned and looked at the little girl.

“If all this trouble ends in war, if the Confederates really dare fire upon the flag of the United States, I do not know how I can get any word from my husband,” she said.

Sylvia thought that her friend’s voice sounded as if she were about to cry, and the little girl slipped her hand into Mrs. Carleton’s.  She wished there was something she could say to comfort her.  Then she thought quickly that there was something.