tle of paper and the steady downpour of the rain.

"Oh!" cried Peggy, presently. "Oh--eee! splendid!"

"Sapolio!" exclaimed Gerald; and "Well! well!" said Mrs. Merryweather.

The three exclamations were simultaneous, and Bell, who had no letters,
raised her hand with an imperative gesture. "Exclamation must be
followed by explanation!" she said. "Law of the Medes and Persians. We
shall be glad to hear from the exclaimers."

"Who? me? did I?" asked Peggy, looking up with sparkling eyes.
"Semiramis has eight puppies. Think of it! eight whole puppies!"

"I never buy more than half a puppy at a time," said Gerald, "unless it
is for a veal and ham pie."

"Gerald!"

"Well, it's a fact, Mater; I never do. What kind of puppies, thou of
Limavaddy?"

"Gordon setters, black and tan: oh, she says they are perfect beauties.
She says--this is Jean, you know, my sister--'they are all like Semmy
except one, and he is _blue_.' Who ever heard of a blue puppy? You shall
have one, Snowy: I promised you one, don't you remember? oh--eee! and
the new colt is a perfect beauty too, and they have named her Peggy.
Oh!"

Peggy looked down at her letter, then looked up again shyly. "I--don't
suppose you would care to hear any of it?" she said, interrogatively.

"Indeed we should!" said Mrs. Merryweather, heartily. "We should like it
extremely, Peggy. A letter from the Far West; why, it will be a journey
for all of us."

"Great!" said Phil.

"Corking!" said Gerald. And one and all, in their several ways,
expressed their desire to hear the letter.

Dimpling with pleasure, her rosy face beaming, Peggy began to read.

"'Dear old'--oh, well, I won't read just the beginning, because it is
just the way we talk to each other, you know. I wish you knew Jean,
Snowy. Let me see! oh, yes, here it is.

"'This is eight birthdays all at once, for what do you think, Peggy?
this morning we missed Semmy at breakfast, and could not find her
anywhere. There were kidneys, and you know she always finishes the dish
off, because she is so fond of them. Well, and so I went to look for
her, and she wasn't in her box, or in the shed, or behind the kitchen
stove, or anywhere where she usually is. So I went out to the stable,
and there I heard little squeaks and squeals, the funniest you ever
heard, and then a growl in Semmy's voice as I opened the door. Then the
dear thing heard my step, and was ashamed of growling, and began
thumping her tail on the floor