tone by the bank of the
stream. What object attracted her eye, some yards lower down the current
of the brook, round which the muddy waves were eddying and rolling?

"Why--can it be?--yes, there are Dick's three grates all together,
Division, Multiplication, and Subtraction!" Nelly started up in alarm:
"Oh, what can have become of my brother?"

A little reflection soon reassured Nelly. Dick, the most active of boys,
and a famous swimmer besides, could not have come to much harm in a
brook in which, though many have been ducked, no one has ever yet been
quite drowned. It seemed clear that the boy had found the weight which,
prompted by Pride, he had tried to carry, somewhat too much for his
strength; and, being unable to carry it across the waters of Bother, had
flung down his tiresome burden, which, by the force of its own weight,
had stuck fast in the mud of the brook.

"Well, if Dick has failed, I need not mind failing," cried Nelly. "I
think that I'll do what he has done, and fling away this horrid
Division,--oh, what a relief that would be! But still, would it not be
foolish--would it not be wrong--to give way so to impatience? My dear
mother bade me obey Mr. Learning for her sake, she wishes my cottage to
be properly furnished; I must not be a sluggard or a coward. I must do
my best to get over this Bother."

"Well resolved--bravely resolved," said a voice on the other side of the
brook; and from behind the clump of willows which drooped their long
branches in the stream, Nelly saw two beautiful maidens come forth. They
were like, and yet unlike, each other. Both were very fair to look on,
both of noble height and graceful mien; but the one had an air of more
stately dignity, such as might beseem a queen; and her large dark eyes
looked graver and more thoughtful than those of her sister. The other
had smiling soft blue eyes, beaming with tender love, and the sunlight
fell on her golden hair till it seemed like a glory around her.

These lovely maidens were no strangers to Nelly, almost from her infancy
she had looked upon them as friends; many sweet counsels and good gifts
had the lame little girl received from Duty and Affection.

"Oh, Duty!" exclaimed Nelly, who was rejoiced to find herself no longer
alone, "only show me how I can get across, and I will not mind labour or
trouble."

Duty retired for a few moments to her retreat behind the willows, and
then returned, bearing on her shoulder a narrow plank.