"Matty, Matty, my beauty!" called the shrill voice of Folly from
without.

"I'm coming in a moment," cried Matty, as she hastened to join her
companion.

Sadly, but with quiet resolution, Nelly took up her hammer again. Not
many minutes had passed before she received a visit from Dick.

"How long are you going to keep on knocking in those dates?" exclaimed
the boy; "I put in all mine long ago. You see," he added with a merry
laugh, as he held up his hands, "I've _nails at my fingers' ends_!"

Nelly, who did not quite understand the joke, and was too honest to
pretend that she did so, bent down again over her work.

"I can't think how you are so slow!" cried Dick. "I've heard you hammer,
hammer, hammering for such a time, that I expected when I came in to
find your carpet studded all over with dates, and you have not put in
more than six!"

"I am sorry that I am so slow and stupid," said Nelly, with a sigh; "it
is not my fault but my misfortune."

Dick felt a little repentant for his unkind and thoughtless words. "I
must say, Nelly," he observed, "that slow as you are, your cottage is
far better furnished than Matty's, though she is so active and bright.
What a lot of trash she has stuffed into her rooms! And such a lovely
cottage she has! If the inside only matched the outside, it would be
charming indeed!"

"Dear Matty would have furnished her house very nicely," said Nelly,
"if Miss Folly had not come in the way."

"Ah, yes! Folly is at the bottom of the mischief!" cried Dick. "How
absurdly she has made Matty dress; what numbers of good hours has the
silly girl spent in making herself look ridiculous!"

"Oh, don't be hard on Matty!" cried her sister.

"Would you believe it!" said Dick, "Miss Folly has persuaded her to get
not only her carpet, but her chairs and tables also, from Mr. Fiction!
They are as slight as if made of pasteboard, and won't stand a single
week's wear! Now _my_ furniture is good and substantial, and was very
reasonable in price besides."

"Where did you get it?" asked Nelly.

"Oh, you know, where Mr. Learning recommended us to go. I buy my
furniture from the upholsterer, General Knowledge, whose shop adjoins
Mr. Reading's."

"The immense warehouse of _facts_," said Nelly.

"You may well call it immense," cried Dick; "I believe that it would
take one a lifetime to go thoroughly over the place. There are vaults
below full of furniture facts; rooms beyond rooms stuffed with facts;