ly here you would not have the sea-sickness. She thought she should
like it, for a rarity. She might use it for a divan.
Mrs. Peterkin thought it would come in the worn place of the carpet,
and might be a convenience in making the carpet over.
Agamemnon was afraid there would be trouble in keeping the matter
secret, for it would be a long piece of work for a carpenter; but Mr.
Peterkin proposed having the carpenter for a day or two, for a number
of other jobs.
[Illustration]
One of them was to make all the chairs in the house of the same
height, for Mrs. Peterkin had nearly broken her spine by sitting down
in a chair that she had supposed was her own rocking-chair, and it had
proved to be two inches lower. The little boys were now large enough
to sit in any chair; so a medium was fixed upon to satisfy all the
family, and the chairs were made uniformly of the same height.
On consulting the carpenter, however, he insisted that the tree could
be cut off at the lower end to suit the height of the parlor, and
demurred at so great a change as altering the ceiling. But Mr.
Peterkin had set his mind upon the improvement, and Elizabeth Eliza
had cut her carpet in preparation for it.
So the folding-doors into the back parlor were closed, and for nearly
a fortnight before Christmas there was great litter of fallen
plastering, and laths, and chips, and shavings; and Elizabeth Eliza's
carpet was taken up, and the furniture had to be changed, and one
night she had to sleep at the Bromwicks', for there was a long hole in
her floor that might be dangerous.
All this delighted the little boys. They could not understand what was
going on. Perhaps they suspected a Christmas-tree, but they did not
know why a Christmas-tree should have so many chips, and were still
more astonished at the hump that appeared in Elizabeth Eliza's room.
It must be a Christmas present, or else the tree in a box.
[Illustration]
Some aunts and uncles, too, arrived a day or two before Christmas,
with some small cousins. These cousins occupied the attention of the
little boys, and there was a great deal of whispering and mystery,
behind doors, and under the stairs, and in the corners of the entry.
Solomon John was busy, privately making some candles for the tree. He
had been collecting some bayberries, as he understood they made very
nice candles, so that it would not be necessary to buy any.
The elders of the family never all went into the ba
|