Pansy had a secret, and nobody could find it out. She would come down stairs in the morning, and seat herself at the breakfast-table, and then papa would say, "Well, Pansy, are you going to tell us your secret to-day?"

Pansy would shake her head, and reply, "You must guess it, papa! Can you not guess it?"

"Well, I guess you have a new tooth coming."

"Oh, no, that is not it. Mother can guess better than that, I think. It concerns you, mother."

"Well, I guess," said mother, "that you are to have the present of a kitten from aunt Julia."

"And I guess," said brother John, who was five years older than Pansy, "I guess you are knitting a pair of woollen cuffs for papa."

"You are all wrong," cried Pansy, "and I shall not tell you my secret to-day."

The next morning, as she was coming down stairs, she paused, and said to herself, "Shall I tell them my secret now? No, Pansy, let them see that you can keep a secret."

No sooner was she seated at the table in her high-chair, than papa said, "Well, Pansy, how much longer are you going to keep us in the dark? Are you going to tell us your secret?"

"Not yet, papa," said Pansy, looking up with a roguish smile.

"What can it be?" said mother, laying down her knife and fork, and putting her hand to her head.

"I don't believe it is any thing of any account," cried brother John. "She wants to keep us curious."

"Well, I think Pansy must be learning a new piece to recite," said her mother.

"That's not it," said Pansy. "It's a 'portant secret: one that my mother will like to hear."

"Oh, it's important, is it?" said papa. "I do wonder what it can be."

"Mother, what day was it that you lost your wedding-ring?" said John.

"Don't speak of it, John. It was more than a month ago. I have hunted high and low, and cannot find it. I would have given all my other jewelry rather than have lost it."

Here Pansy turned red in the face, got down from her high-chair, and ran out of the room.

"Did you see that?" said papa. "The little rogue has found the ring, and that's her 'portant secret."

In a minute Pansy came back, holding up the ring, and her face radiant with delight. "I found it, mother, among my doll's things. You must have dropped it there when you were fixing them."

And so little Pansy's secret was out at last!