ssed harmlessly and without any special
event to mark it, and, thanks to Nan's skilful management and
Phillis's pride, there were no further _contretemps_ to shock Mrs.
Challoner's sense of propriety. The work progressed with astonishing
rapidity: in the mornings the young dressmakers were sufficiently
brisk and full of zeal, and in the afternoons, when their energies
flagged and their fingers grew weary, Dulce would sing over her task,
or Mrs. Challoner would read to them for the hour together; but,
notwithstanding the interest of the tale, there was always great
alacrity manifested when the tea-bell gave them the excuse for putting
away their work.

On one or two evenings they gardened, and Mrs. Challoner sat under the
mulberry-tree and watched them; on another occasion they took a long
country walk, and lost themselves, and came back merry and tired, and
laden with primrose-roots and ferns: they had met no one, except a
stray laborer,--had seen glow-worms, picked wild flowers, and declared
themselves mightily refreshed. One evening Phillis, who was not to be
repressed, contrived a new amusement.

"Life is either a mill-pond or a whirlpool," she said, rather
sententiously: "we have been stagnant for three days, and I begin to
feel flat. Races are tabooed: besides, we cannot always leave mother
alone. I propose we go out in the garden and have a game of battledore
and shuttlecock;" for this had been a winter pastime with them at the
cottage.

Nan, who was always rather sober-minded now, demurred to this. She
would have preferred gardening a little, or sitting quietly with her
mother under the mulberry-tree; but Phillis, who was in a wild mood,
overruled all her objections, and by and by the battle began, and the
shuttlecocks flew through the air.

The week's work was finished, and the three dresses lay in their
wrappers, waiting for Dorothy to convey them to their several owners.
Nan who was really an _artiste_ at heart, had called her mother
proudly into the room to admire the result of their labors. Mrs.
Challoner was far too accustomed to her daughter's skilfulness to
testify any surprise, but she at once pronounced Miss Drummond's dress
the _chef-d'oeuvre_. Nan's taste was faultless; and the trimmings she
had selected harmonized so well with the soft tints of the silk.

"They are all very nice; and Mrs. Trimmings will be charmed with her
blue silk," observed Mrs. Challoner, trying to throw a little interest