t house;
and the girls proceeded to sing the joys of spring-cleaning with
youthful fervour.

"What I like best are the picnic meals," said Chrissie. "We always have
the same things for lunch--a round of cold salt beef and beetroot, and
coffee, and bread and jam. It is all put on the table at once, and we
all carve for ourselves, and march about the room with aprons on, and
behave as badly as we like. Then we have tea about three, and cold meat
again for dinner, and fruit instead of pudding, and are all so stiff
that we can hardly move, and all fighting to have the first hot bath.
The water gets cold after the second, so it's a great thing to be first,
if you can."

"And there are such amusing _contretemps_!" said Maud, the good-natured.
"There seems to be a special imp of mischief abroad at these times, for
something is bound to go wrong. You can't guard against it, for it is
always the last thing you could expect, and it happens at the worst
moment, and in some extraordinary manner stops all the wheels of the
machinery. It is really excruciatingly funny--"

"You don't think so at the time! When Agatha knocked a nail into the
gas-pipe on Thursday afternoon, when the shops were closed, and all the
men had gone off to a beanfeast, you didn't think it much of a joke
then!" said Elsie darkly. "We tried leaving the nail in and smearing
the hole with soap, but the gas came out in gusts, and we had to turn it
off, and there were only two candles in the house. ... We sat all
evening in the dark, and undressed together in one room, because we were
obliged to give the servants one of the candles. It wasn't in the least
funny, and you didn't think so either."

"Oh, I don't know! It gave us a rest, which we wanted badly, and it is
amusing to think of afterwards. I've often thought of it, and laughed
to myself,"--and Maud laughed again, the happy, kindly laugh which was
the outward sign of a sweet-hearted nature.

Altogether it was a very cheerful little party of workers whom the
parents left behind when the hour for departure arrived. It was a
bright, inspiriting spring morning, just one of the days when it is
delightful to start off on the first holiday of the year, and Mr and
Mrs Rendell looked fully appreciative of the fact. He was attired in a
new suit, while his wife, not to be outdone, had provided herself with a
pretty blue coat and skirt, and a flowered toque which was perhaps a
trifle more summery than t