One day as Becky came to rest a few minutes and shell peas, Emily put down her book to help; and as the pods flew, she said, nodding toward the delicate ferns that grew thickly all about the trough, the rock, and the grassy bank,—­

“We have these in our greenhouse, but I never saw them growing wild before, and I don’t find them anywhere up here.  How did you get such beauties, and make them do so well?”

“Oh, they grow in nooks on the mountain hidden under the taller ferns, and in sly corners.  But they don’t grow like these, and die soon unless transplanted and taken good care of.  They always make me think of you,—­so graceful and delicate, and just fit to live with tea-roses in a hot-house, and go to balls in beautiful ladies’ bokays,” answered Becky, smiling at her new friend, always so dainty, and still so delicate in spite of the summer’s rustication.

“Thank you!  I suppose I shall never be very strong or able to do much; so I am rather like a fern, and do live in a conservatory all winter, as I can’t go out a great deal.  An idle thing, Becky!” and Emily sighed, for she was born frail, and even her tenderly guarded life could not give her the vigor of other girls.  But the sigh changed to a smile as she added,—­

“If I am like the fern, you are like your own laurel,—­strong, rosy, and able to grow anywhere.  I want to carry a few roots home, and see if they won’t grow in my garden.  Then you will have me, and I you.  I only hope your plant will do as well as mine does here.”

“It won’t! ever so many folks have taken roots away, but they never thrive in gardens as they do on the hills where they belong.  So I tell ’em to leave the dear bushes alone, and come up here and enjoy ’em in their own place.  You might keep a plant of it in your hot-house, and it would blow I dare say; but it would never be half so lovely as my acres of them, and I guess it would only make you sad, seeing it so far from home, and pale and pining,” answered Becky, with her eyes on the green slopes where the mountain-laurel braved the wintry snow, and came out fresh and early in the spring.

“Then I’ll let it alone till I come next summer.  But don’t you take any of the fern into the house in the cold weather?  I should think it would grow in your sunny windows,” said Emily, pleased by the fancy that it resembled herself.

“I tried it, but it needs a damp place, and our cold nights kill it.  No, it won’t grow in our old house; but I cover it with leaves, and the little green sprouts come up as hearty as can be out here.  The shade, the spring, the shelter of the rock, keep it alive, you see, so it’s no use trying to move it.”

Both sat silent for a few minutes, as their hands moved briskly and they thought of their different lots.  An inquisitive ray of sunshine peeped in at them, touching Becky’s hair till it shone like red gold.  The same ray dazzled Emily’s eyes; she put up her hand to pull her hat-brim lower, and touched the little curls on her forehead.  This recalled her pet grievance, and made her say impatiently, as she pushed the thick short locks under her net,—­