er expression was
in such striking contrast with that which they were accustomed to behold
on such occasions, that from pure amazement they stopped crying to stare
at her in their turn. The moment was hers, and she lost no time in
using it.

"The fat one," she said, pointing gravely to the younger of the sisters,
"the fat one shouts higher, but the thin one,"--the eloquent finger was
turned towards the maid with the golden locks,--"the thin one keeps on
longer. You have both won! The prize is that I tell you a story about
the Spoopjacks, when they went to fight the Bobityshooties in the
Christmas holidays!"

Silence. Viva laid her head on one side and considered the project.
Inda pouted her lower lip, and burst into the story of her woes.

"An' I was jest finishin' ze house, and ze chimbleys was getting ready,
and she comed against me, an' I pinched her leg, and she throwed it
down, an' it was all spoiled, an' the dolls was going to live in it,
an'--"

"The Spoopjacks live in the lamp-posts. There are seven of them, and
they have tin whiskers, and they went to war with the Bobityshooties
because they ate all the muffins, and there were none left for tea. So
Nicholas Spoopjack bought six rolling-pins and a watering-cart, and
melted down his whiskers for guns, and they put on red gaiters and clean
pinafores, and marched across the park. The Bobityshooties were resting
under the trees, and all the little birds were eating up the muffin
crumbs. The Bobityshooties really live in the pantry cupboard, so that
was how they found the muffins, but they were spending the day in the
country, and Selina Bobityshooty said to her mother--"

"Is that in a book?" queried the elder Miss Wallace suddenly. She was
an exceedingly precocious young lady, and quick to note the unusual
style of the narrative. Sometimes the stories in books were about good
little girls with whom she had no sympathy, and even if the heroine were
naughty to begin with, she invariably improved at the end, and never,
never knocked down her sister's bricks. The Spoopjacks and
Bobityshooties were new acquaintances and promised well, but she wished
to be reassured as regards the moral. "Is that written in a book?"

"No, it's out of my head. There are billions and billions of little
girls in the world, and not one of them has ever heard what Selina said
to her mother. If you will kiss your sister and say you're sorry, I'll
tell you as a secret. It'