s starty and fretful in
his sleep last night, and didn't seem to be quite well."

"No wonder, poor dear," said Mrs. Pennel; "it's a wonder children can
forget as they do."

"Yes," said Miss Ruey; "you know them lines in the 'English Reader,'--

'Gay hope is theirs by fancy led,
Least pleasing when possessed;
The tear forgot as soon as shed,
The sunshine of the breast.'

Them lines all'ys seemed to me affectin'."

Miss Ruey's sentiment was here interrupted by a loud cry from the
bedroom, and something between a sneeze and a howl.

"Massy! what is that ar young un up to!" she exclaimed, rushing into the
adjoining bedroom.

There stood the young Master Hopeful of our story, with streaming eyes
and much-bedaubed face, having just, after much labor, succeeded in
making Miss Ruey's snuff-box fly open, which he did with such force as
to send the contents in a perfect cloud into eyes, nose, and mouth. The
scene of struggling and confusion that ensued cannot be described. The
washings, and wipings, and sobbings, and exhortings, and the sympathetic
sobs of the little Mara, formed a small tempest for the time being that
was rather appalling.

"Well, this 'ere's a youngster that's a-goin' to make work," said Miss
Ruey, when all things were tolerably restored. "Seems to make himself at
home first thing."

"Poor little dear," said Mrs. Pennel, in the excess of loving-kindness,
"I hope he will; he's welcome, I'm sure."

"Not to my snuff-box," said Miss Ruey, who had felt herself attacked in
a very tender point.

"He's got the notion of lookin' into things pretty early," said Captain
Pennel, with an indulgent smile.

"Well, Aunt Ruey," said Mrs. Pennel, when this disturbance was somewhat
abated, "I feel kind o' sorry to deprive you of your privileges to-day."

"Oh! never mind me," said Miss Ruey, briskly. "I've got the big Bible,
and I can sing a hymn or two by myself. My voice ain't quite what it
used to be, but then I get a good deal of pleasure out of it." Aunt
Ruey, it must be known, had in her youth been one of the foremost
leaders in the "singers' seats," and now was in the habit of speaking of
herself much as a retired _prima donna_ might, whose past successes were
yet in the minds of her generation.

After giving a look out of the window, to see that the children were
within sight, she opened the big Bible at the story of the ten plagues
of Egypt, and adjusting her horn spectacles with a s