The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation Part 28

She peered wistfully into the mirror, as if she half-expected to see a shadowy hand stretch out of its dim background, and lift the veil of the future to her eager gaze. "The thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts." Lloyd's flew back to Eugenia's romance for an instant, then drifted far beyond the two in the gondola, with the Venetian sunset turning all their little world to rose-colour and gold.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'NO MATTAH WHAT LIES AHEAD . . . I'LL NOT DISAPPOINT THEM'"]

One is a mariner at sixteen, sailing toward an undiscovered country, with seaweed and driftwood on the crest of every wave beginning to whisper, "Land ahead." Toward the dim outline of that untried sh.o.r.e, Lloyd drifted now in her reverie.

"I _wish_ I could know what the next sixteen yeahs hold for me," she whimpered. "I hope it will be something bettah than I could choose for myself. Mothah and Papa Jack expect so much of me."

Then her glance fell on the unfinished rosary, and, picking up the string of tiny pearls, she looped it around her throat, and faced the girl in the mirror with resolute eyes.

"No mattah what lies ahead," she said, bravely, "I'll not disappoint them. I'll keep the tryst!"

THE END.

THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES

_By MARY HAZELTON WADE (unless otherwise indicated)_

=Our Little African Cousin=

=Our Little Alaskan Cousin= By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet

=Our Little Arabian Cousin= By Blanche McMa.n.u.s

=Our Little Armenian Cousin=

=Our Little Brown Cousin=

=Our Little Canadian Cousin= By Elizabeth R. Macdonald

=Our Little Chinese Cousin= By Isaac Taylor Headland

=Our Little Cuban Cousin=

=Our Little Dutch Cousin= By Blanche McMa.n.u.s

=Our Little English Cousin= By Blanche McMa.n.u.s

=Our Little Eskimo Cousin=

=Our Little French Cousin= By Blanche McMa.n.u.s

=Our Little German Cousin=

=Our Little Hawaiian Cousin=

=Our Little Hindu Cousin= By Blanche McMa.n.u.s

=Our Little Indian Cousin=

=Our Little Irish Cousin=

=Our Little Italian Cousin=

=Our Little j.a.panese Cousin=

=Our Little Jewish Cousin=

=Our Little Korean Cousin= By H. Lee M. Pike

=Our Little Mexican Cousin= By Edward C. Butler

=Our Little Norwegian Cousin=

=Our Little Panama Cousin= By H. Lee M. Pike

=Our Little Philippine Cousin=

=Our Little Porto Rican Cousin=

=Our Little Russian Cousin=

=Our Little Scotch Cousin= By Blanche McMa.n.u.s

=Our Little Siamese Cousin=

=Our Little Spanish Cousin= By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet

=Our Little Swedish Cousin= By Claire M. Coburn

=Our Little Swiss Cousin=

=Our Little Turkish Cousin=