The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor

Early in the June morning Mary awoke, feeling as if it were Christmas or / Fourth of July or some great gala occasion. She lay there a moment, / trying to think what pleasant thing was about to happen. Then she / remembered that it was the day on which the bride was to arrive. Not / only that, -- before the sun went down, the best man would be at The / Locusts also.

She raised herself on her elbow to look at Joyce, in the white bed / across from hers. She was sound asleep, so Mary snuggled down on her / pillow again, and lay quite still. If Joyce had been awake, Mary would / have begun a long conversation about Phil Tremont. Instead, she began / recalling to herself the last time she had seen him. It was three years / ago, down by the beehives, and she had had no idea he was going away / until he came to the Wigwam to bid them all good-by. And Joyce and Lloyd / were away, so he had left a message for them with her. She thought it / queer then, and she had wondered many times since why his farewell to / the girls should have been a message about the old gambling god, Alaka. / She remembered every word of it, even the tones of his voice as he said: / "Try to remember just these words, please, Mary. Tell them that '_Alaka / has lost his precious turquoises, but he will win them back again some / day_.' Can you remember to say just that?"