Jewel put her hand up to the small billows of silk behind her ear. "My hair bows. They were real hard for grandpa to do."
Dr. Ballard repressed a guffaw, and then turned solemn. "Do you mean to say that Mr. Evringham tied your hair ribbons?"
"That settles it, Jewel. You must go into partnership with me and wave wands and things. Setting Essex Maid on her legs wasn't a patch on that."
Jewel regarded him questioningly a moment and then repeated, "But it was real hard for grandpa."
"And cousin Eloise is the kindest girl. She's like grandpa about that. Her kindness is inside, too."
"Is it indeed? You don't know how much I thank you for telling me where to look for it."
"Oh, she must be kind to _you_, Dr. Ballard!"
"Once in a while, once in a while," he replied cautiously, but Jewel couldn't get a look into his eyes, though she tried, he was so busily engaged poking an invisible fly from Hector's side with the point of the whip. "If you'll find a way to make her kind to me all the time, Jewel, then you will be my mascot indeed."
"All you have to do is to know she is," replied the child earnestly. "I felt the way you do, at first, but now I've found out just because I stopped being afraid."
"Ah, that's the recipe, eh? All I've to do is to stop being afraid."
"That's all!" cried Jewel, beaming at his ready comprehension. "You'll find out there isn't a thing to be afraid of with Cousin Eloise, and oh, Dr. Ballard," the child smiled at him wistfully, "she's getting so--so--unenchanted."
"You just waved your wand, I suppose, and said 'Presto change,'" returned the young man.
He turned Hector down a side street and drew rein under a large elm. "Here's my rheumatic gentleman," he added, as he jumped from the buggy and fastened the horse. "He won't keep me waiting while he abuses doctors, so I shan't be quite so long this time." The speaker seized his case and went up a garden path to the house, and Jewel, with a luxurious sigh, set Anna Belle in the place he had vacated.
Scarcely had she seen the doctor admitted and the house door closed when an approaching pedestrian caught her eye. She recognized him at once, and a little more color stole into her round cheeks, while an unconscious smile touched her lips.