the young ladies.

Polly Morris complained that "Bella was in a very poor state and pining
for country air. If her purse were long enough she would take her up to
Martha Woolcot's, but boarding was high. The Matthews had gone over to
the Jerseys. They had been very kind in giving her a fortnight's visit,
but now the house would be shut up, and there was only her small
cottage, that had been so built around by reason of business that one
could hardly find a mouthful of fresh air."

"I did say I would not ask her here again in the summer. Bella is
troublesome and forward amid company. But, poor thing! she has only part
of her house, as below it is a shop and rented out, and her purse is a
slim one at best," said good-hearted Madam Wetherill. "Patty, suppose
you write for me, and ask her for a fortnight. She will stay a full
month. The children may play about and amuse themselves. 'Tis not that I
grudge what she eats and drinks, but I like not to have people take so
much by right, and feel that your best is hardly good enough for them,
and that you owe them something."

"Yes, madam," replied Patty respectfully, though she set about it rather
reluctantly. She was not over fond of Bella.

A week later they came with a chest of attire that did indeed presage a
good long stay. Bella was glad enough to meet her compeer.

"For it has been utterly wretched since Aunt Matthews went away," she
confessed to Primrose. "We went there so often. And Jonas, the younger
boy, has so much drollness in him and tells about pranks at school. And
one night he crept out of the window on a shed and slid down and went to
a merrymaking at some tavern, where they had rare fun. He did not come
in until nearly morning, and his head ached so he was ill the next day.
Aunt Matthews made him a posset."

"And did he confess this wrong to her?" asked Primrose in grave
solicitude.

"Confess! What a silly you are, Primrose! That would have spoiled all
the fun."

"But it was not right."

"Well--his father would have been severe with him, and when one is sharp
it is a pleasure to outwit him. The boys had carried off some gates
shortly before, and they had changed the sign of the Jolly Fisherman to
Friend Reed's coffin shop, and he never knew it the whole morning and
wondered why people stared. Both boys were soundly caned for it, and
after all it was only a bit of fun. So then they kept their own counsel.
Jonas knows such pages of funny verses, and t