want; and
I will get them, as sure as my name is Harry."

CHAPTER XL.

ALCIDES.

There was quite a battle-royal on the sea-shore after that: Dulce and
Phillis pelted Laddie with bonbons; while their mother enjoyed her nap
in the snug parlor. And Dorothy, pleased, bewildered, and half
frightened at what the mistress might say, stowed away game and fruit
and confectionery in the tiny larder, and then turned her attention to
such a tea as her young ladies had not seen since the Glen Cottage
days.

Laddie raced and barked, and nearly made himself ill with the sweet
things; and Nan laughed, and then grew serious as she remembered an
afternoon in the Longmead Meadows, when Dick, in wild spirits, had
pelted her and Phillis with roses until their laps were full of the
delicious, fragrant leaves. "'Sweets to the sweet,'--so look out for
yourself, Nan!" he had said, in his half-rough, boyish way. But that
was in the days when both were very young and Dick had not learned to
make love.

Mattie joined in the game a little awkwardly,--it was so long since
the poor little woman had played at anything. Her younger sisters
never chose Mattie in their games. "She makes such mistakes, and puts
us out; and that spoils the fun," they said; and so Grace was their
favorite playfellow.

For it is perfectly true that some grown-up people have forgotten how
to play, while others are such children at heart that they can abandon
themselves most joyously and gracefully to any game, however romping;
but Mattie, who was sobered by frequent snubbing, was not one of
these. She loved fun still, in her way, but not as Phillis and Dulce,
who thought it the cream of life and would not be content with the
sort of skimmed-milk existence of other young ladies.

Sir Harry watched them admiringly, and his enthusiasm grew every
moment.

"I say, you are the right sort, and no mistake. I never met jollier
girls in my life. A fellow would not know which to choose: would he,
Miss Mattie?"

Mattie took this seriously.

"Nan is chosen:--are you not, Nan?" she said, in her downright
fashion. And then, as Sir Harry stared at this, and Nan blushed and
looked even prettier, Phillis first scolded Mattie soundly for her
bluntness, and then took upon herself to describe Dick's perfections:

"The dearest fellow in the world, Harry, when you come to know him;
but not handsome, and dreadfully young looking, some people think.
But, as Nan will not look