f flowers, and scattering blossoms over
the grass. Alas and alas! it was almost too dreadful to be believed,
that after weeks of fine weather such a downpour should time itself to
arrive on the very day of the long-expected sale.

"If Elsie says, `I told you so!' I shall do her an injury. I shall--I
know I shall! I sha'n't be able to help it!" protested Nan; but Elsie
made no such statement. To do her justice, she deeply regretted her
prophecy, and felt as much distressed as if she were to blame for its
fulfilment, while her morbid mind had much ado to countenance such
unreasonable behaviour on the part of Providence.

"I don't understand why it is allowed to rain when so much depended on
good weather! The work won't look half so well cramped up in the house,
and we can make no money on the river, and the people who live at a
distance will think it too wet to turn out, and it will all be a dead,
dismal failure. It seems to me very strange that we should try to do a
good deed only to be frustrated by something over which we have no
control," she lamented; and though the other girls snubbed her promptly,
it was difficult to banish the same thought from their minds. If only,
only it had kept fine, how different it would have been, and with what
glee and zest they would have set about their preparations! As it was,
they were all more or less depressed, and had it not been for Jim's
presence they would have been a sorry company; but Jim rose to the
occasion with such a succession of quips and jests, such schoolboy
tricks and merry whistlings, as could not fail to be infectious. He was
not much use, so far as arranging the work was concerned; but, as he
himself expressed it, he played the part of beast of burden, dragging
tables into the library, fitting them together to take the place of
stalls, and undertaking a dozen onerous duties. With the best will in
the world, however, it was impossible to make the room larger than it
was, or to prevent an amount of crowding which left many precious
treasures hidden from sight, instead of being displayed in the sunshine
of the garden. The girls sighed, and resolutely turned their eyes from
the window; and thus it happened that certain things took place which
they were far from suspecting. Whether the rain had spent its strength,
or was put to shame by the sight of the mischief it had already wrought,
it would be difficult to say; but certain it was that the downpour
chan