Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/203

186 earnest, and hoped that the acquaintance might do more than one thing for her daughter. Ellie was a lovable child, but a very dreamy one. Her father used to say that she walked in a dream, and indeed, the every-day affairs of life had not much interest for her.

She loved to read fairy tales, and poetry, and legends. She liked to "make believe" things, and fancy herself a princess, or a water-nymph, or somebody of that kind, and to tell herself long stories in which she did most remarkable things and had most wonderful adventures.

She was fond of music, and this was the one study at which she had wanted to work hard. In the big American city from which she came she had a number of young friends, and these all thought her a delightful companion because she could entertain them by the hour together with her tales. She wondered now whether the little invalid boy at the