erin' again," she cried briskly. "I've been waitin'
this half-hour for you to take these beans down to the shop. Here's a
bit o' bread you can eat along the road, an' you'll have just to make
haste."

Elsie cast a defiant glance at the basket as she took it slowly up. She
knew too well its destination. The neatly tied-up bundles of young
well-grown beans lying on the fresh cabbage-leaves would be one of the
attractions of the village shop. A day or two ago all the plums that
were ripe had gone the same way, to the children's disgust. Mrs.
MacDougall was a clever gardener, and had a ready sale for her small
stock of produce. To-day Elsie and Duncan would get no dinner beyond the
bit of bread. That was the result of their loitering. They had lost the
valuable time through their talk over the letter.

But Elsie quite lost sight of the fact that she alone was responsible
for losing it, and was very angry about it.

"I have quite decided," she said to Duncan. "This is what I'll do; to
England I will go!"

(_To be continued._)

LITTLE MISS PROPRIETY.

[Illustration]

"Dainty little maiden,
Sitting there in state,
While the music's calling,
And the dancers wait.

"A courtly little beau
For your hand is waiting:
What is it, my dear,
That you are debating?

"Do the pretty slippers
Pinch your tiny feet?
Tell me quickly, dearie,
Why you keep your seat."

Little maiden answers,
Anger in her face,
"We's not bin intodoost:
It's twite a disgwase!"

MARY LANG.

[Illustration: "SHE SAW A CAT'S FACE LOOKING UP AT HER."]

FIGHTING WITH A SHADOW.

"It is much pleasanter to be by oneself, then there is no one to quarrel
with," said Pussy.

And she stretched herself out on the soft, mossy turf, and half closed
her eyes, purring gently. She was a young cat, and got into much trouble
at home, for she was constantly quarrelling with her brothers and
sisters. She said it was their fault, and they said it was hers. And
Mrs. Grimalkin, the old cat, said that there were faults on both sides.

"I'm _not_ a bad temper," said Pussy; "and I never quarrel with people
unless they quarrel with me." So saying, she opened her eyes wider, and
looked round. She liked the warm sunshine, and the scent of the flowers,
and the soft velvet turf.

How pleasant it was!

"I should like to live here always," she said. "Then Tib, Frisk, and
Kitty would not be able to tease me