we have! It is a pity your
modesty doesn't equal your taste. I should miss the smallest thing we
have made; and whenever I get low-spirited, I turn them all out of the
box and gloat over the collection--eleven pin-cushions, three sets of
mats, a table centre, three work-bags, two handkerchief sachets, six
babies' shoes, and a nice wool shawl! It's not bad for a start, and
there are lots of things on hand, besides Nan's carving and brass-work.
It would be like tearing my heart out of my body to give anything away,
and I don't think it would be at all a nice idea to start your
collection by stealing from the poor!"

Lilias looked appalled at the suggestion, but all the same she was not
too much shocked to seize on the chance of future spoils.

"Agatha, how can you? I am the last person in the world to think of
such a thing. I suggested the sale, remember; you would not have had it
at all but for me; but how could a little thing like a pin-cushion be
called a theft? However, it's all right; don't give them me at present
if you would rather not. After the sale there are sure to be some
things left, and then--You would not mind giving them to me then, I
suppose?"

"Certainly not. At least I am quite willing if the others are," said
Agatha, looking round inquiringly; upon which Nan and Elsie nodded
assent, and Chrissie bargained, "Unless I am engaged myself by that
time, when, of course, they must be equally divided,"--a contingency so
remote that Lilias congratulated herself on a good morning's work, and
felt that so far as pin-cushions were concerned the future held no
further anxiety.

Work for the sale had, indeed, been carried forward with great zest; and
now that the days were lengthening, there was a good two hours after
tea, when Kitty could join the party in the porch-room, and stitch away
at some dainty task while carrying on that breathless stream of
conversation which never seemed to run short, despite the daily
meetings. Nan brought down her carving, and worked at a little table of
her own; Elsie cut and planned with delicate, accurate fingers; and the
three younger girls sewed away in characteristic fashion: Agatha bending
double over the seam; Christabel, erect and stately, drawing her thread
to its full length with leisurely, dignified movements; and Kitty, with
her spectacles on the tip of her nose, peering over them from time to
time in grandmotherly concern at the frivolity of her companions.