The next morning, when Mary came out in the garden to sit with Harry,
she was surprised to see an audience of three instead of one: Harry,
whose face beamed with delight when he saw her; Nellie, who was seated
in a tiny rocking chair beside him, and Nellie's doll.
"You see, dollie wants to know all about Giant Sun, too," Nellie gravely
informed Mary. "I never could remember all, and she might remember what I
forget. Besides, she must learn some day. That is what mamma said about
me. I heard her," Nellie continued wisely, as she looked up at Mary.
"Do you mind telling me about the sky-people too?"
"Mind? Why you little bit of a doll baby," laughed Mary, as she picked
her up, doll and all, and hugged her, "if you and dollie promise not
to go to sleep, you can stay here as long as you want to. But does Aunt
Agnes know you are here, Nellie; or have you run away from home?"
[Illustration: GIANT SUN AND HIS FAMILY.]
"No, I have not run away," said Nellie earnestly, "but my dollie has.
Nurse brought me over here, but she did not know my dollie was here. I
forgot all about her yesterday, while Harry was telling me about Giant
Sun, and I left her out on the grass. But she didn't melt a bit. I knew
you wouldn't, dear little dollie, would you? Now, dollie, sit up straight,
and listen to Cousin Mary talk. My, how she can talk, too! Can't you?"
"I'll try," said Mary, laughing. "So you want to hear about Giant Sun
and his family. He has such a large family, and he has to give them all
plenty of light and heat. If he put out his big lamp in the sky, it would
be always dark here, and we would shiver with cold and die. When I come
to your room at night, Harry, to say good-night, I always carry a lamp
in my hand so that I can see you; but supposing a puff of wind blew it
out, then I could not see you at all.
"Now this light is not only for us, but for the rest of the sun's family
as well. First, there is little Mercury, who was named after the god
of thieves; and he deserves this name, because he steals more light and
heat from the sun than any of the other planets."