match at Lord's,' said Tom. 'And I,' said Emma,
'to some of the best concerts.' Alice had fixed her heart on seeing the
picture galleries, and Percy was resolved to hear some great speakers.
Each of them thought it very likely that he, or she, would be Aunt
Mary's choice.

Aunt Mary, when she came, kept her own counsel. She was kind to all her
nephews and nieces, but did not single out one more than another. It was
not until the last day of her stay arrived that she said to their
mother, 'If you will let me have Rosie for a companion, my dear, I shall
be only too glad to take her to town, and give her a really pleasant
time.'

Rosie's surprise, and her disappointment for the sake of her brothers
and sisters, silenced the rest: when they could speak, it was to ask
each other what their aunt could possibly see in her. If they had
overheard a talk between Mrs. Lee and Aunt Mary, later in the day, they
might have understood.

'Your other young people are charming,' said Aunt Mary, 'so bright and
clever; but they are a little--just a little--too apt to be wrapped up
in themselves and their own pursuits. If Rosie goes with me, I shall
have some one who will think of me too, for the child does not seem to
know what selfishness is.'

WAITS.

Some old customs die out very slowly, and even in the neighbourhood of
go-ahead London there are many districts where the waits still go round
a few days before Christmas. But the waits do not treat you with music
for love--they come for payment afterwards.

Why were these Christmas serenaders called waits? About that matter, we
find that opinions differ. One old author says that the waits we have
now, represent the musical watchmen, who were well known in many towns
during the Middle Ages. They sounded a watch at night, after the
inhabitants of the town had gone to bed, and then some of them marched
about the streets to prevent disturbances and robberies--in fact, acted
rather like our modern policemen. 'Wait' it is supposed means 'watch,'
and they had to be in attendance upon judges or magistrates; at the
courts of many of the kings, too, there were the waits who attended upon
royalty, and who had to perform on their instruments, if music was
wanted, by day or night. Another idea was, that the waits who are
connected with Christmas season are meant to be a sort of rude
imitation of the angelic host, who sang in the fields at Bethlehem at
the birth of Christ. This would see