town had been a failure or success,
according as it discovered jugs or no jugs.

In her anxiety for their safety she had even volunteered to dust her own
mantelpiece, and now, alas! she must leave them to the tender mercies of
Mary and her assistants! It was a painful reflection, and after a
moment's consideration she determined not to risk it, but to store the
darlings away in some safe hiding-place until her return.

No sooner said than done. Each little jug was wrapped in a separate
roll of tissue paper, fitted into a drawer of the writing-table, and
securely locked against invasion. The process of "putting away" thus
begun extended itself indefinitely. The photographs in their various
frames must be arranged and divided; nice relations and very dearest
friends, to be taken to school, disagreeable or "middling" relations,
and merely "dearest friends," to be laid aside in another drawer;
fragile ornaments to be hidden, in case they were broken; silver and
brass in case they tarnished; letters to be destroyed, to be tied up in
packets, to be answered before leaving home; pieces of fancy work to be
folded away, in case sacrilegious hands should dare to put them to any
other use than that for which they were intended.

Rhoda set to work with the energy of ten women, and worked away until
the once tidy room had become a scene of wildest confusion; until sofa,
table, and chairs were alike piled high with bundles. Then of a sudden
her energy flagged, she grew tired and discouraged, and wished she had
left the stupid old things where she had found them. It occurred to her
as a brilliant inspiration that there was no possible hurry, and that
sitting under the trees reading a book, and drinking lemon squash, was a
much more agreeable method of spending a hot summer's day than working
like a charwoman. She carried her latest book into the garden
forthwith, ordered the "squash," and spent an hour of contented idleness
before lunch.

The story, however, was not interesting enough to tempt a second reading
during the afternoon, for the heroine was a girl of unimpeachable
character, who pursued her studies at home under the charge of a daily
governess, and such a poor-spirited creature could hardly be expected to
commend herself to a girl who had decided for two whole days to go to
the newest of all new schools, and already felt herself far removed from
such narrow experiences. Rhoda cast about in her mind for the next