de no excuses. It is not
strange that Lota, who really spelt very nicely for a little girl of
her age, should have been shocked.

On Tuesday night it rained again, and the sun got up in a cloud next
morning, and seemed uncertain whether or not to shine. Grandmamma was
going to drive out to make a call, and Jennings came early to the
nursery to tell Nurse to dress Lady Bird nicely, so that she might go
too. Accordingly Nursey put on Lota's freshest white cambric and her
best blue sash, and laid a pair of white gloves and a little hat trimmed
with blue ribbons and forget-me-nots on the bed, so that they might be
ready when the carriage came to the door. "Now, Miss Lady Bird, you must
sit still and keep yourself very nice," she said. This was hard, for the
children had all been left in the garden-house the night before, and
Lota wanted very much to see them. She stood at the window looking
wistfully out. By and by the sun flashed gloriously from the clouds, and
sent a bright ray right into her eyes. It touched the rain-drops which
hung over the bushes, and instantly each became a tiny mimic sun,
sending out separate rays of its own. Lota forgot all about Nursey's
injunctions. "I'll just run out one minute and fetch little Ning-Po in,"
she thought. "That child's too delicate to be left out in the damp. She
catches cold so easily; really it quite troubles me sometimes the way
she coughs."

So down the garden walk she sped. The shrubs, shaken by her swift
passage, scattered showers of bright drops upon the white frock and the
pretty sash. But Lota didn't mind or notice. The air and sun, the clear,
fresh feeling, the birds' songs, filled her with a kind of intoxication.
Her head spun, her feet danced as she ran along. Suddenly a cold feeling
at the toes of her bronze boots startled her. She looked down. Behold,
she was in a pool of water, left by the rain in a hollow of the
gravel-walk. Was she frightened? Not at all. The water felt delightfully
fresh, her spirits flashed out like the sun himself, and in the joy of
her heart she began to waltz, scattering and splashing the water about
her. The crisp ruffles of the cambric lost all their starch, the pretty
boots were quite spoiled, but Lota waltzed on, and in this plight
Nursey, flying indignantly out from the kitchen door, found her naughty
pet.

"Well, Miss Charlotte, I _am_ discouraged," she said, as she pulled off
the wet things. "Waltzing in a mud-puddle! That's nice wo