th could they do
with them? Dear old Mrs. Conover, for example, sent a large Bohemian
glass jar of a peacock-eyes pattern. It would have to be on view when
she called, and as they had no way of knowing when that would be, it had
to be on view all the time.

From Omaha came an ominous package which made Tom shudder. Would his
sister contrive to mortify him? He could picture her pleasure in doing
so, and when the package was opened and out came two china parrots, Tom
thought the pleasure was hers. A note which came with the birds
explained that they were very fashionable in Omaha at the time and that
all Omaha had them on its dinner table. To Tom, his sister's gift and
note could hardly have been worse, but Nancy kissed him and told him not
to be stupid, that the parrots were nice; and Tom was so flustered he
couldn't tell whether they were or not. At any rate, Nancy wrote a
charming, sisterly little note, and Tom was more pleased with his future
than ever.

The silver tea service which arrived early from Mrs. Robert
Lee-Satterlee was among the grandest presents that Nancy received from
outside the family. She was particularly grateful for it, since it
enabled her to leave her mother's with Henry and thus avoid a discussion
which would have been unendurable at the time. It was true that Henry's
wife had had a tea service herself and that it was now his; but it was
not so fine as the Whitman one, and Henry would have regarded its
removal with a jaundiced eye. His wife's silver, however, was quite a
bit more handsome than the family silver, and he relinquished the latter
with a gesture so graceful that any further donation of property to the
hymeneal happiness seemed almost fulsome. Still he did make a further
contribution--a costly set of John Stuart Mill.

A few days after she announced her engagement Nancy was waited upon by
the Misses Forbes. Their mission was one of obvious importance, for they
seldom moved out of their warm little house, excepting, of course, Miss
Jennie, who was quite indifferent to the outside and marched forth
almost without a thought. They wore, furthermore, a serious
demeanour--even Miss Jennie, whose assumption of a cavalier manner
didn't quite hide her excitement. She was carrying a small parcel neatly
done up in white tissue paper; and when, after a period of rocking, she
launched upon the little speech she had prepared, her liver-spotted old
hands opened and closed over it. "You must know,