d then when every
one had finished and Rough had said grace, they all set off to the
schoolroom.

'Shut your eyes, Biddy,' said Rough. 'I'll lead you in, and mind you
don't open them till I tell you.'

There stood Biddy, as quiet as a mouse, though her heart was beating
fast, till, after one or two whispered directions--'That isn't quite
straight,' 'Put the chairs by the fire, Celestina,' and so on--came
Rough's voice--

'Now, Biddy. Open your eyes.'

[Illustration: 'Now, Biddy. Open your eyes.' P. 195.]

And 'open her eyes' she did, though she half shut them again the next
minute, and then had to rub them to make sure they were not tricking
her. For there in front of her, on the schoolroom table, stood, its two
big doors flung wide open, the very nicest, most complete doll-house
that, in those days at least, could have been imagined. There were six
good-sized rooms: drawing-room, dining-room, two bedrooms, nursery, and
kitchen--the last, perhaps, the most fascinating of all, with its little
kitchen-range, its rows of brightly shining pots and pans, some black,
some tin, and some copper; its dresser and shelves, and charming dinner
service, and ever so many other things it would take me a very long time
to describe. And the dining-room, with its brown and gold papered walls,
and red velvet carpet and little stuffed chairs; and the drawing-room,
with sofas covered in dainty chintz and blue carpet and gilt-framed
mirrors; and the bedrooms, one white and one pink; and the nursery, with
the _sweet_ little cradle and rocking-chair and baths and wash-hand
stands and I don't know all what--truly it was a very pretty sight.
Biddy gasped; she could not speak.

'And only think, Biddy,' said Rosalys; 'it is our own old doll-house
done up. The one mamma had herself when she was a little girl, you know.
Doesn't that make it all the nicer? You _can't_ think how we've all
worked at it. We'd begun it before--before papa and you got ill; that
was our secret that Celestina and I were always whispering about.'

And in her delight even staid Alie gave two or three jumps up into the
air! But as she came down again she felt herself caught round the neck
and hugged and squeezed. Oh, how she _was_ hugged and squeezed!

And '_Oh_, Alie,' whispered Biddy, 'you are too good to me; for you
don't know how naughty I felt about your having a secret.'

'Never mind, never mind. I daresay it was my fault. Mamma says it's very
teasing to talk